Yes, there will be fewer development releases of GNOME.
Compared to the old scheme, we’re going to have:
- Alpha phase
- 3.39.1
- 3.39.2
- 3.39.3 → 40.alpha
- Beta phase
- 3.39.90
- 3.39.91 → 40.beta
- Release candidate phase
- 3.39.92 → 40.rc
- Stable
- 3.40.0 → 40.0
- 3.40.1 → 40.1
- 3.40.2 → 40.2
- …
If application maintainers decide to spin up additional alpha, beta, or release candidate releases, they can. Just like we might have had versions like 3.39.90.1 or 3.39.92.1, the maintainers can spin 40.beta.1 and 40.rc.2.
Yes, the schedule will be updated accordingly. With fewer development releases we’re going to decide when to make them—whether to match the first alpha/beta releases in the old scheme, or match the last alpha/beta releases.