users-guide: Drop old release notes

3 files changed, 0 insertions, 663 deletions

diff --git a/docs/users_guide/8.10.1-notes.rst b/docs/users_guide/8.10.1-notes.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index a1bf31519b..0000000000
--- a/docs/users_guide/8.10.1-notes.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,388 +0,0 @@
-.. _release-8-10-1:
-
-Version 8.10.1
-==============
-
-The significant changes to the various parts of the compiler are listed in the
-following sections.
-
-
-Highlights
-----------
-
-- The :extension:`UnliftedNewtypes` extension.
-
-Full details
-------------
-
-Language
-~~~~~~~~
-
-- Kind variables are no longer implicitly quantified when an explicit ``forall`` is used, see
-  `GHC proposal #24
-  <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0024-no-kind-vars.rst>`__.
-  :ghc-flag:`-Wimplicit-kind-vars` is now obsolete.
-
-- Kind variables are no longer implicitly quantified in constructor declarations: ::
-
-    data T a        = T1 (S (a :: k)) | forall (b::k). T2 (S b)  -- no longer accepted
-    data T (a :: k) = T1 (S (a :: k)) | forall (b::k). T2 (S b)  -- still accepted
-
-- Implicitly quantified kind variables are no longer put in front of other variables: ::
-
-    f :: Proxy (a :: k) -> Proxy (b :: j)
-
-    ghci> :t +v f   -- old order:
-    f :: forall k j (a :: k) (b :: j). Proxy a -> Proxy b
-
-    ghci> :t +v f   -- new order:
-    f :: forall k (a :: k) j (b :: j). Proxy a -> Proxy b
-
-  This is a breaking change for users of :extension:`TypeApplications`.
-
-- In type synonyms and type family equations, free variables on the RHS are no longer
-  implicitly quantified unless used in an outermost kind annotation: ::
-
-    type T = Just (Nothing :: Maybe a)         -- no longer accepted
-    type T = Just Nothing :: Maybe (Maybe a)   -- still accepted
-
-- A new extension :extension:`StandaloneKindSignatures` allows one to explicitly
-  specify the kind of a type constructor, as proposed in `GHC proposal #54
-  <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0054-kind-signatures.rst>`__: ::
-
-    type TypeRep :: forall k. k -> Type
-    data TypeRep a where
-      TyInt   :: TypeRep Int
-      TyMaybe :: TypeRep Maybe
-      TyApp   :: TypeRep a -> TypeRep b -> TypeRep (a b)
-
-  Analogous to function type signatures, a :ref:`standalone kind signature
-  <standalone-kind-signatures>` enables polymorphic recursion. This feature is
-  a replacement for :extension:`CUSKs`.
-
-- GHC now parses visible, dependent quantifiers (as proposed in
-  `GHC proposal 35
-  <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0035-forall-arrow.rst>`__),
-  such as the following: ::
-
-    data Proxy :: forall k -> k -> Type
-
-  See the :ref:`section on explicit kind quantification
-  <explicit-kind-quantification>` for more details.
-
-- Type variables in associated type family default declarations can now be
-  explicitly bound with a ``forall`` when :extension:`ExplicitForAll` is
-  enabled, as in the following example: ::
-
-    class C a where
-      type T a b
-      type forall a b. T a b = Either a b
-
-  This has a couple of knock-on consequences:
-
-  - Wildcard patterns are now permitted on the left-hand sides of default
-    declarations, whereas they were rejected by previous versions of GHC.
-
-  - It used to be the case that default declarations supported occurrences of
-    left-hand side arguments with higher-rank kinds, such as in the following
-    example: ::
-
-      class C a where
-        type T a (f :: forall k. k -> Type)
-        type T a (f :: forall k. k -> Type) = f Int
-
-    This will no longer work unless ``f`` is explicitly quantified with a
-    ``forall``, like so: ::
-
-      class C a where
-        type T a (f :: forall k. k -> Type)
-        type forall a (f :: forall k. k -> Type).
-             T a f = f Int
-
-- A new extension :extension:`UnliftedNewtypes` that relaxes restrictions
-  around what kinds of types can appear inside of the data constructor
-  for a ``newtype``. This was proposed in
-  `GHC proposal #13 <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0013-unlifted-newtypes.rst>`__.
