Hi all,

The first release candidate for Zephyr 2.6.0 has been tagged (v2.6.0-rc1).

The merge window for features and enhancements is now closed for this release, and it will remain closed until 2.6.0 is released; the stabilization period is now open. During the stabilization period only bug-fix, documentation, and stabilization-related patches may be merged to master. Additional features or enhancements for the 2.6.0 release require approval by the TSC.

We currently have the following bug counts:

* High - 5
* Medium - 41
* Low - 152

The goal for release is to be at:
* High - 0
* Medium < 20
* Low < 50

We have a long way to go on lows!

As we need to reduce bug counts for the release, you are all encouraged to submit PRs that close existing bug reports, and to help reviewing such PRs submitted by other contributors or maintainers. You can follow the bug numbers with the thresholds for each bug category here:

https://testing.zephyrproject.org/issues/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/index.html

Testing Zephyr master branch during the stabilization period is also requested; please test the code base and file bug reports so they can be addressed before the release deadline. Everyone is encouraged, especially hardware vendors, to test on hardware available to them. Use twister to run tests from the Zephyr tree on the boards you have using the device testing features.

The full release log can be found here:

https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/releases/tag/v2.6.0-rc1

We plan to release weekly candidates (2.6.0-rcx) leading to the final release (2.6.0) which is tentatively scheduled for 28 May.

You may continue to submit pull requests for new features in order to gather feedback early or collaborate with others, but the release team would like to encourage everyone to focus on bugfixes and documentation improvements to the largest extent possible, so that we can release 2.6.0 on time and in the best shape possible.

A big Thank You to everyone that contributed to this release so far, be it with code, reviews, documentation or any other type of contribution!

Kumar