Firefox 3.1 beta 3 code freeze slated for Jan 13 -- maybe

The code freeze for the third beta of Firefox 3.1 is scheduled for next Tuesday but could slip if Javascript bugs are not resolved soon.

During the team's weekly meeting, developer Rob Sayre flagged the Javascript engine blockers as a potential risk to the planned code freeze date of January 13th.  He did not know exactly how long it will take to fix the remaining issues and is expected to provide a better estimate soon. Still, he said the existing blockers could push it back anywhere up to three weeks.

Contacted after the meeting, Mozilla engineering chief Mike Beltzner said there is no "declared" slip for the schedule of Firefox 3.1 beta 3 but acknowledged the concerns raised by the developer. "If that estimate puts the code freeze date at risk, we'll make the appropriate announcements in the Mozilla developer planning newsgroups," Beltzner told this ZDNet blogger.

Beta 3 is scheduled for release on January 26.

Beta 2 -- with private browsing included -- was delivered on December 8.  The Mozilla team opted to go to a Beta 3 beta cycle rather than a release candidate last month to ensure that users had enough time to test this new feature. 

 According to Firefox team estimates, there are currently about 300,000 beta testers of Beta 2.