-
-- A new extension :extension:`ImportQualifiedPost` allows the syntax
-  ``import M qualified``, that is, to annotate a module as qualified by
-  writing ``qualified`` after the module name.
-  This was proposed in `GHC proposal #49 <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0049-module-qualified-syntax.rst>`__.
-
-- New flag :ghc-flag:`-Wderiving-defaults` that controls a warning
-  message when both :extension:`DeriveAnyClass` and
-  :extension:`GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving` are enabled and no explicit
-  deriving strategy is in use. The warning is enabled by default and
-  has been present in earlier GHC versions but without the option of
-  disabling it.  For example, this code would trigger the warning: ::
-
-    class C a
-    newtype T a = MkT a deriving C
-
-- GHC now performs more validity checks on inferred type signatures. One
-  consequence of this change is that some programs that used to be accepted
-  will no longer compile without enabling the required language extensions.
-  For example, in these two modules: ::
-
-    {-# LANGUAGE RankNTypes #-}
-    module A where
-
-      foo :: (forall a. a -> a) -> b -> b
-      foo f x = f x
-
-    module B where
-
-      import A
-
-      bar = foo
-
-  Notice that ``A`` enables :ghc-flag:`-XRankNTypes`, but ``B`` does not.
-  Previous versions of GHC would allow ``bar`` to typecheck, even though its
-  inferred type is higher-rank. GHC 8.10 will now reject this, as one must now
-  enable :ghc-flag:`-XRankNTypes` in ``B`` to accept the inferred type signature.
-
-- Type family dependencies (also known as injective type families)
-  sometimes now need ``-XUndecidableInstances`` in order to be
-  accepted. Here is an example::
-
-    type family F1 a = r | r -> a
-    type family F2 a = r | r -> a
-    type instance F2 [a] = Maybe (F1 a)
-
-  Because GHC needs to look under a type family to see that ``a`` is determined
-  by the right-hand side of ``F2``\'s equation, this now needs ``-XUndecidableInstances``.
-  The problem is very much akin to its need to detect some functional dependencies.
-
-- The pattern-match coverage checker received a number of improvements wrt.
-  correctness and performance.
-
-  Checking against user-defined COMPLETE pragmas
-  "just works" now, so that we could move away from the
-  `complicated procedure for disambiguation <https://downloads.haskell.org/~ghc/latest/docs/html/users_guide/glasgow_exts.html#disambiguating-between-multiple-complete-pragmas>`__
-  we had in place before.
-
-  Previously, the checker performed really badly on some inputs and had no
-  good story for graceful degradation in these situations. These situations
-  should occur much less frequently now and degradation happens much more
-  smoothly, while still producing useful, sound results (see
-  :ghc-flag:`-fmax-pmcheck-models=⟨n⟩`).
-
-Compiler
-~~~~~~~~
-
-- Add new flags :ghc-flag:`-Wunused-record-wildcards` and
-  :ghc-flag:`-Wredundant-record-wildcards`  which warn users when they have
-  redundant or unused uses of a record wildcard match.
-
-- Calls to ``memset`` and ``memcpy`` are now unrolled more aggressively
-  and the produced code is more efficient on `x86_64` with added
-  support for 64-bit ``MOV``\s. In particular, ``setByteArray#`` and
-  ``copyByteArray#`` calls that were not optimized before, now will
-  be. See :ghc-ticket:`16052`.
-- GHC's runtime linker no longer uses global state. This allows programs
-  that use the GHC API to safely use multiple GHC sessions in a single
-  process, as long as there are no native dependencies that rely on
-  global state.
-
-- When loading modules that use :extension:`UnboxedTuples` or
-  :extension:`UnboxedSums` into GHCi, it will now automatically enable
-  :ghc-flag:`-fobject-code` for these modules and all modules they depend on.
-  Before this change, attempting to load these modules into the interpreter
-  would just fail, and the only convenient workaround was to enable
-  :ghc-flag:`-fobject-code` for all modules. See the
-  :ref:`GHCi FAQ <ghci-faq>` for further details.
-
-- The eventlog now contains events for biographical and retainer profiling.
