Note on 4.10 merge window timing (was Re: Linux 4.9-rc8)

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>]

[ people I pulled from during the last merge window added in the bcc.
Except i probably messed up the name->email conversion, so if you
don't get it, it's because I'm incompetent ]

On Sun, Dec 4, 2016 at 1:30 PM, Linus Torvalds
<torvalds@linux-foundation.org> wrote:
>
> So if anybody has been following the git tree, it should come as no
> surprise that I ended up doing an rc8 after all [..]

Btw, for anybody with a calendar (or just excellent finger counting
skills), this should all be obvious, but I thought I'd make it very
explicit anyway: this means that 4.9 will be released this upcoming
Sunday, December 11th. Unless something really bad happens.

Now, for people counting along, that would mean that the merge window
for 4.10 ends two weeks later, on December 25.

That date may look familiar. It's Christmas Day. If you're originally
from Finland like me, it's the day when you relax after the real
celebrations, which would be on Christmas Eve.

What does this all mean? It means that I might be doing the actual rc1
release on the 25th, but I'm sure as hell not going to do any real
work that day, or even the day before. So realistically, this is going
to be a truncated merge window, and if you don't send in your pull
requests in a timely manner, they are going to be dropped on the
floor.

So I would _strongly_ suggest people try to send their pull requests
during the first week of the merge window. Not only is 4.10 shaping up
to be on the smaller side (presumably because 4.9 is so big), but
thanks to rc8 you all had an extra week to prepare. In fact, you can
start sending me pull requests already, I just won't be actually
pulling until next week.

Yes, yes, I could have instead extended the merge window (I've done so
in the past), but considering the above, I'd much rather we all take a
break over the holidays and get the merge window over and done with
early.

Just so you know. I'm not going to be at all interested in late pull
requests. At that point, things will be ruthlessly just skipped and
they can wait for 4.11 instead.

                       Linus