release notes: add more stuff for 4.6.0

Author: SomberNight

RELEASE-NOTES

@@ -1,16 +1,13 @@
-# Release 4.6.0 (not released yet)
-
+# Release 4.6.0 (in beta/rc, June 2025)
  * A 'Terms of Use' screen was added to the install wizard. While the
    licence remains unchanged, we ask users to agree with the fact that
    we are not a custodial service or a money transmitter. The Terms of
    Use screen also makes it clear that all issues are to be resolved
    in public, and that there is no user support via private channels.
-
- * Nostr support: Electrum includes a built-in Nostr library named
-   electrum-aionostr. This library is used in the context of submarine
-   swaps, and by several plugins. Electrum will not connect to Nostr
+ * Nostr support: (using new dependency: electrum-aionostr)
+   Electrum now uses Nostr in the context of submarine swaps,
+   and in several plugins. Electrum will not connect to Nostr
    by default, only if required.
-
  * Submarine swaps over Nostr: The Electrum client will connect to
    Nostr in order to discover submarine swap providers, and to perform
    related RPCs. This means that:
@@ -29,80 +26,84 @@
     when the user uses the swap service, and the nostr public key used
     by the client is ephemeral. In contrast, swap providers use a
     persisted identity.
-
  * Third-party plugins:
-   - Electrum support the installation of plugins distributed by
+   - Electrum supports the installation of plugins distributed by
      third-parties as ZIP files. While it has long been possible to
      install third-party plugins when running Electrum from python
      sources, the same is now possible when using desktop binaries
      (Windows, MacOS, Linux). Third-party plugins are installed as ZIP
-     files in the user's electrum directory.
+     files in the user's electrum data directory.
    - In order to prevent plugin installation by malware, third-party
      plugins can only be enabled if the user enters a plugin
      authorization password (distinct from the wallet password).
      Setting up that plugin authorization password requires
      administrator permissions on the local machine; a
      password-derived public key must be written in the system.
-
- * Lightning anchor channels (#9264): Newly created channels use
-   anchor commitments by default. Since sweeping outputs from anchor
-   channels may require external UTXOs, lightning can no longer be
-   enabled in wallets that do not have a software keystore (hardware
-   wallets, watching-only wallets).  Existing wallets that are in that
-   situation cannot create new channels.
-
- * Wallet unlocking (Qt):
-   - Wallets can be unlocked in the Qt GUI. When a password-protected
-     wallet is unlocked, its password is kept in memory, and signing
-     transactions will not require to enter the password. The unlocked
-     state is rendered by the 'open lock' icon in the status bar.
-   - If a wallet needs to sweep anchor channel outputs using extra
-     UTXOs, the operations will be performed without requiring the
-     user password if the wallet is unlocked. If the wallet is locked,
-     the status bar will show a 'password required' button.
-
- * Transaction batching (Qt): When creating a new payment, if the
-   output can be added to an existing mempool transaction, the 'New
-   transaction' window will show a drop-down menu, proposing a list of
-   transactions that can be batched with the current payment. This
-   replaces the previous 'batch' option checkbox, and gives more
-   control to the user.
-
- * Keystore enabling/disabling (Qt): It is now possible to add a seed
-   to an existing watching-only wallet, or to a keystore within a
-   multisig wallet. Similarly, it is possible to pair a watching-only
-   keystore with a hardware device. These operations are performed
-   from the 'Wallet Information' dialog.
-
- * Wallet file encryption:
-   - Non-multisig hardware wallet files can be encrypted with a
-     password, instead of the hardware device.
-   - The option to have a password-protected wallet without file
-     encryption has been removed from the Qt GUI. It is still possible
-     to create such a wallet using the command line.
-
- * Lightning address contacts:
-   - It is now possible to create contacts with (lnurl type) lightning
-     addresses as payment identifier.
-
+ * Lightning:
+   - Anchor channels (#9264): Newly created channels use
+       anchor commitments by default. Since sweeping outputs from anchor
+       channels may require external UTXOs, lightning can no longer be
+       enabled in wallets that do not have a software keystore (hardware
+       wallets, watching-only wallets).  Existing wallets that are in that
+       situation cannot create new channels.
+   - wallets with anchor channels must always have utxos available (#9536)
+   - support added for onion messages (only CLI for now) (#9039)
+   - lots of fixes and improvements (#8857, #8547, #9700, #9083, ...)
+ * Qt Desktop GUI:
+   - migrate from Qt5 to Qt6 (#9189)
+   - new: screenshot "protection" on Windows (#9898). Inspired by Windows
+     Recall, by default screenshots will contain black rectangles in
+     place of the Electrum windows, to try to avoid leaking secret keys.
+     This is opt-out using a config variable.
+   - exposed option to connect to only a single server (--oneserver)
+   - Wallet file encryption:
+     - Non-multisig hardware wallet files can now be encrypted with