-  The biographical profiling events all appear at the end of the eventlog but
-  the sample start event contains a timestamp of when the census occurred.
-  The retainer profiling events are emitted using the standard events.
-
-- The eventlog now logs the cost centre stack on each sample. This enables
-  the ``.prof`` file to be partially reconstructed from the eventlog.
-
-- Add new flag :ghc-flag:`-fkeep-going` which makes the compiler
-  continue as far as it can despite errors.
-
-- Deprecated flag ``-fwarn-hi-shadowing`` because it was not
-  implemented correctly, and appears to be largely unused. This flag
-  will be removed in a later version of GHC.
-
-- Windows bindist has been updated to GCC 9.2 and binutils 2.32.  These binaries have
-  been patched to no longer have have the MAX_PATH limit.  Windows users should no longer
-  have any issues with long path names.
-
-- Introduce ``DynFlags`` plugins, that allow users to modidy the ``DynFlags``
-  that GHC is going to use when processing a set of files, from plugins.
-  They can be used for applying tiny configuration changes, registering hooks
-  and much more. See the :ref:`user guide <dynflags_plugins>` for
-  more details as well as an example.
-
-- Deprecated flag ``-fmax-pmcheck-iterations`` in favor of
-  :ghc-flag:`-fmax-pmcheck-models=⟨n⟩`, which uses a completely different mechanism.
-
-- GHC now writes ``.o`` files atomically, resulting in reduced chances
-  of truncated files when a build is cancelled or the computer crashes.
-
-  This fixes numerous bug reports in Stack and Cabal where GHC was not
-  able to recover from such situations by itself and users reported having
-  to clean the build directory.
-
-  Other file types are not yet written atomically.
-  Users that observe related problems should report them on
-  `GHC issue #14533 <https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc/issues/14533>`__.
-  This fix is part of the
-  `Stack initiative to get rid of persistent build errors due to non-atomic
-  file writes across the Haskell tooling ecosystem
-  <https://github.com/commercialhaskell/stack/issues/4559>`__.
-
-
-GHCi
-~~~~
-
-- Added a command :ghci-cmd:`:instances` to show the class instances available for a type.
-
-- Added new debugger commands :ghci-cmd:`:disable` and :ghci-cmd:`:enable` to
-  disable and re-enable breakpoints.
-
-- Improved command name resolution with option ``!``. For example, ``:k!``
-  resolves to ``:kind!``.
-
-Runtime system
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- The runtime system linker now marks loaded code as non-writable (see
-  :ghc-ticket:`14069`) on all tier-1 platforms. This is necesaary for
-  out-of-the-box compatibility with OpenBSD and macOS Catalina (see
-  :ghc-ticket:`17353`)
-
-- The RTS API now exposes :ref:`an interface <event_log_output_api>` to
-  configure ``EventLogWriters``, allowing eventlog data to fed to sinks other
-  than ``.eventlog`` files.
-
-- A new ``+RTS`` flag ``--disable-delayed-os-memory-return`` was added to make
-  for accurate resident memory usage of the program as shown in memory
-  usage reporting tools (e.g. the ``RSS`` column in ``top`` and ``htop``).
-
-  This makes it easier to check the real memory usage of Haskell programs.
-
-  Using this new flag is expected to make the program slightly slower.
-
-  Without this flag, the (Linux) RTS returns unused memory "lazily" to the OS.
-  This has making the memory available to other processes while also allowing
-  the RTS to re-use the memory very efficiently (without zeroing pages) in case
-  it needs it again, but common tools will incorrectly show such memory as
-  occupied by the RTS (because they do not process the ``LazyFree`` field in
-  ``/proc/PID/smaps``).
-
-Template Haskell
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- The ``Lift`` typeclass is now levity-polymorphic and has a ``liftTyped``
-  method. Previously disallowed instances for unboxed tuples, unboxed sums, an
-  primitive unboxed types have also been added. Finally, the code generated by
-  :extension:`DeriveLift` has been simplified to take advantage of expression
-  quotations.
