[Development] Qt 5.9

[Jani Heikkinen]

Hi all,
We need to start preparations for Qt5.9 release even Qt 5.8.0 isn't out yet :) There are some things to be agreed already now:

- Qt 5.9.0 Feature Freeze
- Changes in supported platforms/configurations

So first of all let's agree the feature freeze date: I propose to have the FF 1.2.2017. From the history we can see that time needed from FF to final release is (even more than) 17 weeks. I know it is too long time but at the moment that is the fact and there is no evidence that we can do it within shorter schedule. We are trying to find ways to make it shorter but at the moment there isn't any big improvements coming and so on that 17 weeks is the best base for our plans. So if we want to get Qt 5.9.0 release out before summer holidays we need to have ff at the beginning of February.

And note: At this time we want to keep the FF date to be able to keep the schedule. That means there won't be any exceptions: If feature isn't ready and in at FF date then it won't be in Qt 5.9 release. So please make sure all new features are in early enough & those are fulfilling the ff requirements: https://wiki.qt.io/Qt_5_Feature_Freeze

Then I propose following changes in supported platforms/configurations:

- We have earlier agreed that for Apple we will support three latest versions. So this means
   * For macOS we drop 10.9 and support 10.10, 10.11 & 10.12
   * For iOS we drop 7.x and support 8.x, 9.x, 10.x

- I propose to drop standalone macOS Android installer; One having iOS & Android should be enough

- For MinGW I propose to start delivering 64 bit binary packages instead of 32 bit one & start using MinGW 6.x (6.2?)

- For Windows Android I propose to start doing Android Windows build with MinGW53 (if we are able to build it. Otherwise MinGW49 will be used as with 5.8)

- For WinRT/WinPhone I propose to drop WinRT 8.1 and WinPhone 8.1 support & start using term UWP (Universal Windows platform).  It means also dropping msvc 2013 from WinRT/WinPhone; UWP only supports msvc2015

- Start supporting QNX 7.0

br,

Jani Heikkinen
Release Manager