What’s an RTM? Something ready to market? Thanks ..
I think it means ‘release to manufacturing’
Ready to market, right to market is pretty close though.
It will be the version that goes to customers unless a really major problem is found. Manufacturing has it, however, so they're off making CD masters, etc., which will also have to be regression-tested and compared with what the regular testers have found. Byte-for-byte comparisons will also be made with a "golden master". During this time of a few days-to-two weeks time, bugs will continue to be found. They'll just have to be fixed some other way, in the next iteration, hopefully.
If a major problem is found, it presumably must be fixed. Other fixes accomplished in the meantime may get incorporated (or not, depending on their volatility and how thoroughly the recent fixes have gotten tested without finding side-effects), and managers may determine that they may have to drop back to a new release candidate, then a new golden master, followed by a new release to manaufacturing.
It's been a while since I was doing it, but that's roughly the way it was handled a dozen years ago (if this crusty memory still serves).
HF