So at the same time are we starting a separate branch for RC1 so
we are
still free to work on the main trunk on other things?
I had no plans concerning this. Before GIT we used to just freeze the source tree, then have the developers merge their patches in after the release was complete; now that we use GIT we need to give this some thought.
I never tested the waters of the 3.5.13.2 branch, but seems that once we go into RC status then that is an appropriate time to create the R14.0.0 branch rather than when officially released. That would mean backporting patches, but eventually we have to do that anyway with the maintenance releases. Perhaps a compromise is to create the R14.0.0 branch at RC3 rather than RC1. Then we have to backport patches only for the last few bug fix patches of RC3.
Just thinking out loud.
Darrell