Releasekandidaat

Releasekandidaat is a software release designated as a candidate for the final version. It represents a feature-complete build that is released for broad testing before the official shipping of the product. The goal of a releasekandidaat is to validate compatibility, performance, and user-facing behavior in real-world conditions and to surface any remaining defects that were not found during internal testing.

During the releasekandidaat phase, developers and testers look for high-severity or critical issues that could delay the final release. If such issues are found, fixes are implemented and new releasekandidaat builds may be produced, sometimes labeled releasekandidaat 2 or RC2. If no critical problems emerge, the releasekandidaat is promoted to a final release. In some workflows, multiple consecutive releasekandidaat builds are issued to achieve a stable baseline.

Releasekandidaat builds are typically accompanied by release notes, changelogs, and checksums to verify integrity. They are distributed through official channels to testers, early adopters, and sometimes the general user base depending on the project’s policy. The stakeholders use feedback from the releasekandidaat to confirm that the software meets requirements and to decide on the timing of the final release.

The concept is closely related to beta testing and the final release, with the key distinction that a releasekandidaat is intended to be the last major verification step before shipping. See also software release lifecycle, release candidate, beta testing, and continuous delivery.