We normally only run the release scripts at release-time - i.e. every 3-4 months - which means there is always the liklihood that these scripts have become stale. We want to be able to run them say 1-2 weeks before the actual release to identify and solve teething problems before the actual release process has started. Adapting the scripts to allow the release of e.g. 24.11.0-rc1 would mean we can do this without having to use actual release tags (24.11.0).