I'm on MOTW this week. My release plan is: • 2.16.x: we've had 2.16.1rc4 around for a while, so seems like I can cut 2.16.1 (https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/20218 ✅ ) and close the milestone... alternatively, just close the milestone without doing a final release. We're already up to 2.18.0, and releases before 2.18 are a significant investment of time... • 2.17.x: we did 2.17.1 and 2.18.0, so... nothing; close the milestone? • 2.18.x: 2.18.1rc0 soon (https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/20216, ✅) and then maybe a 2.18.1 by the end of the week with a few mostly-JVM fixes? • 2.19.x: 2.19.0rc0 as normal • main (2.20.x): 2.20.0.dev0 as normal : https://github.com/pantsbuild/pants/pull/20215 ✅ Let me know if you have thoughts.

I think it would be nice to not end the 2.16.x with a “dangling” rc.. but could of course close the milestone before the final release to indicate that we don’t intend to add more to it besides eventually getting the release out. My $0.02 🙂

Done 2.16.1, and several of the others. I'll close the 2.16.x and 2.17.x milestones later in the week (and push the open issues in 2.18.x or just no-milestone) if I don't hear objections in the next day or two.

This means we can officially switch scie-pants to PEX-only releases for all versions. I think it also means we can start locking old branches