diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index e73cadbc6fef67..d35bbfb1cc4540 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@
 /*--start constants--*/
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION        3
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION        8
-#define PY_MICRO_VERSION        7
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL        PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_FINAL
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL       0
+#define PY_MICRO_VERSION        8
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL        PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_GAMMA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL       1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION              "3.8.7+"
+#define PY_VERSION              "3.8.8rc1"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Version as a single 4-byte hex number, e.g. 0x010502B2 == 1.5.2b2.
diff --git a/Lib/pydoc_data/topics.py b/Lib/pydoc_data/topics.py
index 723a9b8ac57bc1..ebdab5733b86a8 100644
--- a/Lib/pydoc_data/topics.py
+++ b/Lib/pydoc_data/topics.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-# Autogenerated by Sphinx on Mon Dec 21 17:22:46 2020
+# Autogenerated by Sphinx on Tue Feb 16 19:10:16 2021
 topics = {'assert': 'The "assert" statement\n'
            '**********************\n'
            '\n'
@@ -11387,7 +11387,6 @@
           '      There are two types of integers:\n'
           '\n'
           '      Integers ("int")\n'
-          '\n'
           '         These represent numbers in an unlimited range, subject to\n'
           '         available (virtual) memory only.  For the purpose of '
           'shift\n'
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/3.8.8rc1.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/3.8.8rc1.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..df1b7da090ec39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/3.8.8rc1.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,367 @@
+.. bpo: 42967
+.. date: 2021-02-14-15-59-16
+.. nonce: YApqDS
+.. release date: 2021-02-16
+.. section: Security
+
+Fix web cache poisoning vulnerability by defaulting the query args separator
+to ``&``, and allowing the user to choose a custom separator.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42938
+.. date: 2021-01-18-09-27-31
+.. nonce: 4Zn4Mp
+.. section: Security
+
+Avoid static buffers when computing the repr of :class:`ctypes.c_double` and
+:class:`ctypes.c_longdouble` values.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42819
+.. date: 2021-01-04-23-54-34
+.. nonce: 4KO6wU
+.. section: Core and Builtins
+
+:mod:`readline`: Explicitly disable bracketed paste in the interactive
+interpreter, even if it's set in the inputrc, is enabled by default (eg GNU
+Readline 8.1), or a user calls ``readline.read_init_file()``. The Python
+REPL has not implemented bracketed paste support. Also, bracketed mode
+writes the ``"\x1b[?2004h"`` escape sequence into stdout which causes test
+failures in applications that don't support it. It can still be explicitly
+enabled by calling ``readline.parse_and_bind("set enable-bracketed-paste
+on")``. Patch by Dustin Rodrigues.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 43108
+.. date: 2021-02-02-20-23-31
+.. nonce: lqcCZ6
+.. section: Library
+
+Fixed a reference leak in the :mod:`curses` module. Patch by Pablo Galindo
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42780
+.. date: 2021-01-08-15-49-20
+.. nonce: rtqi6B
+.. section: Library
+
+Fix os.set_inheritable() for O_PATH file descriptors on Linux.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 41748
+.. date: 2021-01-05-21-26-29
+.. nonce: KdC0w3
+.. section: Library
+
+Fix HTMLParser parsing rules for element attributes containing commas with
+spaces. Patch by Karl Dubost.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42759
+.. date: 2020-12-27-22-19-26
+.. nonce: lGi_03
+.. section: Library
+
+Fixed equality comparison of :class:`tkinter.Variable` and
+:class:`tkinter.font.Font`. Objects which belong to different Tcl
+interpreters are now always different, even if they have the same name.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 23328
+.. date: 2020-12-27-18-47-01
+.. nonce: _xqepZ
+.. section: Library
+
+Allow / character in username, password fields on _PROXY envars.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42681
+.. date: 2020-12-20-22-50-15
+.. nonce: lDO6jb
+.. section: Library
+
+Fixed range checks for color and pair numbers in :mod:`curses`.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42531
+.. date: 2020-12-02-16-28-04
+.. nonce: 2sLlFW
+.. section: Library
+
+:func:`importlib.resources.path` now works for :term:`package`\ s missing
+the optional :attr:`__file__` attribute (more specifically, packages whose
+:attr:`__spec__`\ ``.``\ :attr:`~importlib.machinery.ModuleSpec.origin`
+:keyword:`is` :data:`None`).
