Release version 2.8.0

[dkotter]

This issue is for tracking changes for the 2.8.0 release. Target release date: 11 November 2024.

Release instructions:

• Branch: Starting from develop, cut a release branch named release/2.8.0 for your changes.
• Version bump: Bump the version number in package.json, package-lock.json, readme.txt, and simple-local-avatars.php if it does not already reflect the version being released. Update both the plugin "Version:" property and the plugin SLA_VERSION constant in simple-local-avatars.php.
• Changelog: Add/update the changelog in both CHANGELOG.md and readme.txt. (Recommendation to use: https://github.com/10up/changelog-generator)
• Props: update CREDITS.md with any new contributors, and confirm maintainers are accurate. (Recommendation to use: https://github.com/10up/credits-generator)
• New files: Check to be sure any new files/paths that are unnecessary in the production version are included in .distignore.
• Readme updates: Make any other readme changes as necessary. README.md is geared toward GitHub and readme.txt contains WordPress.org-specific content. The two are slightly different.
• Make sure the release date is added in the CHANGELOG.md.
• Merge: Make a non-fast-forward merge from your release branch to develop (or merge the pull request), then do the same for develop into trunk, ensuring you pull the most recent changes into develop first (git checkout develop && git pull origin develop && git checkout trunk && git merge --no-ff develop). trunk contains the latest stable release.
• Push: Push your trunk branch to GitHub (e.g. git push origin trunk).
• Compare trunk to develop to ensure no additional changes were missed. Visit trunk...develop
• Test the pre-release ZIP locally by downloading it from the Build release zip action artifact to ensure the plugin doesn't break after release.
• Either perform a regression testing utilizing the available Critical Flows and Test Cases or if end-to-end tests cover a significant portion of those Critical Flows then run e2e tests. Only proceed if everything tests successfully.
• Release: Create a new release, naming the tag and the release with the new version number, and targeting the trunk branch. Paste the changelog from CHANGELOG.md into the body of the release and include a link to the closed issues on the milestone.
• SVN: Wait for the GitHub Action to finish deploying to the WordPress.org repository. If all goes well, users with SVN commit access for that plugin will receive an emailed diff of changes.
• Check WordPress.org: Ensure that the changes are live on https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-local-avatars/. This may take a few minutes.
• Close the milestone: Edit the milestone with the release date (in the Due date (optional) field) and link to the GitHub release (in the Description field), then close the milestone.
• Punt incomplete items: If any open issues or PRs which were milestoned for 2.8.0 do not make it into the release, update their milestone to 2.9.0 or Future Release.
• Raise a post-release PR if required to make necessary changes like updating the correct release date, etc.