A 1.48 beta 5 weeks after 1.47 ships seems doable. That would be about August 8th, and then the release 3 weeks later, or about August 29.
The 1.49 release then would be back on schedule for the first Monday in November.
5 weeks is not enough to start something big, I'd consider 1.48 to be little more than a bugfix version, a 1.47.1 in other words.
To make the above happen, we would need to open branches/release for merges immediately after 1.47 ships. Or maybe create a branch now for 1.48.
Thoughts?
How about tweaking your "quarterly release rule" to say.
release x +1 is scheduled for 3 months after the release of x.
This will account for the fact that not every release occurs on schedule. It will also make it easier for library developers in that I always will know what my deadline is with 3 months notice.
Robert Ramey
+1