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42388
+.. date: 2020-11-22-11-22-28
+.. nonce: LMgM6B
+.. section: Library
+
+Fix subprocess.check_output(..., input=None) behavior when text=True to be
+consistent with that of the documentation and universal_newlines=True.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42384
+.. date: 2020-11-17-14-32-39
+.. nonce: 1ZnQSn
+.. section: Library
+
+Make pdb populate sys.path[0] exactly the same as regular python execution.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42383
+.. date: 2020-11-17-14-30-12
+.. nonce: ubl0Y_
+.. section: Library
+
+Fix pdb: previously pdb would fail to restart the debugging target if it was
+specified using a relative path and the current directory changed.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42318
+.. date: 2020-11-14-13-46-27
+.. nonce: wYAcBD
+.. section: Library
+
+Fixed support of non-BMP characters in :mod:`tkinter` on macOS.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42005
+.. date: 2020-10-11-13-48-03
+.. nonce: Jq6Az-
+.. section: Library
+
+Fix CLI of :mod:`cProfile` and :mod:`profile` to catch
+:exc:`BrokenPipeError`.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 41604
+.. date: 2020-08-21-15-24-14
+.. nonce: rTXleO
+.. section: Library
+
+Don't decrement the reference count of the previous user_ptr when
+set_panel_userptr fails.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 26407
+.. date: 2020-05-30-14-19-47
+.. nonce: MjWLO1
+.. section: Library
+
+Unexpected errors in calling the ``__iter__`` method are no longer masked by
+``TypeError`` in :func:`csv.reader`, :func:`csv.writer.writerow` and
+:meth:`csv.writer.writerows`.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 39068
+.. date: 2019-12-16-17-55-31
+.. nonce: Ti3f9P
+.. section: Library
+
+Fix initialization race condition in :func:`a85encode` and :func:`b85encode`
+in :mod:`base64`. Patch by Brandon Stansbury.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 36589
+.. date: 2019-11-16-22-56-51
+.. nonce: 0Io76D
+.. section: Library
+
+The :func:`curses.update_lines_cols` function now returns ``None`` instead
+of ``1`` on success.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 33289
+.. date: 2018-04-23-13-44-10
+.. nonce: anBnUr
+.. section: Library
+
+Correct call to :mod:`tkinter.colorchooser` to return RGB triplet of ints
+instead of floats.  Patch by Cheryl Sabella.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 40304
+.. date: 2021-01-20-23-03-49
+.. nonce: -LK7Ps
+.. section: Documentation
+
+Fix doc for type(name, bases, dict).  Patch by Boris Verkhovskiy and Éric
+Araujo.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42811
+.. date: 2021-01-04-22-14-22
+.. nonce: HY2beA
+.. section: Documentation
+
+Updated importlib.utils.resolve_name() doc to use __spec__.parent instead of
+__package__. (Thanks Yair Frid.)
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42794
+.. date: 2021-01-01-08-52-36
+.. nonce: -7-XGz
+.. section: Tests
+
+Update test_nntplib to use offical group name of news.aioe.org for testing.
