this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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The nomenclature is actually correct here, and a lot of other software use it, at least from everything I've seen. Release candidate means it's stable and (usually) feature complete but could have bugs and needs testing before they launch it.
Prototype --> Alpha --> Beta --> Release Candidate --> Release
This is correct, albeit not universal.
KDE has a predefined schedule for "release candidates", which includes RC2 later this month. So "RC1" is clearly not going to be the final version. See: https://community.kde.org/Schedules/February_2024_MegaRelease
This is at least somewhat common. In fact, it's the same way the Linux kernel development cycle works. They have 7 release candidates, released on a weekly basis between the beta period and final release. See: https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html
In the world of proprietary corporate software, I more often see release candidates presented as potentially final; i.e. literal candidates for release. The idea of scheduling multiple RCs in advance doesn't make sense in that context, since each one is intended to be the last (with fingers crossed).
It's kind of splitting hairs, honestly, and I suspect this distinction has more to do with the transparency of open-source projects than anything else. Apple, for example, may indeed have a schedule for multiple macOS RCs right from the start and simply choose not to share that information. They present every "release candidate" as being potentially the final version (and indeed, the final version will be the same build as the final RC), but in practice there's always more than one. Also, Apple is hardly an ideal example to follow, since they've apparently never even heard of semantic version numbering. Major compatibility-breaking changes are often introduced in minor point releases. It's infuriating. But I digress.
If you're as old as I am, you'll recall software using the term "gamma" release instead of "release candidate" for that phase. ;)
It’s still a misuse of the word - if your software needs testing it’s not a candidate you would release unless you’re a multi-billion gaming company or Cisco
Production releases still need testing. There are always bugs you don't know about hiding somewhere in projects or vast complexity.
There are, but if none are found it can be released - like apple and Microsoft sometimes does.
It’s what you put in it I guess. For me that’s “Hopefully ready but it’s what we’re shipping in features and functionality”
Wiktionary: (software engineering) A version of a program that is nearly ready for release but may still have a few bugs; the status between beta version and release version.
Oxford: a version of a product, especially computer software, that is fully developed and nearly ready to be made available to the public. It comes after the beta version.
I couldn't find more definitions from "big" dictionaries, but literally no definition I've seen agrees with you. I wonder why that is.