WordPress 4.8 Release Candidate (RC) can now be downloaded for testing.
A release candidate means that the core development team is almost done with WordPress 4.8. But, with millions of users and thousands of themes and plugins, they’re fully aware of the possibility that something might have been missed. So, they’re requesting WordPress users to test the platform for any bugs and notify the authors, if any occur.
To test WordPress 4.8, you can use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin or you can download the release candidate here (zip).
The team has made a handful of changes since releasing Beta 2 earlier this week. You can learn more on what’s new in WordPress 4.8 by clicking here. Also, you can check out our previous blog posts on WordPress 4.8 Beta 1 and Beta 2.
You can report bugs to the Alpha/Beta support forum so that the development team can ship WordPress 4.8 on Thursday, June 8. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.
Developers have been asked to test their plugins and themes against WordPress 4.8 and update their plugin’s Tested up to version in the readme to 4.8. If you find compatibility problems please be sure to post to the support forums so the team can figure those out before the final release. An in-depth field guide to developer-focused changes is coming soon on the core development blog.