+Patch by Dong-hee Na.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 40810
+.. date: 2020-05-30-10-56-38
+.. nonce: LPqDLQ
+.. section: Tests
+
+In :mod:`sqlite3`, fix ``CheckTraceCallbackContent`` for SQLite pre 3.7.15.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 29076
+.. date: 2020-02-28-14-33-15
+.. nonce: Gtixi5
+.. section: Build
+
+Add fish shell support to macOS installer.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 41837
+.. date: 2021-01-05-20-36-40
+.. nonce: bmS7vB
+.. section: Windows
+
+Updated Windows installer to include OpenSSL 1.1.1i
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42584
+.. date: 2020-12-07-11-40-52
+.. nonce: AsYnVX
+.. section: Windows
+
+Upgrade Windows installer to use SQLite 3.34.0.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 41837
+.. date: 2021-01-04-00-48-08
+.. nonce: dX-unJ
+.. section: macOS
+
+Update macOS installer build to use OpenSSL 1.1.1i.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42584
+.. date: 2020-12-07-11-37-35
+.. nonce: LygmqQ
+.. section: macOS
+
+Update macOS installer to use SQLite 3.34.0.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 43008
+.. date: 2021-01-26-18-12-17
+.. nonce: mbQUc7
+.. section: IDLE
+
+Make IDLE invoke :func:`sys.excepthook` in normal, 2-process mode. Patch by
+Ken Hilton.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 33065
+.. date: 2021-01-10-01-25-43
+.. nonce: zmyHYJ
+.. section: IDLE
+
+Fix problem debugging user classes with __repr__ method.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42508
+.. date: 2020-11-30-19-46-05
+.. nonce: fE7w4M
+.. section: IDLE
+
+Keep IDLE running on macOS.  Remove obsolete workaround that prevented
+running files with shortcuts when using new universal2 installers built on
+macOS 11.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 23544
+.. date: 2019-11-14-23-41-07
+.. nonce: 3etemb
+.. section: IDLE
+
+Disable Debug=>Stack Viewer when user code is running or Debugger is active,
+to prevent hang or crash.  Patch by Zackery Spytz.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 32631
+.. date: 2019-06-30-20-31-09
+.. nonce: e7_4BG
+.. section: IDLE
+
+Finish zzdummy example extension module: make menu entries work; add
+docstrings and tests with 100% coverage.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 42726
+.. date: 2020-12-23-19-42-11
+.. nonce: a5EkTv
+.. section: Tools/Demos
+
+Fixed Python 3 compatibility issue with gdb/libpython.py handling of
+attribute dictionaries.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 43030
+.. date: 2021-01-27-10-27-47
+.. nonce: loDcD_
+.. section: C API
+
+Fixed a compiler warning in :c:func:`Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE()` on platforms with
+signed ``wchar_t``.
+
+..
+
+.. bpo: 40052
+.. date: 2020-03-24-09-27-10
+.. nonce: 27P2KG
+.. section: C API
+
+Fix an alignment build warning/error in function
+``PyVectorcall_Function()``. Patch by Andreas Schneider, Antoine Pitrou and
+Petr Viktorin.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2020-02-28-14-33-15.bpo-29076.Gtixi5.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2020-02-28-14-33-15.bpo-29076.Gtixi5.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index b38beb0586951c..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2020-02-28-14-33-15.bpo-29076.Gtixi5.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add fish shell support to macOS installer.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2020-03-24-09-27-10.bpo-40052.27P2KG.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2020-03-24-09-27-10.bpo-40052.27P2KG.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 538488e2fbaccd..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2020-03-24-09-27-10.bpo-40052.27P2KG.rst	
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix an alignment build warning/error in function ``PyVectorcall_Function()``.
