The developers behind the open-source Hyperledger Fabric blockchain project have issued the software's official release candidate.

Announced yesterday

via the project's public mailing list, the release effectively moves the software, one of several separate enterprise distributed ledger code bases being incubated under the Hyperledger umbrella, one step closer to a formal version 1.0 launch.

Jonathan Levi, founder of blockchain startup HACERA and a release manager for the project, sought to portray the announcement as a call to action to those seeking to leverage the software, framing it as evidence that Fabric is "getting serious" and moving steadily and pragmatically toward launch.

Levi explained the software is now entering a state in which it could be set live barring any significant issues with the code and documentation.

Levi told CoinDesk:

The announcement also finds Hyperledger Fabric moving forward from a beta release, announced in June, that saw APIs and project code frozen as a method for testing the stability and usability of the software.

Going forward, Levi said the aim is for this release candidate to be thoroughly assessed by startups, enterprises and other potential users, so that they can best input feedback on the software development prior to its forthcoming launch.

Announced in December 2015, Hyperledger has so far signed up more than 130 members to its consortium effort.

Adding importance to the quality control push, however, is that the software is already being used by these members, which include some of the world's largest businesses as well as startups like HACERA.

In recent weeks, IBM has revealed it will use Hyperledger Fabric to power a trade finance platform for seven European banks, as well as a stock exchange pilot in South America – announcements that speak to the demand for future forthcoming versions of the software.

Computer code language image via Shutterstock