We’ve branched: https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/tree/release-1.2
So now we go through the iterative process of release candidates, package evaluation, and backports to that branch until we get an RC we like. I think there are some backports already accrued (https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues?utf8=✓&q=label%3A"backport+1.2"+is%3Amerged) that may precede the first RC.