Please vote on a feature freeze date of Nov 1 23:59 PDT for the master branch. Shortly after this time we will branch 1.6.0-SNAPSHOT from master and increment the version in master. "Feature Freeze" means only bug fixes and documentation updates happen after the date, which implies major code additions and changes are already in place with appropriate tests.
If a commiter thinks a new feature in 1.6.0-SNAPSHOT is not ready for release, they should bring it up on the dev list. If agreement can not be reached on the dev list with 72 hours, then the commiter can call for a vote on reverting the feature from 1.6.0-SNAPSHOT. The vote must pass with majority approval[1]. If the vote passes, any commiter can revert the feature from 1.6.0-SNAPSHOT. This vote will remain open for 72 hours and must have consensus approval[2] to pass.
