diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index ed5df12a58b..b5dae254ada 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,220 +1,409 @@
-4.5.0
+4.6.0
 =====
 
-Read Axoflow's [blog post](https://axoflow.com/axosyslog-release-4-5/) for more details.
+Read Axoflow's [blog post](https://axoflow.com/axosyslog-release-4-6/) for more details.
 You can read more about the new features in the AxoSyslog [documentation](https://axoflow.com/docs/axosyslog-core/).
 
 
 ## Highlights
 
-#### Sending log messages to OpenObserve
+### Forwarding logs to Google BigQuery
 
-The `openobserve-log()` destination feeds OpenObserve via the [JSON API](https://openobserve.ai/docs/api/ingestion/logs/json/).
+The `bigquery()` destination inserts logs to a Google BigQuery table via the
+high-performance gRPC API.
+
+Authentication is done via [Application Default Credentials](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/provide-credentials-adc).
+
+You can locate your BigQuery table with the `project()` `dataset()` and `table()`
+options.
+
+There are two ways to configure your table's schema.
+  - You can set the columns and their respective type and template with the
+    `schema()` option. The available types are: `STRING`, `BYTES`, `INTEGER`,
+    `FLOAT`, `BOOLEAN`, `TIMESTAMP`, `DATE`, `TIME`, `DATETIME`, `JSON`,
+    `NUMERIC`, `BIGNUMERIC`, `GEOGRAPHY`, `RECORD`, `INTERVAL`.
+  - Alternatively you can import a `.proto` file with the `protobuf-schema()` option,
+    and map the templates for each column.
+
+The performance can be further improved with the `workers()`, `batch-lines()`,
+`batch-bytes()`, `batch-timeout()` and `compression()` options. By default the
+messages are sent with one worker, one message per batch and without compression.
+
+Keepalive can be configured with the `keep-alive()` block and its `time()`,
+`timeout()`  and `max-pings-without-data()` options.
 
 Example config:
 ```
-openobserve-log(
-    url("http://openobserve-endpoint")
-    port(5080)
-    stream("default")
-    user("root@example.com")
-    password("V2tsn88GhdNTKxaS")
+bigquery(
+    project("test-project")
+    dataset("test-dataset")
+    table("test-table")
+    workers(8)
+
+    schema(
+        "message" => "$MESSAGE"
+        "app" STRING => "$PROGRAM"
+        "host" STRING => "$HOST"
+        "pid" INTEGER => int("$PID")
+    )
+
+    on-error("drop-property")
+
+    # or alternatively instead of schema():
+    # protobuf-schema("/tmp/test.proto"
+    #                 => "$MESSAGE", "$PROGRAM", "$HOST", "$PID")
+
+    # keep-alive(time(20000) timeout(10000) max-pings-without-data(0))
 );
 ```
-([#4698](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4698))
 
-#### Sending messages to Google Pub/Sub
+Example `.proto` schema:
+```
+syntax = "proto2";
+​
+message CustomRecord {
+  optional string message = 1;
+  optional string app = 2;
+  optional string host = 3;
+  optional int64 pid = 4;
+}
+```
 
