What is a Release Candidate?
Purpose
The RC phase is the last step before a software product is released to the public, serving as a final quality check.
Testing
During the RC phase, rigorous testing is performed to identify and correct any critical issues that could affect the software's performance or stability.
Naming Convention
Release candidates are often denoted with the term 'RC' followed by a version number, such as '3.0-RC1'.
Stages of Development
🅰️ Alpha: The first complete or nearly complete version of a software program, often used for internal testing.
🅱️ Beta: A more stable version than alpha, released to a wider group for testing and feedback.
🆗 RC: The release candidate phase comes after beta and is the final step before a software product is officially released.
🎯 RTM: Stands for 'Release to Manufacturing' or 'Release to Marketing', indicating that the software is ready for distribution.