Thanks.

Let's make the cmd/release tool query Gerrit for, e.g. branch:release-branch.go1.12 project:go is:open And error out if any CLs are open on the branch we're trying to make a release for.

Are you suggesting doing this for 1.x releases only, or 1.x.y ones too?

Should we take any consideration for issues, e.g., ones with CherryPickApproved labels? Is the reason to limit this to CLs is because it's a higher priority place to start, or is there a reason issues shouldn't be involved for this purpose?

Issues marked for a release should certainly be reviewed. I hope that already happens. But CLs are a higher priority in general, because we only cherry pick CLs that we're pretty sure should go onto the release branch. It should be quick to either submit or abandon all such CLs, and it will avoid shipping a release without a fix that was expected to be in it.

Are you suggesting doing this for 1.x releases only, or 1.x.y ones too?

Both.

Should we take any consideration for issues, e.g., ones with CherryPickApproved labels?

Yes, I meant to add a paragraph that we should also do this for GitHub issues too.