-The `google-pubsub()` destination feeds Google Pub/Sub via the [HTTP REST API](https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/docs/reference/rest/v1/projects.topics/publish).
+([#4733](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4733))
+([#4770](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4770))
+([#4756](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4756))
+
+
+### Collecting native macOS system logs
+
+Two new sources have been added on macOS: `darwin-oslog()`, `darwin-oslog-stream()`.
+`darwin-oslog()` replaced the earlier file source based solution with a native OSLog
+framework based one, and is automatically used in the `system()` source on darwin
+platform if the **darwinosl** plugin is presented.
+
+This plugin is available only on macOS 10.15 Catalina and above, the first version
+that has the OSLog API.
+
+#### `darwin-oslog()`
+
+This is a native OSLog Framework based source to read logs from the local store of
+the unified logging system on darwin OSes.
+For more info, see https://developer.apple.com/documentation/oslog?language=objc
+
+The following parameters can be used for customization:
+  - `filter-predicate()`
+      - string value, which can be used to filter the log messages natively
+      - default value: `(eventType == 'logEvent' || eventType == 'lossEvent' || eventType == 'stateEvent' || eventType == 'userActionEvent') && (logType != 'debug')`
+      - for more details, see
+          - `man log`
+          - https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/Predicates/Articles/pSyntax.html
+  - `go-reverse()`
+      - boolean value, setting to `yes` will provide a reverse-ordered log list
+        (from latest to oldest)
+      - default value: `no`
+  - `do-not-use-bookmark()`
+      - boolean value, setting to `yes` will prevent syslog-ng from continuing to
+        feed the logs from the last remembered position after a (re-)start, which means,
+        depending on the other settings, the feed will always start from the end/beginning
+        of the available log list
+      - default value: `no`, which means syslog-ng will attempt to continue feeding from
+        the last remembered log position after a (re-)start
+  - `max-bookmark-distance()`
+      - integer value, maximum distance in seconds that far an earlier bookmark can point
+        backward, e.g. if syslog-ng was stopped for 10 minutes and max-bookmark-distance
+        is set to 60 then syslog-ng will start feeding the logs only from the last 60
+        seconds at startup, 9 minutes of logs 'will be lost'
+      - default value: `0`, which means no limit
+  - `read-old-records()`
+      - boolean value, controls if syslog-ng should start reading logs from the oldest
+        available at first start (or if no bookmark can be found)
+      - default value: `no`
+  - `fetch-delay()`
+      - integer value, controls how much time syslog-ng should wait between reading/sending
+        log messages, this is a fraction of a second, where wait_time = 1 second / n, so,
+        e.g. n=1 means that only about 1 log will be read and sent in each second,
+        and n=1 000 000 means only 1 microsecond (the allowed minimum value now!)
+        will be the delay between read/write attempts
+      - Use with care, though lower delay time can increase log feed performance, at the
+        same time could lead to a heavy system load!
+      - default value: `10 000`
+  - `fetch-retry-delay()`
+      - integer value, controls how many seconds syslog-ng will wait before a repeated
+        attempt to read/send once it's out of available logs
+      - default value: `1`
+  - `log-fetch-limit()`
+      - **Warning**: _This option is now disabled due to an OSLog API bug_
+        _(https://openradar.appspot.com/radar?id=5597032077066240), once it's fixed it_
+        _will be enabled again_
+      - integer value, that limits the number of logs syslog-ng will send in one run
+      - default value: `0`, which means no limit
+
+NOTE: the persistent OSLog store is not infinite, depending on your system setting usually,
+it keeps about 7 days of logs on disk, so it could happen that the above options cannot
+operate the way you expect, e.g. if syslog-ng was stopped for about more then a week it
+could happen that will not be able to restart from the last saved bookmark position
+(as that might not be presented in the persistent log anymore)
+
+#### `darwin-oslog-stream()`
+
+This is a wrapper around the OS command line "log stream" command that can provide a live
+log stream feed. Unlike in the case of `darwin-oslog()` the live stream can contain
+non-persistent log events too, so take care, there might be a huge number of log events
+every second that could put an unusual load on the device running syslog-ng with this source.
+Unfortunately, there's no public API to get the same programmatically, so this one is
+implemented using a program() source.
+
+Possible parameters:
+  - `params()`
+    - a string that can contain all the possible params the macOS `log` tool can accept
+    - see `log --help stream` for full reference, and `man log` for more details
+    - IMPORTANT: the parameter `--style` is used internally (defaults to `ndjson`), so it
+      cannot be overridden, please use other sysylog-ng features (templates, rewrite rules, etc.)
+      for final output formatting
+    - default value: `--type log --type trace --level info --level debug`,
+      you can use \``def-osl-stream-params`\` for referencing it if you wish to keep the
+      defaults when you add your own
+
+([#4423](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4423))
+
+### Collecting qBittorrent logs
+
+The new `qbittorrent()` source, reads qBittorrent logs from its log file output.
+
+Example minimal config:
+```
+source s_qbittorrent {
+  qbittorrent(
+    dir("/path/to/my/qbittorrent/root/log/dir")
+  );
+};
+```
 
-Example config:
+The root dir of the qBittorrent logs can be found in the
+"Tools" / "Preferences" / "Behavior" / "Log file" / "Save path" field.
+
+As the `qbittorrent()` source is based on a `file()` source, all of the `file()`
+source options are applicable, too.
+
+([#4760](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4760))
+
+### Collecting pihole FTL logs
+
+The new `pihole-ftl()` source reads pihole FTL (Faster Than Light) logs, which
+are usually accessible in the "Tools" / "Pi-hole diagnosis" menu.
+
+Example minimal config:
 ```
-google-pubsub(
-  project("syslog-ng-project")
-  topic("syslog-ng-topic")
-  auth(
-    service-account(
-      key("/path/to/service-account-key.json")
-    )
-  )
-);
+source s_pihole_ftl {
+  pihole-ftl();
+};
 ```
 