-
-- Using ``TupleT 1``, ``TupE [exp]``, or ``TupP [pat]`` will now produce unary
-  tuples (i.e., involving the ``Unit`` type from ``GHC.Tuple``) instead of
-  silently dropping the parentheses. This brings Template Haskell's treatment
-  of boxed tuples in line with that of unboxed tuples, as ``UnboxedTupleT`,
-  ``UnboxedTupE``, and ``UnboxedTupP`` also produce unary unboxed tuples
-  (i.e., ``Unit#``) when applied to only one argument.
-
-- GHC's constraint solver now solves constraints in each top-level group
-  sooner. This has practical consequences for Template Haskell, as TH splices
-  necessarily separate top-level groups. For example, the following program
-  would compile in previous versions of GHC, but not in GHC 8.10: ::
-
-    data T = MkT
-
-    tStr :: String
-    tStr = show MkT
-
-    $(return [])
-
-    instance Show T where
-      show MkT = "MkT"
-
-  This is because each top-level group's constraints are solved before moving
-  on to the next, and since the top-level group for ``tStr`` appears before the
-  top-level group that defines a ``Show T`` instance, GHC 8.10 will throw an
-  error about a missing ``Show T`` instance in the expression ``show MkT``. The
-  issue can be fixed by rearranging the order of declarations. For instance,
-  the following will compile: ::
-
-    data T = MkT
-
-    instance Show T where
-      show MkT = "MkT"
-
-    $(return [])
-
-    tStr :: String
-    tStr = show MkT
-
-- TH splices by default don't generate warnings anymore. For example,
-  ``$([d| f :: Int -> void; f x = case x of {} |])`` used to generate a
-  pattern-match exhaustivity warning, which now it doesn't. The user can
-  activate warnings for TH splices with :ghc-flag:`-fenable-th-splice-warnings`.
-  The reason for opt-in is that the offending code might not have been generated
-  by code the user has control over, for example the ``singletons`` or ``lens``
-  library.
-
-``ghc-prim`` library
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- Add new ``bitReverse#`` primops that, for a ``Word`` of 8, 16, 32 or 64 bits,
-  reverse the order of its bits e.g. ``0b110001`` becomes ``0b100011``.
-  These primitives use optimized machine instructions when available.
-
-``ghc`` library
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-``base`` library
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-Included libraries
-------------------
-
-The package database provided with this distribution also contains a number of
-packages other than GHC itself. See the changelogs provided with these packages
-for further change information.
-
-.. ghc-package-list::
-
-    libraries/array/array.cabal:             Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/base/base.cabal:               Core library
-    libraries/binary/binary.cabal:           Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/bytestring/bytestring.cabal:   Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/Cabal/Cabal/Cabal.cabal:       Dependency of ``ghc-pkg`` utility
-    libraries/containers/containers/containers.cabal:   Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/deepseq/deepseq.cabal:         Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/directory/directory.cabal:     Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/exceptions/exceptions.cabal:   Dependency of ``haskeline`` library
-    libraries/filepath/filepath.cabal:       Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    compiler/ghc.cabal:                      The compiler itself
-    libraries/ghci/ghci.cabal:               The REPL interface
-    libraries/ghc-boot/ghc-boot.cabal:       Internal compiler library
-    libraries/ghc-boot-th/ghc-boot-th.cabal: Internal compiler library
-    libraries/ghc-compact/ghc-compact.cabal: Core library
-    libraries/ghc-heap/ghc-heap.cabal:       GHC heap-walking library
-    libraries/ghc-prim/ghc-prim.cabal:       Core library
-    libraries/haskeline/haskeline.cabal:     Dependency of ``ghci`` executable
-    libraries/hpc/hpc.cabal:                 Dependency of ``hpc`` executable
-    libraries/integer-gmp/integer-gmp.cabal: Core library
-    libraries/libiserv/libiserv.cabal:       Internal compiler library
-    libraries/mtl/mtl.cabal:                 Dependency of ``Cabal`` library
-    libraries/parsec/parsec.cabal:           Dependency of ``Cabal`` library
-    libraries/pretty/pretty.cabal:           Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/process/process.cabal:         Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/stm/stm.cabal:                 Dependency of ``haskeline`` library
-    libraries/template-haskell/template-haskell.cabal:     Core library
-    libraries/terminfo/terminfo.cabal:       Dependency of ``haskeline`` library
-    libraries/text/text.cabal:               Dependency of ``Cabal`` library
-    libraries/time/time.cabal:               Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/transformers/transformers.cabal: Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/unix/unix.cabal:               Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/Win32/Win32.cabal:             Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/xhtml/xhtml.cabal:             Dependency of ``haddock`` executable
diff --git a/docs/users_guide/8.8.1-notes.rst b/docs/users_guide/8.8.1-notes.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 4dd7ff1b0f..0000000000
--- a/docs/users_guide/8.8.1-notes.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,273 +0,0 @@
-.. _release-8-8-1:
-
-Version 8.8.1
-=============
-
-The significant changes to the various parts of the compiler are listed in the
-following sections. There have also been numerous bug fixes and performance
-improvements over the 8.6.1 release.
