The usual answer is: when it is ready.....
Thaddy, it is ready!
3.0.4 was tagged in SVN already some time ago. It only lacks building the release packages.
The compiler guys know how to and when to release....
I am not sure about that any more. Lack of time and/or motivation now delays the release. It is understandable in a FOSS project but causes a real problem nevertheless.
Now the problem got emphasized because Lazarus project decided to release version 1.8 with FPC 3.0.4. It was a reasonable decision because 3.0.4 fixes some serious bugs and it was expected to be out already.
I would like to see Lazarus 1.8 release before Christmas which is ~1 month from now. It means FPC 3.0.4 should be released within 3 weeks. Will it happen?
This is a serious problem also because the project is so popular. If it had 10 or 20 geek users, everybody could build from source and be happy.
Now it has tens of thousands of users. Releases are important!