Yes. A rolling release is only slightly different from the already-existing dev builds. (I am, in fact, having difficulty conceptualizing anything other than occasionally version-bumping dev without a formal release process…) Also has a greater risk of “wasting a translator’s time” which seems to be a concern. Although at least one translator has gone ahead anyway recently, maybe it’s time to proceed at risk with that regard? If it’s beneficial I’m thinking of writing a script to look for orphaned strings. Something like Weblate, IMO, should wait for post-5.9
Very good point on the PP3 compatibility concern.
As far as release process goes, I’m questioning whether or not there is a benefit of doing a “release candidate” build prior to the formal release. I think there have been platform-specific glitches (primarily Windows IIRC?) in both of the past two releases from what I recall. On the other hand, the fact that Windows and Linux are automated (is MacOS automated?) with CI now should hopefully mitigate this concern.