-
-
-Highlights
-----------
-
-The highlights, since the 8.6.1 release, are:
-
-- Many, many bug fixes.
-- A new code layout algorithm for x86.
-
-
-Full details
-------------
-
-Language
-~~~~~~~~
-
-- GHC now supports visible kind applications, as described in
-  `GHC proposal #15 <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0015-type-level-type-applications.rst>`__. This extends the existing
-  :ref:`visible type applications <visible-type-application>` feature to permit
-  type applications at the type level (e.g., ``f :: Proxy ('Just @Bool 'True)``) in
-  addition to the term level (e.g., ``g = Just @Bool True``).
-
-- GHC now allows explicitly binding type variables in type family instances and
-  rewrite rules, as described in
-  `GHC proposal #7 <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0007-instance-foralls.rst>`__. For instance: ::
-
-    type family G a b where
-      forall x y. G [x] (Proxy y) = Double
-      forall z.   G z   z         = Bool
-    {-# RULES "example" forall a. forall (x :: a). id x = x #-}
-
-- :extension:`ScopedTypeVariables`: The type variable that a type signature on
-  a pattern can bring into scope can now stand for arbitrary types. Previously,
-  they could only stand in for other type variables, but this restriction was deemed
-  unnecessary in `GHC proposal #29 <https://github.com/ghc-proposals/ghc-proposals/blob/master/proposals/0029-scoped-type-variables-types.rst>`__. Also see :ghc-ticket:`15050`.
-
-- The pattern-match coverage checker now checks for cases that are unreachable
-  due to constructors have strict argument types. For instance, in the
-  following example: ::
-
-    data K = K1 | K2 !Void
-
-    f :: K -> ()
-    f K1 = ()
-
-  ``K2`` cannot be matched on in ``f``, since it is impossible to construct a
-  terminating value of type ``Void``. Accordingly, GHC will not warn about
-  ``K2`` (whereas previous versions of GHC would).
-
-- ``(!)`` and ``(.)`` are now valid type operators: ::
-
-      type family a ! b
-      type family a . b
-
-- ``forall`` is now always a keyword in types to provide more helpful
-  error messages when ``-XExplicitForall`` is off.
-
-- An existential context no longer requires parenthesization: ::
-
-    class a + b
-    data D1 = forall a b. (a + b) => D1 a b
-    data D2 = forall a b.  a + b  => D2 a b -- now allowed
-
-- ``{-# UNPACK #-}`` annotation no longer requires parenthesization: ::
-
-    data T = MkT1 { a :: {-# UNPACK #-} (Maybe Int && Bool) }
-           | MkT2 { a :: {-# UNPACK #-}  Maybe Int && Bool  } -- now allowed
-
-    data G where
-      MkG1 :: {-# UNPACK #-} (Maybe Int && Bool) -> G
-      MkG2 :: {-# UNPACK #-}  Maybe Int && Bool  -> G  -- now allowed
-
-- The requirement that kind signatures always be parenthesized has been relaxed.
-  For instance, it is now permissible to write ``Proxy '(a :: A, b :: B)``
-  (previous GHC versions required extra parens: ``Proxy '((a :: A), (b :: B))``).
-
-- :ghc-flag:`-Woverflowed-literals` checks all literals. Previously, it would
-  only inspect boxed expression literals.
-
-- :ghc-flag:`-Wempty-enumerations` now also works for ``Numeric.Natural``.
-
-Compiler
-~~~~~~~~
-
-- The final phase of the ``MonadFail`` proposal has been implemented.
-  Accordingly, the ``MonadFailDesugaring`` language extension is now
-  deprecated, as its effects are always enabled. Similarly, the
-  ``-Wnoncanonical-monadfail-instances`` flag is also deprecated, as there is
-  no longer any way to define a "non-canonical" ``Monad`` or ``MonadFail``
-  instance.
-
-- New :ghc-flag:`-keep-hscpp-files` to keep the output of the CPP pre-processor.
-
-- The :ghc-flag:`-Wcompat` warning group now includes :ghc-flag:`-Wstar-is-type`.
-
-- New :ghc-flag:`-Wunused-packages` warning reports unused packages.
-
-- The :ghc-flag:`-fllvm-pass-vectors-in-regs` flag is now deprecated as vector
-  arguments are now passed in registers by default.
-
-- The :ghc-flag:`-fblock-layout-cfg` flag enables a new code layout algorithm on x86.
-  This is enabled by default at  :ghc-flag:`-O` and :ghc-flag:`-O2`.
-
-- The deprecated ghc-flag ``-Wamp`` has been removed.
-
-- Add new :ghc-flag:`-Wmissing-deriving-strategies` flag that warns users when they are not
-  taking advantage of :extension:`DerivingStrategies`. The warning is supplied at each
-  ``deriving`` site.
-
-- Support for object splitting with the flag ``-split-objs`` is removed.  Using
-  this flag now results in a warning and does nothing.  Use
-  :ghc-flag:`-split-sections` instead.
-
-
-Runtime system
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- Add and document new FFI functions ``hs_lock_stable_ptr_table``
-  and ``hs_unlock_stable_ptr_table``. These replace the undocumented
-  functions ``hs_lock_stable_tables`` and ``hs_unlock_stable_tables``,
-  respectively. The latter should now be considered deprecated.
-
-- Document the heretofore undocumented FFI function
-  ``hs_free_stable_ptr_unsafe``, used in conjunction with manual
-  locking and unlocking.
-
-- The runtime linker on Windows has been overhauled to properly handle section
-  alignment, lower the amount of wasted memory and lower the amount of in use memory.
-  See :ghc-ticket:`13617`. Note that committed memory may be slightly higher.
-
-- The output filename used for :ref:`eventlog output <rts-eventlog>` can now be
-  specified with the :rts-flag:`-ol ⟨filename⟩` flag.
-
-- Add support for generating a new type of output: extended interfaces files.
-  Generation of these files, which sport a ``.hie`` suffix, is enabled via the
-  ``-fwrite-ide-info`` flag. See :ref:`hie-options` for more information.
-
-- A new flag ``-xp`` is added on x86_64. When it is passed, the runtime linker
-  can load object files compiled with ``-fPIC -fexternal-dynamic-refs``
-  anywhere in the address space. This used to be restricted to the low 2Gb.
-
-Template Haskell
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- Reifying type classes no longer shows redundant class type variables and
-  contexts in the type signature of each class method. For instance,
-  reifying the following class: ::
-
-    class C a where
-      method :: a
-
-  Used to produce the following: ::
-
-    class C a where
-      method :: forall a. C a => a
-
-  Where the ``forall a. C a =>`` part is entirely redundant. This part is no
-  longer included when reifying ``C``. It's possible that this may break some
-  code which assumes the existence of ``forall a. C a =>``.
-
-- Template Haskell has been updated to support visible kind applications and
-  explicit ``foralls`` in type family instances and ``RULES``. These required
-  a couple of backwards-incompatible changes to the ``template-haskell`` API.
-  Please refer to the
-  `GHC 8.8 Migration Guide <https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc/wikis/migration/8.8#template-haskell-21500>`__
-  for more details.
-
-- Template Haskell now supports implicit parameters and recursive do.
-
-- Template Haskell splices can now embed assembler source (:ghc-ticket:`16180`)
-
-``ghc-prim`` library
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- GHC now exposes a new primop, ``traceBinaryEvent#``. This primop writes
-  eventlog events similar to ``traceEvent#`` but allows the user to pass
-  the event payload as a binary blob instead of a zero-terminated
-  ``ByteString``.