-See the [Google Pub/Sub documentation](https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/docs/building-pubsub-messaging-system) to learn more about configuring a service account.
-([#4651](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4651))
+By default it reads the `/var/log/pihole/FTL.log` file.
+You can change the root dir of Pi-hole's logs with the `dir()` option,
+where the `FTL.log` file can be found.
+
+As the `pihole-ftl()` source is based on a `file()` source, all of the
+`file()` source options are applicable, too.
+
+([#4760](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4760))
+
+### Parsing Windows Eventlog XMLs
+
+The new `windows-eventlog-xml-parser()` introduces parsing support for Windows Eventlog XMLs.
+
+Its parameters are the same as the `xml()` parser.
+
+Example config:
+```
+parser p_win {
+    windows-eventlog-xml-parser(prefix(".winlog."));
+};
+```
 
-#### Parsing PostgreSQL logs
+([#4793](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4793))
 
-The `postgresql-csvlog-parser()`: add a new parser to process CSV log formatted by
-PostgreSQL (https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/runtime-config-logging.html).
-The CSV format is extracted into a set of name-value pairs.
-([#4586](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4586))
 
 ## Features
 
-  * `http()`: Added support for using templates in the `url()` option.
-
-    In syslog-ng a template can only be resolved on a single message, as the same
-    template might have different resolutions on different messages. A http batch
-    consists of multiple messages, so it is not trivial to decide which message should
-    be used for the resolution.
-
-    When batching is enabled and multiple workers are configured it is important to
-    only batch messages which generate identical URLs. In this scenario one must set
-    the `worker-partition-key()` option with a template that contains all the templates
-    used in the `url()` option, otherwise messages will be mixed.
-
-    For security reasons, all the templated contents in the `url()` option are getting
-    URL encoded automatically. Also the following parts of the url cannot be templated:
-      * scheme
-      * host
-      * port
-      * user
-      * password
-    ([#4663](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4663))
-
-  * `$TRANSPORT`: this is a new name-value pair that syslog-ng populates
-    automatically.  It indicates the "transport" mechanism used to
-    retrieve/receive the message.  It is up to the source driver to determine
-    the value. Currently the following values were implemented:
-
-      BSD syslog drivers: `tcp()`, `udp()` & `network()`
-      * `rfc3164+tls`
-      * `rfc3164+tcp`
-      * `rfc3164+udp`
-      * `rfc3164+proxied-tls`
-      * `rfc3164+<custom logproto like altp>`
-
-      UNIX domain drivers: `unix-dgram()`, `unix-stream()`
-      * `unix-stream`
-      * `unix-dgram`
-
-      RFC5424 style syslog: `syslog()`:
-      * `rfc5426`: syslog over udp
-      * `rfc5425`: syslog over tls
-      * `rfc6587`: syslog over tcp
-      * `rfc5424+<custom logproto like altp>`: syslog over a logproto plugin
-
-      Other drivers:
-      * otlp: `otel()` driver
-      * mqtt: `mqtt()` driver
-      * hypr-api: `hypr-audit-source()` driver
-
-    `$IP_PROTO`: indicate the IP protocol version used to retrieve/receive the
-    message. Contains either "4" to indicate IPv4 and "6" to indicate IPv6.
-    ([#4673](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4673))
-
-  * `network()` and `syslog()` drivers: Added `ignore-validity-period` as a new flag to `ssl-options()`.
-
-    By specifying `ignore-validity-period`, you can ignore the validity periods
-    of certificates during the certificate validation process.
-    ([#4642](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4642))
-
-  * `tls()` in `udp()`/`tcp()`/`network()` and `syslog()` drivers: add support
-    for a new `http()` compatible ssl-version() option. This makes the TLS
-    related options for http() and other syslog-like drivers more similar. This
-    requires OpenSSL 1.1.0.
-    ([#4682](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4682))
-
-  * `cloud-auth()`: Added a new plugin for drivers, which implements different cloud related authentications.
-
-    Currently the only supported authentication is [GCP's Service Account](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/service-account-overview) for the `http()` destination.
+  * `cloud-auth()`: Added support for `user-managed-service-account()` `gcp()` auth method.
 
-    Example config:
+    This authentication method can be used on VMs in GCP to use the linked service.
+
+    Example minimal config, which tries to use the "default" service account:
+    ```
+    cloud-auth(
+      gcp(
+        user-managed-service-account()
+      )
+    )
+    ```
+
+    Full config:
     ```
-    http(
-      cloud-auth(
-        gcp(
-          service-account(
-            key("/path/to/service-account-key.json")
-            audience("https://pubsub.googleapis.com/google.pubsub.v1.Publisher")
-          )
+    cloud-auth(
+      gcp(
+        user-managed-service-account(
+          name("alltilla@syslog-ng-test-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com")
+          metadata-url("my-custom-metadata-server:8080")
         )
       )
-    );
+    )
     ```
-    ([#4651](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4651))
-
-  * `csv-parser()`: allow parsing the extracted values into matches ($1, $2, $3 ...)
-    by omitting the columns() parameter, which normally specifies the column
-    names.
-    ([#4678](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4678))
-
-  * `--check-startup`: a new command line option for syslog-ng along with the
-    existing `--syntax-only`. This new option will do a complete configuration
-    initialization and then exit with exit code indicating the result. Since
-    this also initializes things like network listeners, it will probably _not_
-    work when there is another syslog-ng instance running in the background. The
-    recommended use of this option is a dedicated config check container, as
-    explained in #4592.
-    ([#4646](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4646))
 
