v0.40.0-rc1

What's Changed

⭐ New Features

• feat: Proto Ordinal Streaming Hasher Mapping in BlockHasher by @ata-nas in #3299
• feat: warn on sidecar records not tied to a parent-record-file transaction by @rockysingh in #3320
• feat: Update network data with live roster data for RSA address book and proximate block for EndOfStream by @jsync-swirlds in #3289
• feat: Implemented step 10 of #3125 by @berryware in #3290
• feat: Files Historic Plugin Sends Persisted Notifications on Staged Blocks and not on Zips by @ivannov in #3274
• feat(solo-e2e): custom Solo fork/branch builds, refreshed default versions, and WRAPS support on CN >= v0.76 by @AlfredoG87 in #3284
• feat: Add a next expected block field to Server Status API by @jsync-swirlds in #3269
• feat(verification): complete block-verification switchover with real TSS signing for tests by @AlfredoG87 in #3253

🐛 Bug Fixes

• fix(ci): grant issues:write to release-automation.yaml for milestone rollover by @Nana-EC in #3396
• fix(ci): release automation hardening — release notes generator and protobuf artifact race fix by @Nana-EC in #3295
• fix(backfill): dial server status on a dedicated source port by @AlfredoG87 in #3369
• fix: Evict bad client connection so a reconnect can occur by @berryware in #3386
• fix: Make Positive Multiple Publisher Tests less flakey by @jsync-swirlds in #3342
• fix: Added changes to improve stability in baseSuite. by @jsync-swirlds in #3341
• fix: fixed flakey tests in S3ArchivePluginTest. by @jsync-swirlds in #3339
• fix(sync): preserve hiero-docs-only landing pages on every sync by @deshmukhpranali in #3361
• fix: CloudStorageArchivePlugin handleVerification NumberFormatException by @ata-nas in #3328
• fix(ci): bump k6-tests.yml Solo CLI pin from 0.72.0 to 0.84.0 by @Nana-EC in #3337
• fix(ci): GA automation should release the latest RC version, if one exists, else the release branch by @berryware in #3301
• fix(test): eliminate flakiness in backfill and slowdown E2E tests by @Nana-EC in #3334
• fix: replace Files.createLink with atomic Files.move in persistBlockRanges() by @Nana-EC in #3314
• fix: /statusz/inbound and /statusz/outbound 404 due to double mount-prefix check by @alex-au in #3316
• fix: Failing API E2E Test serverStatusReturnsUnknownWhenEarliestManagedBlockExceedsStoredBlocks by @ata-nas in #3305
• fix(ci): use gh pr list --state open to avoid false-positive on closed sync PR by @deshmukhpranali in #3279
• fix(ci): run git config inside hiero-docs working directory by @deshmukhpranali in #3277
• fix: align convert-address-book-history output with RangedAddressBookHistory (#3164) by @rockysingh in #3166

🔨 Tests

• test: WRB distribution E2E test slice 4, steps 8-9 by @berryware in #3263
• test: Add solo-chaos latency considerations to e2e test framework by @Nana-EC in #2798

📝 Documentation

• docs(block-node): rewrite Block-Node-Types for readability and GitBook compatibility by @deshmukhpranali in #3292
• docs: fix GitBook rendering issues across block-node docs by @deshmukhpranali in #3329
• docs: Follow Up on Design Documentation and Plugin Javadoc by @ata-nas in #3251
• docs(block-node): update operator docs for per-service ports. by @deshmukhpranali in #3257
• docs(block-node): add Block Node Integration FAQ for CN/BN/MN developers by @deshmukhpranali in #3159
• docs(block-node): add Block Node Operator FAQ by @deshmukhpranali in #3158
• docs: catalog every block validation in blocks-commands.md (fixes #3234) by @rockysingh in #3235
• docs: version-control extractJumpstartData.py + document it by @rockysingh in #3311
• docs(block-node): fix broken links and image rendering for docs.hiero.org by @deshmukhpranali in #3171
• docs(block-node-overview): restructure from 11 sections to 6 and fix accuracy by @deshmukhpranali in #3149
• docs(architecture): improve flow and add operator-friendly intro to architecture overview by @deshmukhpranali in #3140
• docs(block-node): add Production Node Operation Guide (#3187) by @deshmukhpranali in #3189
• docs(block-node): add glossary and replace scattered Key Terms sections with inline links by @deshmukhpranali in #3142

🔧 Build & Maintenance

• chore: Resume hanging temp archive uploads across restarts instead of always discarding them by @ivannov in #3193
• chore: Follow up for remaining items from PR 3289. by @jsync-swirlds in #3336
• chore: update solo version to 0.84.1 by @andrewb1269 in #3370
• chore: Add E2E node operator deployment and operations check by @Nana-EC in #3087
• chore: follow-up on non-blocking review comments from #3166 (fixes #3267) by @rockysingh in #3294
• chore(release): publish block-stream-tools fat JAR as a release artifact by @Nana-EC in #3268
• chore: release automation hardening — versioned release notes and smart version inference by @Nana-EC in #3226
• chore(release): Bump versions for v0.40.0-SNAPSHOT by @swirlds-automation in #3265

⬆️ Dependency Upgrades

• build(deps): bump docker/login-action from 4.5.1 to 4.6.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #3355
• build(deps): bump actions/setup-java from 5.6.0 to 5.7.0. by @dependabot[bot] in #3371
• build(deps): bump actions/checkout from 6.0.3 to 7.0.1 by @dependabot[bot] in #3297
• build(deps): bump actions/setup-java from 5.2.0 to 5.6.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #3296
• build(deps): bump docker/login-action from 4.4.0 to 4.5.1 by @dependabot[bot] in #3317
• build(deps): bump step-security/harden-runner from 2.19.4 to 2.20.0. by @dependabot[bot] in #3345
• build(deps): bump Azure/setup-helm from 5.0.0 to 5.0.1. by @dependabot[bot] in #3344
• build(deps): bump com.squareup.okio:okio-jvm from 3.17.0 to 3.18.0 in /hiero-dependency-versions. by @dependabot[bot] in #3327
• build(deps): bump hederaCryptographyVersion from 3.11.2 to 3.13.0 in /hiero-dependency-versions. by @dependabot[bot] in #3326
• build(deps): bump actions/upload-artifact from 4.6.2 to 7.0.1. by @dependabot[bot] in #3343
• build(deps): bump hederaVersion from 0.76.0-rc.2 to 0.76.0-rc.4 in /hiero-dependency-versions. by @dependabot[bot] in #3325
• build(deps): bump actions/setup-python from 6.3.0 to 7.0.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #3285
• build(deps): bump daggerVersion from 2.60 to 2.60.1 in /hiero-dependency-versions. by @dependabot[bot] in #3229
• build(deps): bump com.google.cloud:libraries-bom from 26.85.0 to 26.85.1 in /hiero-dependency-versions by @dependabot[bot] in #3271
• build(deps): bump actions/setup-java from 5.5.0 to 5.6.0. by @dependabot[bot] in #3241
• build(deps): bump hederaVersion from 0.76.0-rc.1 to 0.76.0-rc.2 in /hiero-dependency-versions. by @dependabot[bot] in #3272
• build(deps): bump actions/checkout from 7.0.0 to 7.0.1. by @dependabot[bot] in #3255
• build(deps): bump io.netty:netty-bom from 4.2.15.Final to 4.2.16.Final in /hiero-dependency-versions by @dependabot[bot] in #3228

Full Changelog: v0.39.1...v0.40.0-rc1