-Patch by Andreas Schneider, Antoine Pitrou and Petr Viktorin.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2021-01-27-10-27-47.bpo-43030.loDcD_.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2021-01-27-10-27-47.bpo-43030.loDcD_.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 7a432522db8a12..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2021-01-27-10-27-47.bpo-43030.loDcD_.rst	
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fixed a compiler warning in :c:func:`Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE()` on platforms with
-signed ``wchar_t``.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2021-01-04-23-54-34.bpo-42819.4KO6wU.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2021-01-04-23-54-34.bpo-42819.4KO6wU.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index d067f0bfa76448..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2021-01-04-23-54-34.bpo-42819.4KO6wU.rst	
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-:mod:`readline`: Explicitly disable bracketed paste in the interactive
-interpreter, even if it's set in the inputrc, is enabled by default (eg GNU
-Readline 8.1), or a user calls ``readline.read_init_file()``. The Python REPL
-has not implemented bracketed paste support. Also, bracketed mode writes the
-``"\x1b[?2004h"`` escape sequence into stdout which causes test failures in
-applications that don't support it. It can still be explicitly enabled by
-calling ``readline.parse_and_bind("set enable-bracketed-paste on")``. Patch by
-Dustin Rodrigues.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-01-04-22-14-22.bpo-42811.HY2beA.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-01-04-22-14-22.bpo-42811.HY2beA.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 768508e0ce1c19..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-01-04-22-14-22.bpo-42811.HY2beA.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Updated importlib.utils.resolve_name() doc to use __spec__.parent
-instead of __package__. (Thanks Yair Frid.)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-01-20-23-03-49.bpo-40304.-LK7Ps.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-01-20-23-03-49.bpo-40304.-LK7Ps.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 3f2f14c2d7b893..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-01-20-23-03-49.bpo-40304.-LK7Ps.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix doc for type(name, bases, dict).  Patch by Boris Verkhovskiy and
-Éric Araujo.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2019-06-30-20-31-09.bpo-32631.e7_4BG.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2019-06-30-20-31-09.bpo-32631.e7_4BG.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index c422f43b6d6dd8..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2019-06-30-20-31-09.bpo-32631.e7_4BG.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Finish zzdummy example extension module: make menu entries work;
-add docstrings and tests with 100% coverage.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2019-11-14-23-41-07.bpo-23544.3etemb.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2019-11-14-23-41-07.bpo-23544.3etemb.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index eb4a56bf100b59..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2019-11-14-23-41-07.bpo-23544.3etemb.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Disable Debug=>Stack Viewer when user code is running or Debugger
-is active, to prevent hang or crash.  Patch by Zackery Spytz.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2020-11-30-19-46-05.bpo-42508.fE7w4M.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2020-11-30-19-46-05.bpo-42508.fE7w4M.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index b449351f7f458e..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2020-11-30-19-46-05.bpo-42508.fE7w4M.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-Keep IDLE running on macOS.  Remove obsolete workaround that prevented
-running files with shortcuts when using new universal2 installers built
-on macOS 11.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2021-01-10-01-25-43.bpo-33065.zmyHYJ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2021-01-10-01-25-43.bpo-33065.zmyHYJ.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 87948f3cd1baa1..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2021-01-10-01-25-43.bpo-33065.zmyHYJ.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix problem debugging user classes with __repr__ method.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2021-01-26-18-12-17.bpo-43008.mbQUc7.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2021-01-26-18-12-17.bpo-43008.mbQUc7.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 55ab67ca94959a..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/IDLE/2021-01-26-18-12-17.bpo-43008.mbQUc7.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Make IDLE invoke :func:`sys.excepthook` in normal, 2-process mode.
