v2026.8.27

The first release of btclib-node. Nothing here is an upgrade: no
version of this package has ever been on an index, so there is no
installation for this one to change the behaviour of and nothing to
read these notes against. pip install btclib-node reaches a released
btclib-node for the first time with this version.

What it is, and what it is not, is README.md's: a bitcoin node whose
consensus and network code is python, over
btclib. It has downloaded and
validated the whole chain. Its Development Status classifier says
3 - Alpha and means it — the interfaces are not promised stable, and
this file is where a break in them is announced from the next release
on.

CHANGELOG.md's own v2026.8.27 section is the record of everything
that went into it, which for a first release is the whole history
rather than a cycle's worth.

Two things to know before installing

• The JSON-RPC listener binds every interface and authenticates
  nothing. SECURITY.md carries that and the rest of
  what is known. Do not expose it.
• Node.__init__ does not install signal handlers (#436). If a
  Node you build is meant to stop on an operator's SIGINT,
  SIGTERM or SIGTSTP, call install_signal_handlers(node) for it,
  the way scripts/chains/ does right after building the node each of
  them starts. This is listed here rather than under a Breaking
  changes heading on purpose: nothing published can have broken,
  there having been nothing published, and the change is a break only
  against the unreleased tree — anyone who was running this from git
  before #467 landed is the only reader it can surprise.