Release means sharing your work with everyone else.
See
ContinuousIntegration
Contrast
IntegrateOften.
See also
SingleReleasePoint.
The longer you wait between integrations/releases, the more integration you have to do, especially with CollectiveCodeOwnership (another rule). So don't wait.
The thing though about Free software projects is that sometimes they
don't release often. I get irritated when I see
version 0.0.7pre48. Last Updated 12 May 1997 because the programmers want 0.0.8 to have every feature any piece of software could possibly have. --
GavinVanLelyveld