-Patch by Ken Hilton.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2018-04-23-13-44-10.bpo-33289.anBnUr.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2018-04-23-13-44-10.bpo-33289.anBnUr.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 52d9ac9dd902cd..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2018-04-23-13-44-10.bpo-33289.anBnUr.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Correct call to :mod:`tkinter.colorchooser` to return RGB triplet of ints
-instead of floats.  Patch by Cheryl Sabella.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-11-16-22-56-51.bpo-36589.0Io76D.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-11-16-22-56-51.bpo-36589.0Io76D.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 3c1221b2034947..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-11-16-22-56-51.bpo-36589.0Io76D.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-The :func:`curses.update_lines_cols` function now returns ``None`` instead
-of ``1`` on success.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-12-16-17-55-31.bpo-39068.Ti3f9P.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-12-16-17-55-31.bpo-39068.Ti3f9P.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index fe6503fdce6b63..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-12-16-17-55-31.bpo-39068.Ti3f9P.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix initialization race condition in :func:`a85encode` and :func:`b85encode`
-in :mod:`base64`. Patch by Brandon Stansbury.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-05-30-14-19-47.bpo-26407.MjWLO1.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-05-30-14-19-47.bpo-26407.MjWLO1.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index d0e45cf1b1f2f4..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-05-30-14-19-47.bpo-26407.MjWLO1.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-Unexpected errors in calling the ``__iter__`` method are no longer masked
-by ``TypeError`` in :func:`csv.reader`, :func:`csv.writer.writerow` and
-:meth:`csv.writer.writerows`.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-08-21-15-24-14.bpo-41604.rTXleO.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-08-21-15-24-14.bpo-41604.rTXleO.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 0f9794cbdb321e..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-08-21-15-24-14.bpo-41604.rTXleO.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Don't decrement the reference count of the previous user_ptr when
-set_panel_userptr fails.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-10-11-13-48-03.bpo-42005.Jq6Az-.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-10-11-13-48-03.bpo-42005.Jq6Az-.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index be4ed7f55ffded..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-10-11-13-48-03.bpo-42005.Jq6Az-.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix CLI of :mod:`cProfile` and :mod:`profile` to catch
-:exc:`BrokenPipeError`.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-14-13-46-27.bpo-42318.wYAcBD.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-14-13-46-27.bpo-42318.wYAcBD.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index e72daebb2f152a..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-14-13-46-27.bpo-42318.wYAcBD.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fixed support of non-BMP characters in :mod:`tkinter` on macOS.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-17-14-30-12.bpo-42383.ubl0Y_.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-17-14-30-12.bpo-42383.ubl0Y_.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index ccf2106f28a93d..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-17-14-30-12.bpo-42383.ubl0Y_.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix pdb: previously pdb would fail to restart the debugging target if it was
-specified using a relative path and the current directory changed.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-17-14-32-39.bpo-42384.1ZnQSn.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-17-14-32-39.bpo-42384.1ZnQSn.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index ae990162fbab75..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-17-14-32-39.bpo-42384.1ZnQSn.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Make pdb populate sys.path[0] exactly the same as regular python execution.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-22-11-22-28.bpo-42388.LMgM6B.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-22-11-22-28.bpo-42388.LMgM6B.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 1b19247e841487..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-11-22-11-22-28.bpo-42388.LMgM6B.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix subprocess.check_output(..., input=None) behavior when text=True to be
-consistent with that of the documentation and universal_newlines=True.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-02-16-28-04.bpo-42531.2sLlFW.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-02-16-28-04.bpo-42531.2sLlFW.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 7927078acda430..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-02-16-28-04.bpo-42531.2sLlFW.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-:func:`importlib.resources.path` now works for :term:`package`\ s missing the optional :attr:`__file__` attribute (more specifically, packages whose :attr:`__spec__`\ ``.``\ :attr:`~importlib.machinery.ModuleSpec.origin` :keyword:`is` :data:`None`).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-20-22-50-15.bpo-42681.lDO6jb.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-20-22-50-15.bpo-42681.lDO6jb.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 34ea74a5a323d8..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-20-22-50-15.bpo-42681.lDO6jb.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fixed range checks for color and pair numbers in :mod:`curses`.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-27-18-47-01.bpo-23328._xqepZ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-27-18-47-01.bpo-23328._xqepZ.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 07b15d34e8d56b..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-27-18-47-01.bpo-23328._xqepZ.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Allow / character in username, password fields on _PROXY envars.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-27-22-19-26.bpo-42759.lGi_03.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-27-22-19-26.bpo-42759.lGi_03.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index a5ec7d5820336d..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-12-27-22-19-26.bpo-42759.lGi_03.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-Fixed equality comparison of :class:`tkinter.Variable` and
