v0.41.0-rc1

What's Changed

⭐ New Features

• feat(tools): improve bn-endpoint-checker network diagnostics (#3489) by @Nana-EC in #3495
• feat: per-pod chaos selector — asymmetric BN latency injection (#3348) by @Nana-EC in #3353
• feat: Update publisher to use ApplicationStateFacility for block set ranges by @ivannov in #3373
• feat(tools): add block-access-port and fix ResourceExhausted in bn-endpoint-checker.sh by @Nana-EC in #3426

🐛 Bug Fixes

• fix(release): alpha version derivation fails on first alpha for a new base version by @Nana-EC in #3448
• fix: BackfillMultiportSourceTests.publishBlocks assumes 1 ACK per block, but acks are watermark-coalesced by @ata-nas in #3443
• fix: Stop backfillplugin from advancing past a chunk that is not fully persisted by @berryware in #3488
• fix(chart): exclude health port from includePluginPorts on LoadBalancer by @Nana-EC in #3470
• fix: Increase performance of serverStatus and serverStatusDetails gRpc calls. by @berryware in #3360
• fix: stream-publisher resend handler killed with BAD_BLOCK_PROOF before ACK can be sent by @ata-nas in #3437

📝 Documentation

• docs(production-guide): correct firewall table access description for public-facing ports by @deshmukhpranali in #3439
• docs(block-node): add gRPC API quickstart by @deshmukhpranali in #3405

🔧 Build & Maintenance

• chore: Update HAPI version to 0.76.1 by @jsync-swirlds in #3504
• chore(chart): clarify health port Services logic and update outdated values references by @Nana-EC in #3498
• chore: Follow up on improvements raised for PR 3245 by @ivannov in #3442
• chore: Remove obsolete "S3 Archive" and "Validation" plugins by @jsync-swirlds in #3485

⬆️ Dependency Upgrades

• build(deps): bump step-security/harden-runner from 2.20.0 to 2.21.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #3499
• build(deps): bump PandasWhoCode/initialize-github-job from 1.3.0 to 1.3.1. by @dependabot[bot] in #3445
• build(deps): bump actions/github-script from d746ffe35508b1917358783b479e04febd2b8f71 to 3a2844b7e9c422d3c10d287c895573f7108da1b3. by @dependabot[bot] in #3399

Full Changelog: v0.41.0-alpha1...v0.41.0-rc1