Release/4.8.8 rc1 (#261)

### Description
<!-- Describe what change this PR is implementing -->

### Types of Changes
<!--- What types of changes does your code introduce? -->
- [ ] Tech Debt (Code improvements)
- [ ] Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
- [ ] New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
- [ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing
functionality to change)
- [x] Dependency upgrade (A change in substrate or any 3rd party crate
version)

### Migrations and Hooks
<!--- Check the following box with an x if the following applies: -->
- [ ] This change requires a runtime migration.
- [ ] Modifies `on_initialize`
- [ ] Modifies `on_finalize`

### Checklist
<!--- All boxes need to be checked. Follow this checklist before
requiring PR review -->
- [x] Change has been tested locally.
- [ ] Change adds / updates tests.
- [x] Changelog doc updated.

---------

Co-authored-by: Rakan Al-Huneiti <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: aie0 <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Pavel <[email protected]>

.github/pull_request_template.md

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 ### Types of Changes
 <!--- What types of changes does your code introduce? -->
+- [ ] Tech Debt (Code improvements)
 - [ ] Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
 - [ ] New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
 - [ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)

.maintain/frame-weight-template.hbs

@@ -47,10 +47,10 @@ impl<T: frame_system::Config> WeightInfo for SubstrateWeight<T> {
 		{{~#each benchmark.components as |c| ~}}
 		{{~#if (not c.is_used)}}_{{/if}}{{c.name}}: u32, {{/each~}}
 	) -> Weight {
-		Weight::from_ref_time({{underscore benchmark.base_weight}}_u64)
+		Weight::from_parts({{underscore benchmark.base_weight}}_u64, 0)
 			{{#each benchmark.component_weight as |cw|}}
 			// Standard Error: {{underscore cw.error}}
-			.saturating_add(Weight::from_ref_time({{underscore cw.slope}}_u64).saturating_mul({{cw.name}} as u64))
+			.saturating_add(Weight::from_parts({{underscore cw.slope}}_u64, 0).saturating_mul({{cw.name}} as u64))
 			{{/each}}
 			{{#if (ne benchmark.base_reads "0")}}
 			.saturating_add(T::DbWeight::get().reads({{benchmark.base_reads}}_u64))
@@ -82,10 +82,10 @@ impl WeightInfo for () {
 		{{~#each benchmark.components as |c| ~}}
 		{{~#if (not c.is_used)}}_{{/if}}{{c.name}}: u32, {{/each~}}
 	) -> Weight {
-		Weight::from_ref_time({{underscore benchmark.base_weight}}_u64)
+		Weight::from_parts({{underscore benchmark.base_weight}}_u64, 0)
 			{{#each benchmark.component_weight as |cw|}}
 			// Standard Error: {{underscore cw.error}}
-			.saturating_add(Weight::from_ref_time({{underscore cw.slope}}_u64).saturating_mul({{cw.name}} as u64))
+			.saturating_add(Weight::from_parts({{underscore cw.slope}}_u64, 0).saturating_mul({{cw.name}} as u64))
 			{{/each}}
 			{{#if (ne benchmark.base_reads "0")}}
 			.saturating_add(RocksDbWeight::get().reads({{benchmark.base_reads}}_u64))

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -12,18 +12,27 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ## [vNext]
 
 ### Changed
+- ...
 
-- Changes in `pallet-ddc-payouts::begin_billing_report` crate to accept start and end of the era.
+### Added
+- ...
+
+## [4.8.8]
 
+### Changed
+
+- [C,D] Updated Substrate to polkadot-v0.9.40
 - More explicit events in `pallet-ddc-payouts` and `pallet-ddc-customers`
-- ...
+- Introduce a burn rate of 0.058% daily to bring inflation down.
+- More explicit events in `pallet-ddc-payouts` about batch index
 
 ## [4.8.7]
 
 ### Changed
 
 - [C,D] Updated Substrate to polkadot-v0.9.38
 - [C] Added pallet-preimage to support democracy functionality.
+- Changes in `pallet-ddc-payouts::begin_billing_report` crate to accept start and end of the era.
 
 ## [4.8.6]