Hi,
nice post https://forum.apachehaus.com/index.php?topic=1549.msg4203
I almost thought that it would be another DOA. Some how it made it.
I wonder when there will be a new branch, so there is not so much backporting anymore. AFAIK there is only trunk and 2.4 as branch since 2.2 died for good (RIP).
There has been a 2.5.0 alpha but it was from trunk. At some point in time it will get it's branch forked off from trunk. I can't remember when 2.4 was branched but it seems it was about the time they decided 2.3 was beta stage worthy.