-## Bugfixes
+    This authentication method is extremely useful with syslog-ng's `google-pubsub()` destination,
+    when it is running on VMs in GCP, for example:
+    ```
+    destination {
+      google-pubsub(
+        project("syslog-ng-test-project")
+        topic("syslog-ng-test-topic")
+        auth(user-managed-service-account())
+      );
+    };
+    ```
+
+    For more info about this GCP authentication method, see:
+     * https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/access/authenticate-workloads#curl
+     * https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/access/create-enable-service-accounts-for-instances
+    ([#4755](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4755))
 
-  * `s3`: Fixed an ImportError.
+  * `opentelemetry()`, `syslog-ng-otlp()` sources: Added `workers()` option.
 
-    `ImportError: cannot import name 'SharedBool' from 'syslogng.modules.s3.s3_object'`
-    ([#4700](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4700))
+    This feature enables processing the OTLP messages on multiple threads,
+    which can greatly improve the performance.
+    By default it is set to `workers(1)`.
+    ([#4774](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4774))
 
-  * `loki()`: fixed mixing non-related label values
-    ([#4713](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4713))
+  * `opentelemetry()`, `syslog-ng-otlp()` destinations: Added `compression()` option.
 
-  * type hinting: Parsing and casting fractions are now done locale independently.
-    ([#4702](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4702))
+    This boolean option can be used to enable gzip compression in gRPC requests.
+    By default it is set to `compression(no)`.
+    ([#4765](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4765))
 
-  * `metrics-probe()`: Fixed a crash.
+  * `opentelemetry()`, `syslog-ng-otlp()` destinations: Added `batch-bytes()` option.
 
-    This crash occurred when a `metrics-probe()` instance was used in multiple source threads,
-    like a `network()` source with multiple connections.
-    ([#4685](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4685))
+    This option lets the user limit the bytes size of a batch. As there is a
+    default 4 MiB batch limit by OTLP, it is necessary to keep the batch size
+    smaller, but it would be hard to configure without this option.
 
-  * `flags()` argument to various drivers: fix a potential crash in case a flag with at least 32 characters is used.
-    No such flag is defined by syslog-ng, so the only way to trigger the crash is to use an invalid configuration file.
-    ([#4689](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4689))
+    Please note that the batch can be at most 1 message larger than the set
+    limit, so consider this when setting this value.
 
-  * Fix `$PROTO` value for `transport(tls)` connections, previously it was set
-    to "0" while in reality these are tcp connections (e.g. "6").
+    The default value is 4 MB, which is a bit below 4 MiB.
 
-    Fix how syslog-ng sets $HOST for V4-mapped addresses in case of IPv6 source
-    drivers (e.g. `udp6()`/`tcp6()` or when using `ip-protocol(6)` for `tcp()`/`udp()`).
-    Previously V4-mapped addresses would be represented as
-    `"::ffff:<ipv4 address>"`. This is not wrong per-se, but would potentially
-    cause the same host to be represented in multiple ways. With the fix,
-    syslog-ng would just use `"<ipv4 address>"` in these cases.
-    ([#4673](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4673))
+    The calculation of the batch size is done before compression, which is
+    the same as the limit is calculated on the server.
 
-  * `db-parser()`: support nested match characters in `@QSTRING@` pattern parser
-    ([#4717](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4717))
+    Example config:
+    ```
+      syslog-ng-otlp(
+        url("localhost:12345")
+        workers(16)
+        log-fifo-size(1000000)
 
+        batch-timeout(5000) # ms
+        batch-lines(1000000) # Huge limit, batch-bytes() will limit us sooner
 
-## Other changes
+        batch-bytes(1MB) # closes and flushes the batch after the last message pushed it above the 1 MB limit
+        # not setting batch-bytes() defaults to 4 MB, which is a bit below the default 4 MiB limit
+      );
+    ```
+    ([#4772](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4772))
+
+  * `opentelemetry()`, `syslog-ng-otlp()`: Added syslog-ng style list support.
+    ([#4794](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4794))
 
-  * `LogSource` and `LogFetcher`: additional documentation was added to these
-    Python classes to cover explicit source-side batching functionalities (e.g.
-    the `auto_close_batch` attribute and the `close_batch()` method).
-    ([#4673](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4673))
+  * `$(tag)` template function: expose bit-like tags that are set on messages.
 
