OK now that this is released, and the next one is the final. My question is, is it safe now to go live on a forum with this version..
If I were to upgrade my SMF 2.0.15 forum with SMF 2.1RC1, is it stable enough.
Firstly, I doubt if the next one will be final. SMF "usually" goes through 3 RC stages before final release, although they may change that to more or less depending on how things go and what people report.
Second, according to the announcement:
QuoteThe term "Release Candidate" means that the developers believe this version of the software is reliable enough to be installed and used on production websites. Nevertheless, you should still expect to encounter minor bugs in SMF 2.1 RC1. We encourage you to report any bugs you find.
Which means there will still be bugs but "shouldn't" be anything major. However, no one's perfect. I always suggest creating a test site and play with it first, especially if you are going to upgrade from a previous SMF version. This should let you know what to expect. But keep in mind that your themes and mods may not work well or at all.