+       either using the hardware device or (new) a password. (#5561)
+     - The option to have a password-protected wallet without file
+       encryption has been removed from the Qt GUI. It is still possible
+       to create such a wallet using the command line.
+   - Wallet unlocking:
+     - Wallets can be unlocked in the Qt GUI. When a password-protected
+       wallet is unlocked, its password is kept in memory, and signing
+       transactions will not require to enter the password. The unlocked
+       state is rendered by the 'open lock' icon in the status bar.
+     - If a wallet needs to sweep anchor channel outputs using extra
+       UTXOs, the operations will be performed without requiring the
+       user password if the wallet is unlocked. If the wallet is locked,
+       the status bar will show a 'password required' button.
+   - Transaction batching: When creating a new payment, if the
+     output can be added to an existing mempool transaction, the 'New
+     transaction' window will show a drop-down menu, proposing a list of
+     transactions that can be batched with the current payment. This
+     replaces the previous 'batch' option checkbox, and gives more
+     control to the user.
+   - Keystore enabling/disabling (Qt):
+     - It is now possible to add a seed
+       to an existing watching-only wallet, or to a keystore within a
+       multisig wallet. Similarly, it is possible to pair a watching-only
+       keystore with a hardware device. These operations are performed
+       from the 'Wallet Information' dialog.
+   - Lightning address contacts:
+     - It is now possible to create contacts with (lnurl type) lightning
+       addresses as payment identifier.
+   - show warnings on wallet close if there are sensitive pending operations,
+     e.g. when in the middle of doing a swap (#9715)
  * Accounting rules: In order to properly handle on-chain transactions
    created by lightning channel force closures, we consider that funds
    successfully redeemed from a script with several possible
    recipients have never left the final recipient's wallet. This
    avoids having to write balance changes that are cancelled
    later. The corresponding addresses are rendered in the GUI as
    'accounting addresses' (in orange).
-
  * New plugins:
    - Nostr Wallet Connect: This plugin allows remote control of
-     Electrum lightning wallets via Nostr NIP-47.
+     Electrum lightning wallets via Nostr NIP-47. (#9675)
    - Nostr Cosigner: This plugin facilitates the exchange of
      PSBTs between cosigners of a multisig wallet. It replaces the
      former 'Cosigner pool' plugin. Instead of relying on a central
-     server, it uses Nostr to send/receive PSBTs.
+     server, it uses Nostr to send/receive PSBTs. (#9261)
    - Timelock Recovery: A timelock based inheritance scheme.
-     See timelockrecovery.com
-
+     See timelockrecovery.com (#9589)
  * CLI:
    - The command line help has been improved; parameters are
      documented in the same docstring as the command they belong to.
@@ -112,22 +113,45 @@
    - Plugins may add extra commands to the CLI. Plugin commands must
      be prefixed with the plugin's internal name.
    - Support for hold invoices.
-
+   - new commands:
+     - listconfig, helpconfig, unsetconfig
+     - onchain_capital_gains (was previously a field of onchain_history)
+     - {add,settle,cancel,check}_hold_invoice
+     - send_onion_message, get_blinded_path_via
+     - wait_for_sync
  * Security:
    - Mitigate against dust attacks; Add option to avoid spending from
-     used addresses.
-   - Restrict process memory access on Linux.
-
- * Networking:
-   - The option to connect to a single server has been added to the GUI.
-
- * Android:
-   - Sweep key feature ported to mobile
+     used addresses. (#9636)
+   - Restrict process memory access on Linux. (#9749)
+ * QML GUI (Android):
+   - "Sweep key" feature ported to mobile
    - Estimate amount when Max is checked
-   - Properly ask for (notification) permission access.
-
+   - exposed option to connect to only a single server (--oneserver)
+ * Android:
+   - properly ask for (notification) OS permission access. (#9682)
+   - add option to prevent the app touching the screen brightness (#9321)
+ * Electrum protocol: add padding and some noise to messages (#9875)
  * Hardware wallets:
    - Coldcard: add feature to upload multisig wallet configuration to Coldcard via USB.
+   - KeepKey: we now vendor our fork of keepkeylib,
+       instead of using the unmaintained upstream as an external dependency (#9650)
+   - Ledger:
+     - rm support for "HW.1" and "Nano" (non-S) devices (#9652)
+     - rm dependency: btchip-python (#9370)
+ * Builds/binaries:
+   - new minimum OS requirements:
+     - Windows: x86_64, Windows 10 (1809)
+         note: 32-bit Windows is no longer supported.
+     - macOS: 11 "Big Sur"
+     - Linux AppImage: x86_64, glibc 2.31 ("debian 11"-equivalent)
+   - known issue: the Windows binaries are not codesigned atm (but there are GPG sigs!)
+ * Dependencies:
+   - the minimum required python version was increased: 3.8->3.10 (#9418)
+   - new first-party dep: electrum-aionostr
+     - forked the seemingly unmaintained davestgermain/aionostr library
+   - new first-party dep: electrum-ecc
+     - split out our existing libsecp256k1 python bindings into
+       this separate package
 
 
 # Release 4.5.8 (Oct 23, 2024)