-  * `rate-limit()`: Renamed the `template()` option to `key()`, which better communicates the intention.
-    ([#4679](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4679))
+    Syntax:
+        `$(tag <name-of-the-tag> <value-if-set> <value-if-unset>)`
 
-  * templates: The `template-escape()` option now only escapes the top-level template function.
+    Unless the value-if-set/unset arguments are specified `$(tag)` results in a
+    boolean type, expanding to "0" or "1" depending on whether the message has
+    the specified tag set.
 
-    Before syslog-ng 4.5.0 if you had embedded template functions, the `template-escape(yes)` setting
-    escaped the output of each template function, so the parent template function received an
-    already escaped string. This was never the intention of the `template-escape()` option.
+    If value-if-set/unset are present, `$(tag)` would return a string, picking the
+    second argument `<value-if-set>` if the message has `<tag>` and picking the
+    third argument `<value-if-unset>` if the message does not have `<tag>`
+    ([#4766](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4766))
 
-    Although this is a breaking change, we do not except anyone having a config that is affected.
-    If you have such a config, make sure to follow-up this change. If you need help with it, feel
-    free to open an issue or discussion on GitHub, or contact us on the Axoflow Discord server.
-    ([#4666](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4666))
+  * `set-severity()` support for aliases: widespread aliases to severity values
+    produced by various applications are added to set-severity().
+    ([#4763](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4763))
 
-  * `loki()`: The `timestamp()` option now supports quoted strings.
+  * `flags(seqnum-all)`: available in all destination drivers, this new flag
+    changes `$SEQNUM` behaviour, so that all messages get a sequence number, not
+    just local ones.  Previously syslog-ng followed the logic of the RFC5424
+    meta.sequenceId structured data element, e.g.  only local messages were to
+    get a sequence number, forwarded messages retained their original sequenceId
+    that we could potentially receive ourselves.
 
-    The valid values are the following, with or without quotes, case insensitive:
-      * "current"
-      * "received"
-      * "msg"
-    ([#4688](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4688))
+    For example, this destination would include the meta.sequenceId SDATA
+    element even for non-local logs and increment that value by every message
+    transmitted:
+
+      `destination { syslog("127.0.0.1" port(2001) flags(seqnum-all)); };`
+
+    This generates a message like this on the output, even if the message is
+    not locally generated (e.g. forwarded from another syslog sender):
+
+    ```
+      <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:30+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="1"] f sdf fsd
+      <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="2"] f sdf fsd
+      <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="3"] f sdf fsd
+      <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="4"] f sdf fsd
+      <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="5"] f sdf fsd
+    ```
+    ([#4745](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4745))
+
+  * `loggen`: improve loggen performance for synthetic workloads, so we can test
+    for example up to 650k msg/sec on a AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U CPU.
+    ([#4476](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4476))
+
+
+## Bugfixes
+
+  * `metrics-probe()`: Fixed not cleaning up dynamic labels for each message if no static labels are set.
+    ([#4750](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4750))
+
+  * `regexp-parser()`: Fixed a bug, which stored some values incorrectly if `${MESSAGE}` was changed with a capture group.
+    ([#4759](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4759))
+
+  * `network()` source: fix marking originally valid utf-8 messages when `sanitize-utf8` is enabled
+    ([#4744](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4744))
+
+  * `python()`: Fixed a memory leak in `list` typed `LogMessage` values.
+    ([#4790](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4790))
+
+## Packaging
+
+  * `VERSION` renamed to `VERSION.txt`: due to a name collision with C++ based
+    builds on MacOS, the file containing our version number was renamed to
+    VERSION.txt.
+    ([#4775](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4775))
+
+  * Added `gperf` as a build dependency.
+    ([#4763](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4763))
+
+
+## Notes to developers
+
+  * `LogThreadedSourceDriver`: Added multi-worker API, which is a breaking change.
+
+    Check the Pull Request for inspiration on how to follow up these changes.
+    ([#4774](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4774))
+
+
+## Other changes
+
+  * `network()`/`syslog()` sources: support UTF-8 sanitization/validation of RFC 5424 and `no-parse` messages
+
+    The `sanitize-utf8`, `validate-utf8` flags are now supported when parsing RFC 5424 messages or when parsing is disabled.
+    ([#4744](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4744))
+
+  * APT packages: Added Ubuntu Mantic Minotaur.
+    ([#4737](https://github.com/syslog-ng/syslog-ng/pull/4737))
 
 ## syslog-ng Discord
 
@@ -222,7 +411,6 @@ For a bit more interactive discussion, join our Discord server:
 
 [![Axoflow Discord Server](https://discordapp.com/api/guilds/1082023686028148877/widget.png?style=banner2)](https://discord.gg/E65kP9aZGm)
 
-
 ## Credits
 
 syslog-ng is developed as a community project, and as such it relies
@@ -234,5 +422,4 @@ of syslog-ng, contribute.
 
 We would like to thank the following people for their contribution:
 
-Attila Szakacs, Balazs Scheidler, Cedric Arickx, Fabrice Fontaine,
-Hofi, László Várady, Romain Tartière, Szilard Parrag, yashmathne
+Attila Szakacs, Balazs Scheidler, Hofi, László Várady, Romain Tartière
diff --git a/news/bugfix-4744.md b/news/bugfix-4744.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b6505ac3c2f..00000000000
--- a/news/bugfix-4744.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-`network()` source: fix marking originally valid utf-8 messages when `sanitize-utf8` is enabled
diff --git a/news/bugfix-4750.md b/news/bugfix-4750.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 68075753cd5..00000000000
--- a/news/bugfix-4750.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-`metrics-probe()`: Fixed not cleaning up dynamic labels for each message if no static labels are set.
diff --git a/news/bugfix-4759.md b/news/bugfix-4759.md
deleted file mode 100644
index d1acb54c467..00000000000
--- a/news/bugfix-4759.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-`regexp-parser()`: Fixed a bug, which stored some values incorrectly if `${MESSAGE}` was changed with a capture group.
diff --git a/news/bugfix-4790.md b/news/bugfix-4790.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 14eb8cb47f8..00000000000
--- a/news/bugfix-4790.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-`python()`: Fixed a memory leak in `list` typed `LogMessage` values.
diff --git a/news/developer-note-4774.md b/news/developer-note-4774.md
deleted file mode 100644
index e9b1f3274cc..00000000000
--- a/news/developer-note-4774.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-`LogThreadedSourceDriver`: Added multi-worker API, which is a breaking change.
-
-Check the Pull Request for inspiration on how to follow up these changes.
diff --git a/news/feature-4423.md b/news/feature-4423.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 23fed55fc2f..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4423.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-`system()`, `darwin-oslog()`, `darwin-oslog-stream()` sources: Added 2 darwin OSLog based sources `darwin-oslog()` and `darwin-oslog-stream()`.
-
-'darwin-oslog()' replaced the earlier file source based solution with a native OSLog framework based one, and is automatically used in the `system()` source on darwin platform if the **darwinosl** plugin is presented.
-
-This plugin available only on macOS 10.15 Catalina and above, the first version that has the OSLog API.
-
-### darwin-oslog
-
-This is a native OSLog Framework based source to read logs from the local store of the unified logging system on darwin OSes.
-For more info, see https://developer.apple.com/documentation/oslog?language=objc
-
-
-The following parameters can be used for customization:
-
-- filter-predicate
-    - string value, which can be used to filter the log messages natively
-    - default value: `(eventType == 'logEvent' || eventType == 'lossEvent' || eventType == 'stateEvent' || eventType == 'userActionEvent') && (logType != 'debug')`
-    - for more details, see
-        - `man log`
-        - https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/Predicates/Articles/pSyntax.html
-- go-reverse
-    - boolean value, setting to **yes** will provide a reverse-ordered log list (from latest to oldest)
-    - default value: **no**
-- do-not-use-bookmark
-    - boolean value, setting to **yes** will prevent syslog-ng from continuing to feed the logs from the last remembered position after a (re-)start, which means, depending on the other settings, the feed will always start from the end/beginning of the available log list
-    - default value: **no**, which means syslog-ng will attempt to continue feeding from the last remembered log position after a (re-)start
-- max-bookmark-distance
-    - integer value, maximum distance in seconds that far an earlier bookmark can point backward, e.g. if syslog-ng was stopped for 10 minutes and max-bookmark-distance is set to 60 then syslog-ng will start feeding the logs only from the last 60 seconds at startup, 9 minutes of logs 'will be lost'
-    - default value: 0, which means no limit
-- read-old-records
-    - boolean value, controls if syslog-ng should start reading logs from the oldest available at first start (or if no bookmark can be found)
-    - default value: no
-- fetch-delay
-    - integer value, controls how much time syslog-ng should wait between reading/sending log messages, this is a fraction of a second, where wait_time = 1 second / n,  so, e.g. n=1 means that only about 1 log will be read and sent in each second, and n=1 000 000 means only 1 microsecond (the allowed minimum value now!) will be the delay between read/write attempts
-    (Use with care, though lower delay time can increase log feed performance, at the same time could lead to a heavy system load!)
-    - default value: 10 000
-- fetch-retry-delay
-    - integer value, controls how many seconds syslog-ng will wait before a repeated attempt to read/send once it's out of available logs
-    - default value: 1
-- log-fetch-limit
-    - **Warning**: _This option is now disabled due to an OSLog API bug (https://openradar.appspot.com/radar?id=5597032077066240), once it's fixed it will be enabled again_
-    - integer value, that limits the number of logs syslog-ng will send in one run
-    - default value: 0, which means no limit
-
