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A. The executive committee/Council retains the option of allowing exceptions, but exceptions will be few and should not be expected.
Q. Why is the feature freeze deadline so far in advance of the release?
A. The integrators need time to bring all the new features to master including new tests. The coupled model team needs time for alpha and beta testing of the model.
Q. What if the feature is "turned off" and doesn't change answers?
A. You can still add such features to the code base but first the testing must verify that the model is still bit-for-bit identical AND doesn't break the features that made it. If testing can not verify that, the feature does not go in to the release being finalizedrequires Council approval.
Q. What about code for new diagnostics or new data sets?
A. If the new code does not change answers, it can still be integrated to master before the release.
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A. That is the "code freeze" date and will happen shortly before the release.
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