Release 24.08 - Steel Backed-up Channels · ElementsProject/lightning

We are pleased to announce the 24.08 release of Core Lightning, named by @Lagrang3. For a list of all changes, please see the changelog.

Highlights for Users

pay now checks for sufficient spendable capacity before computing a route and returns a clear error message if there isn't enough capacity.
offers can now self-fetch and self-pay BOLT12 offers and invoices.
offers automatically adds a blinded path from a peer if we have no public channels, and supports setting a blinded path for invoicerequest if we're an unannounced node.
renepay now prunes the network by disabling undesired channels, un-reserves routes after use, and introduces a new exclude option for channels & nodes to be excluded from routing.
Whitespace at the end of (most) options will not complain anymore.
I/O optimizations to significantly speed up larger nodes.

pay can now pay to bolt12 invoices if entry to blinded hop is specified as a short_channel_id.
We can now open unannounced channels with LND nodes again.
Onion messages are now supported by default and can be forwarded using short_channel_id.
We now request all gossip from the first peer and immediately send updated gossip to current peers instead of waiting for reconnections.
Recurring offers had incompatible changes, it will not work against older versions.

New experimental plugin askrene accesses min-cost-flow route calculations.
pay plugin now includes enhanced logging and improved error codes, and emits channel_hint_updated notifications to share inferred balances across payments.
New reckless-rpc plugin allows to issue commands to reckless over rpc.
Plugin manager reckless now supports installing Rust plugins, accepts JSON array input and, provides JSON output with the -j/--json option flag.
bookkeeper now listens for two new custom events: utxo_deposit and utxo_spend.

Since 24.05, we've had 378 commits by 21 authors in 85 days!

A special thanks to the eight first time contributors: