I would like to target a 1.8.1 bug fix only release for the end of this month. So far, there are only a handful of bug fixes that have been added to the 1.8.x branch, all in the EFA provider. Provider maintainers, please cherry-pick fixes from master into 1.8.x by the end of this week. I would like to create 1.8.1rc1 this week-end. - Sean