-
-- The ``StableName#`` type parameter now has a phantom role instead of
-  a representational one. There is really no reason to care about the
-  type of the underlying object.
-
-``ghc`` library
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-
-``base`` library
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- The final phase of the ``MonadFail`` proposal has been implemented. As a
-  result of this change:
-
-  - The ``fail`` method of ``Monad`` has been removed in favor of the method of
-    the same name in the ``MonadFail`` class.
-
-  - ``MonadFail(fail)`` is now re-exported from the ``Prelude`` and
-    ``Control.Monad`` modules.
-
-  These are breaking changes that may require you to update your code. Please
-  refer to the
-  `GHC 8.8 Migration Guide <https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc/wikis/migration/8.8#base-41300>`__
-  for more details.
-
-- Support the characters from recent versions of Unicode (up to v. 12) in literals
-    (see :ghc-ticket:`5518`).
-
-- The ``StableName`` type parameter now has a phantom role instead of
-  a representational one. There is really no reason to care about the
-  type of the underlying object.
-
-- The functions ``zipWith3`` and ``zip3`` in ``Prelude`` can now fuse,
-  together with ``zipWith4`` to ``zipWith7`` as well as their
-  tuple counterparts in ``Data.List``.
-
-Build system
-~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-- Configure: Add ALEX and HAPPY variables to explicitly set the alex and happy
-  programs to use.
-- Configure: Deprecate --with-ghc=ARG in favour of the GHC variable.
-
-Included libraries
-------------------
-
-The package database provided with this distribution also contains a number of
-packages other than GHC itself. See the changelogs provided with these packages
-for further change information.
-
-.. ghc-package-list::
-
-    libraries/array/array.cabal:             Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/base/base.cabal:               Core library
-    libraries/binary/binary.cabal:           Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/bytestring/bytestring.cabal:   Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/Cabal/Cabal/Cabal.cabal:       Dependency of ``ghc-pkg`` utility
-    libraries/containers/containers/containers.cabal:   Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/deepseq/deepseq.cabal:         Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/directory/directory.cabal:     Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/filepath/filepath.cabal:       Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    compiler/ghc.cabal:                      The compiler itself
-    libraries/ghci/ghci.cabal:               The REPL interface
-    libraries/ghc-boot/ghc-boot.cabal:       Internal compiler library
-    libraries/ghc-boot-th/ghc-boot-th.cabal: Internal compiler library
-    libraries/ghc-compact/ghc-compact.cabal: Core library
-    libraries/ghc-heap/ghc-heap.cabal:       GHC heap-walking library
-    libraries/ghc-prim/ghc-prim.cabal:       Core library
-    libraries/haskeline/haskeline.cabal:     Dependency of ``ghci`` executable
-    libraries/hpc/hpc.cabal:                 Dependency of ``hpc`` executable
-    libraries/integer-gmp/integer-gmp.cabal: Core library
-    libraries/libiserv/libiserv.cabal:       Internal compiler library
-    libraries/mtl/mtl.cabal:                 Dependency of ``Cabal`` library
-    libraries/parsec/parsec.cabal:           Dependency of ``Cabal`` library
-    libraries/pretty/pretty.cabal:           Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/process/process.cabal:         Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/stm/stm.cabal:                 Dependency of ``haskeline`` library
-    libraries/template-haskell/template-haskell.cabal:     Core library
-    libraries/terminfo/terminfo.cabal:       Dependency of ``haskeline`` library
-    libraries/text/text.cabal:               Dependency of ``Cabal`` library
-    libraries/time/time.cabal:               Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/transformers/transformers.cabal: Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/unix/unix.cabal:               Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/Win32/Win32.cabal:             Dependency of ``ghc`` library
-    libraries/xhtml/xhtml.cabal:             Dependency of ``haddock`` executable
diff --git a/docs/users_guide/release-notes.rst b/docs/users_guide/release-notes.rst
index 179402e238..3fce057729 100644
--- a/docs/users_guide/release-notes.rst
+++ b/docs/users_guide/release-notes.rst
@@ -5,5 +5,3 @@ Release notes
    :maxdepth: 1
 
    8.12.1-notes
-   8.10.1-notes
-   8.8.1-notes