From 2086ba9bd9ea222c1b6321b3d4d125566277fd72 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sean Gillies <sean@mapbox.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 14:49:44 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Update change log and version: 1.8a1

---
 CHANGES.txt         | 12 ++++++++++--
 shapely/__init__.py |  2 +-
 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index a306159fb..ec8b39803 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 Changes
 =======
 
-1.8a1 (TBD)
------------
+1.8a1 (2021-03-03)
+------------------
+
+Shapely 1.8.0 will be a transitional version. There are a few bug fixes and new
+features, but it is mainly about warning of the upcoming changes in 2.0.0.
+Several more pre-releases before 1.8.0 are expected.
 
 Deprecations:
 
@@ -44,6 +48,10 @@ Bug fixes:
 - Several issues with duplication and order of vertices in ops.substring have
   been fixed (#1008).
 
+Packaging:
+
+- The wheels uploaded to PyPI will include GEOS 3.9.1.
+
 1.7.1 (2020-08-20)
 ------------------
 
diff --git a/shapely/__init__.py b/shapely/__init__.py
index 9c6de1ae9..7cd555dd0 100644
--- a/shapely/__init__.py
+++ b/shapely/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "1.8dev"
+__version__ = "1.8a1"