The conformance branch exists so that LRS vendors can have a chance to make sure they are conformant before the next conformance version of the test suite is released. It also means that an LRS can claim conformance to a specific conformance version of the test suite, ultimately this becomes what an LRS user should be interested in.
Changes can be made to the master branch that do not affect whether an LRS is conformant and therefore vendors do not need to track this version as closely.
When making a source only change submit a Pull Request against the master branch.
When making a change that can affect whether an LRS is deemed conformant with a particular conformance version then submit a Pull Request against the conformance branch.
It is recommended that change sets are minimal, and made against the tip of the current branch.
Turn on developer flag in config file to make sure files are linted.