Andrew Nacin announced WordPress 3.2 RC1 earlier on today, which can only mean one thing: we’re nearing the final release of WordPress 3.2.

Just as a reminder: RC stands for release candidate, which comes after the betas (which we’ve seen two of). The release candidate is the last step for WordPress before the final public-ready versions is released.

Like with any other release candidate Nacin explained that anything is still possible, and the contributors would like to make sure they’ve caught everything:

We think we’re done, but with tens of millions of users, a variety of configurations, and thousands of plugins, it’s possible we’ve missed something. So if you haven’t tested WordPress 3.2 yet, now is the time!

Nacin goes on to mention a few things you might want to remember:

• With more than 350 tickets closed, there are plenty of changes. Plugin and theme authors, please test your plugins and themes now, so that if there is a compatibility issue, we can figure it out before the final release.
• Users are also encouraged to test things out. If you find problems, let your plugin/theme authors know so they can figure out the cause.
• Twenty Eleven isn’t quite at the release candidate stage. Contents may settle.
• If any known issues crop up, you’ll be able to find them here.

It looks to be running pretty much on schedule, so here’s hoping we see 3.2 by the end of the month, which is the target. Have you tested this in-development version of WordPress yet, particularly with any plugins or themes you created?