-NOTE: the persistent OSLog store is not infinite, depending on your system setting usually, it keeps about 7 days of logs on disk, so it could happen that the above options cannot operate the way you expect, e.g. if syslog-ng was stopped for about more then a week it could happen that will not be able to restart from the last saved bookmark position (as that might not be presented in the persistent log anymore)
-
-### darwin-oslog-stream
-
-This is a wrapper around the OS command line "log stream" command that can provide a live log stream feed.
-Unlike in the case of `darwin-oslog()` the live stream can contain non-persistent log events too, so take care, there might be a huge number of log events every second that could put an unusual load on the device running syslog-ng with this source.
-Unfortunately, there's no public API to get the same programmatically, so this one is implemented using a program() source.
-
-Possible parameters:
-
-- params
-    - a string that can contain all the possible params the macOS `log` tool can accept, please see, `log --help stream` for full reference, and `man log` for more details.
-
-      IMPORTANT: the parameter --style is used internally (defaults to `ndjson`), so it cannot be overridden, please use other sysylog-ng features (templates, rewrite rules, etc.) for final output formatting
-    - default value: `--type log --type trace --level info --level debug`, you can use \``def-osl-stream-params`\` for referencing it if you wish to keep the defaults when you add your own
diff --git a/news/feature-4476.md b/news/feature-4476.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 8edef3c3e5d..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4476.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-`loggen`: improve loggen performance for synthetic workloads, so we can test
-up to 650k msg/sec on my AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U CPU.
diff --git a/news/feature-4745.md b/news/feature-4745.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 10c68905a60..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4745.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-`flags(seqnum-all)`: available in all destination drivers, this new flag
-changes $SEQNUM behaviour, so that all messages get a sequence number, not
-just local ones.  Previously syslog-ng followed the logic of the RFC5424
-meta.sequenceId structured data element, e.g.  only local messages were to
-get a sequence number, forwarded messages retained their original sequenceId
-that we could potentially receive ourselves.
-
-For example, this destination would include the meta.sequenceId SDATA
-element even for non-local logs and increment that value by every message
-transmitted:
-
-	destination { syslog("127.0.0.1" port(2001) flags(seqnum-all)); };
-
-This generates a message like this on the output, even if the message is
-not locally generated (e.g. forwarded from another syslog sender):
-
-        <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:30+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="1"] f sdf fsd
-        <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="2"] f sdf fsd
-        <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="3"] f sdf fsd
-        <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="4"] f sdf fsd
-        <13>1 2023-12-09T21:51:32+00:00 localhost sdff - - [meta sequenceId="5"] f sdf fsd
diff --git a/news/feature-4755.md b/news/feature-4755.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 7da01056ea9..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4755.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-`cloud-auth()`: Added support for `user-managed-service-account()` `gcp()` auth method.
-
-This authentication method can be used on VMs in GCP to use the linked service.
-
-Example minimal config, which tries to use the "default" service account:
-```
-cloud-auth(
-  gcp(
-    user-managed-service-account()
-  )
-)
-```
-
-Full config:
-```
-cloud-auth(
-  gcp(
-    user-managed-service-account(
-      name("alltilla@syslog-ng-test-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com")
-      metadata-url("my-custom-metadata-server:8080")
-    )
-  )
-)
-```
-
-This authentication method is extremely useful with syslog-ng's `google-pubsub()` destination,
-when it is running on VMs in GCP, for example:
-```
-destination {
-  google-pubsub(
-    project("syslog-ng-test-project")
-    topic("syslog-ng-test-topic")
-    auth(user-managed-service-account())
-  );
-};
-```
-
-For more info about this GCP authentication method, see:
- * https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/access/authenticate-workloads#curl
- * https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/access/create-enable-service-accounts-for-instances
diff --git a/news/feature-4760-1.md b/news/feature-4760-1.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 57d60aad5bb..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4760-1.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-`pihole-ftl()`: Added a new source, which reads Pi-hole FTL logs.
-
-The FTL (Faster Than Light) logs are the logs which can be found
-in the "Tools" / "Pi-hole diagnosis" menu.
-
-Example minimal config:
-```
-source s_pihole_ftl {
-  pihole-ftl();
-};
-```
-
-By default it reads the `/var/log/pihole/FTL.log` file.
-You can change the root dir of Pi-hole's logs with the `dir()` option,
-where the `FTL.log` file can be found.
-
-As the `pihole-ftl()` source is based on a `file()` source, all of the
-`file()` source options are applicable, too.
