JavaFX 18 is in Rampdown Phase Two (RDP2)

[Kevin Rushforth]

To: OpenJFX Developers

As a reminder, JavaFX 18 is now in Rampdown Phase Two (RDP2). [1]

P1-P2 bugs, and test or doc bugs of any priority, can be fixed during 
RDP2. Explicit approval is needed for bug fixes (except for doc and test 
fixes), and all enhancements to go in to the jfx18 branch. The bar for 
approving bug fixes is appropriately high at this point. We do not 
anticipate approving any more enhancements.

We will use the same rules for RDP2 that the JDK uses [2], with two 
modifications:

1. Approval is needed from one of the OpenJFX project leads (not the 
OpenJDK project lead)

2. Since we are not part of the JDK, we need to use labels that do not 
collide with the JDK 18 release. As an obvious choice, derived from the 
JBS fix version, we will use "openjfx18-fix-request", 
"openjfx18-fix-yes", "openjfx18-fix-no" and "openjfx18-fix-nmi", 
"openjfx18-enhancement-request", "openjfx18-enhancement-yes", 
"openjfx18-enhancement-no" and "openjfx18-enhancement-nmi" as 
corresponding labels.

Note that if a fix is approved to integrate into jfx18 (with the 
appropriate approval label added by a lead), then the PR should be 
targeted to the jfx18 branch. There is no need to also create a separate 
PR to integrate it into master -- we will continue to periodically sync 
jfx18 --> master for the duration of the openjfx18 release.

Now that we are in RDP2, the goal is to stabilize what is there, fixing 
bugs that are new in openjfx18. We need to be extremely careful about 
including anything that introduces risk.

IMPORTANT: Reviewers and Committers now have an extra responsibility to 
double-check the target branch of each PR that they review, integrate, 
or sponsor. By default a PR will be targeted to `master` which is the 
main development line (OpenJFX 19 as of today). This is usually what we 
want. A PR should be targeted to `jfx18` if, and only if, it is intended 
for OpenJFX 18 and meets the criteria for the current rampdown phase 
(we're in RDP2 as of today). Reviewers are advised to be extra cautious 
in approving potentially risky fixes targeted to `jfx18`. If there is a 
concern, then a reviewer can as part of the review indicate that the PR 
should be retargeted to `master` for 19. Reviewers also need to be extra 
careful when reviewing PRs targeted to jfx18 that it doesn't mistakenly 
contain any commits from the master branch. You'll be able to tell 
because the diffs will contain changes that are not part of the fix 
being reviewed. Such a PR will either need to be closed and redone, or 
it will need to be rebased and force-pushed.

Let me know if there are any questions.

-- Kevin

[1] 
https://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/openjfx-dev/2021-November/032657.html
[2] http://openjdk.java.net/jeps/3