-:class:`tkinter.font.Font`. Objects which belong to different Tcl
-interpreters are now always different, even if they have the same name.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-05-21-26-29.bpo-41748.KdC0w3.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-05-21-26-29.bpo-41748.KdC0w3.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 52efa3ac3d40eb..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-05-21-26-29.bpo-41748.KdC0w3.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fix HTMLParser parsing rules for element attributes containing
-commas with spaces. Patch by Karl Dubost.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-08-15-49-20.bpo-42780.rtqi6B.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-08-15-49-20.bpo-42780.rtqi6B.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index a491690507129e..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-08-15-49-20.bpo-42780.rtqi6B.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix os.set_inheritable() for O_PATH file descriptors on Linux.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-02-02-20-23-31.bpo-43108.lqcCZ6.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-02-02-20-23-31.bpo-43108.lqcCZ6.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 8e45640bceae13..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-02-02-20-23-31.bpo-43108.lqcCZ6.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fixed a reference leak in the :mod:`curses` module. Patch by Pablo Galindo
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Security/2021-01-18-09-27-31.bpo-42938.4Zn4Mp.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Security/2021-01-18-09-27-31.bpo-42938.4Zn4Mp.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 7df65a156feabd..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Security/2021-01-18-09-27-31.bpo-42938.4Zn4Mp.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Avoid static buffers when computing the repr of :class:`ctypes.c_double` and
-:class:`ctypes.c_longdouble` values.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Security/2021-02-14-15-59-16.bpo-42967.YApqDS.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Security/2021-02-14-15-59-16.bpo-42967.YApqDS.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index f08489b41494ea..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Security/2021-02-14-15-59-16.bpo-42967.YApqDS.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix web cache poisoning vulnerability by defaulting the query args separator to ``&``, and allowing the user to choose a custom separator.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2020-05-30-10-56-38.bpo-40810.LPqDLQ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2020-05-30-10-56-38.bpo-40810.LPqDLQ.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index eafd94cabede93..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2020-05-30-10-56-38.bpo-40810.LPqDLQ.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-In :mod:`sqlite3`, fix ``CheckTraceCallbackContent`` for SQLite pre 3.7.15.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2021-01-01-08-52-36.bpo-42794.-7-XGz.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2021-01-01-08-52-36.bpo-42794.-7-XGz.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 577f2259e1f00c..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2021-01-01-08-52-36.bpo-42794.-7-XGz.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Update test_nntplib to use offical group name of news.aioe.org for testing.
-Patch by Dong-hee Na.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tools-Demos/2020-12-23-19-42-11.bpo-42726.a5EkTv.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tools-Demos/2020-12-23-19-42-11.bpo-42726.a5EkTv.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 01a6e7fe55f5b3..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tools-Demos/2020-12-23-19-42-11.bpo-42726.a5EkTv.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Fixed Python 3 compatibility issue with gdb/libpython.py handling of attribute
-dictionaries.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2020-12-07-11-40-52.bpo-42584.AsYnVX.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2020-12-07-11-40-52.bpo-42584.AsYnVX.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index afb6530c8f66d7..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2020-12-07-11-40-52.bpo-42584.AsYnVX.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Upgrade Windows installer to use SQLite 3.34.0.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2021-01-05-20-36-40.bpo-41837.bmS7vB.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2021-01-05-20-36-40.bpo-41837.bmS7vB.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 8d4bb34ff909c2..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2021-01-05-20-36-40.bpo-41837.bmS7vB.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Updated Windows installer to include OpenSSL 1.1.1i
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2020-12-07-11-37-35.bpo-42584.LygmqQ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2020-12-07-11-37-35.bpo-42584.LygmqQ.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a625f98e90781..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2020-12-07-11-37-35.bpo-42584.LygmqQ.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update macOS installer to use SQLite 3.34.0.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2021-01-04-00-48-08.bpo-41837.dX-unJ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2021-01-04-00-48-08.bpo-41837.dX-unJ.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 3f9415f4a36064..00000000000000
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/macOS/2021-01-04-00-48-08.bpo-41837.dX-unJ.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update macOS installer build to use OpenSSL 1.1.1i.
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 4907629a0f69d6..d6d9c5b2b1bef0 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 3.8.7
-============================
+This is Python version 3.8.8rc1
+===============================
 
 .. image:: https://travis-ci.org/python/cpython.svg?branch=3.8
    :alt: CPython build status on Travis CI