NEWS.md: add release notes for v0.88.0

[grondo]

This PR updates NEWS.md for flux-core v0.88.0.

As usual, feel free to push directly here for updates and amendments.

[garlick]

👍

[garlick]

👍

[mergify]

Queued — the merge queue status continues in this comment ↓.

[grondo]

Thanks!

[mergify]

Merge Queue Status

• ✅ Entered queue — 2026-08-05 00:31 UTC · Rule: default · triggered by rule rebase and merge when passing all checks
• ✅ Checks skipped · PR is already up-to-date
• ✅ Merged — 2026-08-05 00:32 UTC · at 9db7fe283220a19283973ac5263cd35ab76c9264 · merge

This pull request spent 13 seconds in the queue, including 2 seconds running CI.

Required conditions to merge

• github-review-approved [🛡 GitHub branch protection]
  • NEWS.md: add release notes for v0.88.0 #7761
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = validate commits
  • check-neutral = validate commits
  • check-skipped = validate commits
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = address-sanitizer check
  • check-neutral = address-sanitizer check
  • check-skipped = address-sanitizer check
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = coverage
  • check-neutral = coverage
  • check-skipped = coverage
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = focal - py3.8
  • check-neutral = focal - py3.8
  • check-skipped = focal - py3.8
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = docs/readthedocs.org:flux-core
  • check-neutral = docs/readthedocs.org:flux-core
  • check-skipped = docs/readthedocs.org:flux-core
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = inception
  • check-neutral = inception
  • check-skipped = inception
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = flux-sched check
  • check-neutral = flux-sched check
  • check-skipped = flux-sched check
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = el8 - system,coverage
  • check-neutral = el8 - system,coverage
  • check-skipped = el8 - system,coverage
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = spelling
  • check-neutral = spelling
  • check-skipped = spelling
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = el8 - ascii
  • check-neutral = el8 - ascii
  • check-skipped = el8 - ascii
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = bookworm - 32 bit
  • check-neutral = bookworm - 32 bit
  • check-skipped = bookworm - 32 bit
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = flux-accounting check
  • check-neutral = flux-accounting check
  • check-skipped = flux-accounting check
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = python linting
  • check-neutral = python linting
  • check-skipped = python linting
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = el9 - test-install
  • check-neutral = el9 - test-install
  • check-skipped = el9 - test-install
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = fedora40 - clang-18
  • check-neutral = fedora40 - clang-18
  • check-skipped = fedora40 - clang-18
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = noble - test-install
  • check-neutral = noble - test-install
  • check-skipped = noble - test-install
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = alpine - test-install
  • check-neutral = alpine - test-install
  • check-skipped = alpine - test-install
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = fedora40 - test-install
  • check-neutral = fedora40 - test-install
  • check-skipped = fedora40 - test-install
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = bookworm - test-install
  • check-neutral = bookworm - test-install
  • check-skipped = bookworm - test-install
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = jammy - test-install
  • check-neutral = jammy - test-install
  • check-skipped = jammy - test-install
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = flux-pam check
  • check-neutral = flux-pam check
  • check-skipped = flux-pam check
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = flux-pmix check
  • check-neutral = flux-pmix check
  • check-skipped = flux-pmix check
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = bookworm - gcc-12,distcheck
  • check-neutral = bookworm - gcc-12,distcheck
  • check-skipped = bookworm - gcc-12,distcheck
• any of [🛡 GitHub branch protection]:
  • check-success = el10 - test-install
  • check-neutral = el10 - test-install
  • check-skipped = el10 - test-install

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 83.94%. Comparing base (c8b95ea) to head (9db7fe2).
⚠️ Report is 6 commits behind head on master.

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##           master    #7761   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   83.94%   83.94%           
=======================================
  Files         591      591           
  Lines      100922   100922           
=======================================
+ Hits        84716    84724    +8     
+ Misses      16206    16198    -8     

see 16 files with indirect coverage changes

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.