Igal Koshevoy wrote:
> Urabe Shyouhei wrote:
>> 1.8.5 life-span has been scheduled and informed at least since 2006,
>> plus, to be frank, we have no human resources remaining to prolong this
>> version.
>>   
> Just to confirm, you're terminating support for 1.8.5 and all earlier
> releases?

Yes. All releases prior to 1.8.5, including all 1.4 series and all 1.6
series, are not supported any longer.
Also for a side note, support for 1.8.6 will be terminated once we
release 1.8.8.  Support for 1.8.7 will also be terminated once we
release 1.8.9.

>> I will never stop YOU to maintenance 1.8.5;  forking Ruby is your
>> right.  And some OS vendors may actually do so.  But do not expect
>> further support by us.
> What if resources for keeping 1.8.5 on life support could be found and
> provided by members outside the current Ruby core developer team and
> these people met whatever criteria you set for them?

That's great.  Far better than I can imagine.

> Would your team be willing to consider providing them with a way to
> continue to make official Ruby 1.8.5 releases and distribute them from
> ruby-lang.org?

This is my personal opinion but it's OK for a new mentor to get a full
control of everything to officially release 1.8.5.  Final decision
should be made by matz so I cannot tell any particular thing but,  I
wish he says yes.