14 DAY TRIAL // The final version of Firefox 3.0 is now just weeks away, but Mozilla has one last milestone along the way, namely Release Candidate 2. When Firefox 3.0 RC1 was dropped on May 16, there were indications that, in accordance with tester feedback, the build could have become the gold version of the open source browser. However, RC2 was considered necessary due to the bugs accumulated which needed to be fixed ahead of the final version. Mozilla considered the possibility of pushing the bugs that survived into RC1 until Firefox 3.0.1 but in the end it went with RC2.
"We've decided that there is sufficient need to produce a new Release Candidate of Firefox 3 before shipping", explained Mike Beltzner, Mozilla's User Experience Lead. "Many of the issues to be fixed in RC2 have already been patched, reviewed, approved and landed, thanks to work done last week to identify and drive the bugs into the product. Several localization updates have also been accepted. Please note that just because we've decided to produce another release candidate does *not* mean that we are accepting new patches - only those which fix issues that have been identified as required fixes for RC2 will be accepted, and even then your patch must come with a risk assessment and tests."
Beltzner added that Mozilla is still looking to ship the final version of its next iteration of the Firefox open source browser next month. The Code Freeze for Firefox 3.0 RC2 is May 28, with the first builds planned for May 29 and shipping on June 5 or 6. This means that at the end of the next week, Firefox 3.0 users will be able to upgrade to build RC2. "Due to the time required to complete some other external dependencies, we don't expect that this will significantly impact our shipping date, and still estimate a mid-June release date", Beltzner promised.
For now, Firefox 3.0 RC1 is available for download here.