diff --git a/news/feature-4760-2.md b/news/feature-4760-2.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b650d18a888..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4760-2.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-`qbittorrent()`: Added a new source, which reads qBittorrent logs.
-
-Example minimal config:
-```
-source s_qbittorrent {
-  qbittorrent(
-    dir("/path/to/my/qbittorrent/root/log/dir")
-  );
-};
-```
-
-The root dir of the qBittorrent logs can be found in the
-"Tools" / "Preferences" / "Behavior" / "Log file" / "Save path" field.
-
-As the `qbittorrent()` source is based on a `file()` source, all of the `file()`
-source options are applicable, too.
diff --git a/news/feature-4763.md b/news/feature-4763.md
deleted file mode 100644
index a2c533dde4a..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4763.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-`set-severity()` support for aliases: widespread aliases to severity values
-produced by various applications are added to set-severity().
diff --git a/news/feature-4765.md b/news/feature-4765.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 5dff9a666df..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4765.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-Add compression to `syslog-ng-otlp()` and `opentelemetry()`: the new
-compression() option can be used to enable deflate compression in gRPC
-requests.
diff --git a/news/feature-4766.md b/news/feature-4766.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 93768ce4302..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4766.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-`$(tag)` template function: expose bit-like tags that are set on
-messages.
-
-Syntax:
-    $(tag <name-of-the-tag> <value-if-set> <value-if-unset>)
-
-Unless the value-if-set/unset arguments are specified $(tag) results in a
-boolean type, expanding to "0" or "1" depending on whether the message has
-the specified tag set.
-
-If value-if-set/unset are present, $(tag) would return a string, picking the
-second argument <value-if-set> if the message has <tag> and picking the
-third argument <value-if-unset> if the message does not have <tag>
diff --git a/news/feature-4772.md b/news/feature-4772.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 6a04dd1e3a1..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4772.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-`opentelemetry()`, `syslog-ng-otlp()` destinations: Added a new `batch-bytes()` option.
-
-This option lets the user limit the bytes size of a batch. As there is a
-default 4 MiB batch limit by OTLP, it is necessary to keep the batch size
-smaller, but it would be hard to configure without this option.
-
-Please note that the batch can be at most 1 message larger than the set
-limit, so consider this when setting this value.
-
-The default value is 4 MB, which is a bit below 4 MiB.
-
-The calculation of the batch size is done before compression, which is
-the same as the limit is calculated on the server.
-
-Example config:
-```
-  syslog-ng-otlp(
-    url("localhost:12345")
-    workers(16)
-    log-fifo-size(1000000)
-
-    batch-timeout(5000) # ms
-    batch-lines(1000000) # Huge limit, batch-bytes() will limit us sooner
-
-    batch-bytes(1MB) # closes and flushes the batch after the last message pushed it above the 1 MB limit
-    # not setting batch-bytes() defaults to 4 MB, which is a bit below the default 4 MiB limit
-  );
-```
diff --git a/news/feature-4774.md b/news/feature-4774.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 591ab1d9090..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4774.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-`opentelemetry()`, `syslog-ng-otlp()`: Added `workers()` option on source side.
-
-This feature enables processing the OTLP messages on multiple threads,
-which can greatly improve the performance.
diff --git a/news/feature-4793.md b/news/feature-4793.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 28be4ff49d0..00000000000
--- a/news/feature-4793.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-`windows-eventlog-xml-parser()`: Added a new parser to parse Windows Eventlog XMLs.
-
-Its parameters are the same as the `xml()` parser.
-
-Example config:
-```
-parser p_win {
-    windows-eventlog-xml-parser(prefix(".winlog."));
-};
-```
diff --git a/news/other-4737.md b/news/other-4737.md
deleted file mode 100644
index bd750f7d32c..00000000000
--- a/news/other-4737.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-APT packages: Added Ubuntu Mantic Minotaur.
diff --git a/news/other-4744.md b/news/other-4744.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 9e025fb0004..00000000000
--- a/news/other-4744.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-`network()`/`syslog()` sources: support UTF-8 sanitization/validation of RFC 5424 and `no-parse` messages
-
-The `sanitize-utf8`, `validate-utf8` flags are now supported when parsing RFC 5424 messages or when parsing is disabled.
diff --git a/news/packaging-4763.md b/news/packaging-4763.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 569dd2de9e8..00000000000
--- a/news/packaging-4763.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Added `gperf` as a build dependency.
diff --git a/news/packaging-4775.md b/news/packaging-4775.md
deleted file mode 100644
index c09dc957af9..00000000000
--- a/news/packaging-4775.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-`VERSION` renamed to `VERSION.txt`: due to a name collision with C++ based
-builds on MacOS, the file containing our version number was renamed to
-VERSION.txt.