diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index a62bd4eb2..01b81fe17 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,92 @@
+Synapse 1.78.0rc1 (2023-02-21)
+==============================
+
+Features
+--------
+
+- Implement the experimental `exact_event_match` push rule condition from [MSC3758](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3758). ([\#14964](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14964))
+- Add account data to the command line [user data export tool](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/v1.78/usage/administration/admin_faq.html#how-can-i-export-user-data). ([\#14969](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14969))
+- Implement [MSC3873](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3873) to disambiguate push rule keys with dots in them. ([\#15004](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15004))
+- Allow Synapse to use a specific Redis [logical database](https://redis.io/commands/select/) in worker-mode deployments. ([\#15034](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15034))
+- Tag opentracing spans for federation requests with the name of the worker serving the request. ([\#15042](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15042))
+- Experimental support for [MSC3966](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3966): the `exact_event_property_contains` push rule condition. ([\#15045](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15045))
+- Remove spurious `dont_notify` action from the defaults for the `.m.rule.reaction` pushrule. ([\#15073](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15073))
+- Update the error code returned when user sends a duplicate annotation. ([\#15075](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15075))
+
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- Prevent clients from reporting nonexistent events. ([\#13779](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/13779))
+- Return spec-compliant JSON errors when unknown endpoints are requested. ([\#14605](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14605))
+- Fix a long-standing bug where the room aliases returned could be corrupted. ([\#15038](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15038))
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.76.0 where partially-joined rooms could not be deleted using the [purge room API](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/admin_api/rooms.html#delete-room-api). ([\#15068](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15068))
+- Fix a long-standing bug where federated joins would fail if the first server in the list of servers to try is not in the room. ([\#15074](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15074))
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse v1.74.0 where searching with colons when using ICU for search term tokenisation would fail with an error. ([\#15079](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15079))
+- Reduce the likelihood of a rare race condition where rejoining a restricted room over federation would fail. ([\#15080](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15080))
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.76 where workers would fail to start if the `health` listener was configured. ([\#15096](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15096))
+- Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.75 where the [portdb script](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/release-v1.78/postgres.html#porting-from-sqlite) would fail to run after a room had been faster-joined. ([\#15108](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15108))
+
+
+Improved Documentation
+----------------------
+
+- Document how to start Synapse with Poetry. Contributed by @thezaidbintariq. ([\#14892](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14892))
+- Update delegation documentation to clarify that SRV DNS delegation does not eliminate all needs to serve files from .well-known locations. Contributed by @williamkray. ([\#14959](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14959))
+- Document how to start Synapse in the contributing guide. ([\#15022](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15022))
+- Fix a mistake in registration_shared_secret_path docs. ([\#15078](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15078))
+- Refer to a more recent blog post on the [Database Maintenance Tools](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/usage/administration/database_maintenance_tools.html) page. Contributed by @jahway603. ([\#15083](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15083))
+
+
+Internal Changes
+----------------
+
+- Re-type hint some collections as read-only. ([\#13755](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/13755))
+- Faster joins: don't stall when another user joins during a partial-state room resync. ([\#14606](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14606))
+- Add a class `UnpersistedEventContext` to allow for the batching up of storing state groups. ([\#14675](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14675))
+- Add a check to ensure that locked dependencies have source distributions available. ([\#14742](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14742))
+- Tweak comment on `_is_local_room_accessible` as part of room visibility in `/hierarchy` to clarify the condition for a room being visible. ([\#14834](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14834))
+- Prevent 'WARNING: there is already a transaction in progress' lines appearing in PostgreSQL's logs on some occasions. ([\#14840](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14840))
+- Use `StrCollection` to avoid potential bugs with `Collection[str]`. ([\#14929](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14929))
+- Improve performance of `/sync` in a few situations. ([\#14973](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14973))
+- Limit concurrent event creation for a room to avoid state resolution when sending bursts of events to a local room. ([\#14977](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14977))
+- Skip calculating unread push actions in /sync when enable_push is false. ([\#14980](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14980))
+- Add a schema dump symlinks inside `contrib`, to make it easier for IDEs to interrogate Synapse's database schema. ([\#14982](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14982))
+- Improve type hints. ([\#15008](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15008), [\#15026](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15026), [\#15027](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15027), [\#15028](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15028), [\#15031](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15031), [\#15035](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15035), [\#15052](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15052), [\#15072](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15072), [\#15084](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15084))
+- Update [MSC3952](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3952) support based on changes to the MSC. ([\#15037](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15037))
+- Avoid mutating a cached value in `get_user_devices_from_cache`. ([\#15040](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15040))
+- Fix a rare exception in logs on start up. ([\#15041](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15041))
+- Update pyo3-log to v0.8.1. ([\#15043](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15043))
+- Avoid mutating cached values in `_generate_sync_entry_for_account_data`. ([\#15047](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15047))
+- Refactor arguments of `try_unbind_threepid` and `_try_unbind_threepid_with_id_server` to not use dictionaries. ([\#15053](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15053))
+- Merge debug logging from the hotfixes branch. ([\#15054](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15054))
+- Faster joins: omit device list updates originating from partial state rooms in /sync responses without lazy loading of members enabled. ([\#15069](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15069))
+- Fix clashing database transaction name. ([\#15070](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15070))
+- Upper-bound frozendict dependency. This works around us being unable to test installing our wheels against Python 3.11 in CI. ([\#15114](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15114))
+- Tweak logging for when a worker waits for its view of a replication stream to catch up. ([\#15120](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15120))
+
+Locked dependency updates
+
+- Bump bleach from 5.0.1 to 6.0.0. ([\#15059](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15059))
+- Bump cryptography from 38.0.4 to 39.0.1. ([\#15020](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15020))
+- Bump ruff version from 0.0.230 to 0.0.237. ([\#15033](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15033))
+- Bump dtolnay/rust-toolchain from 9cd00a88a73addc8617065438eff914dd08d0955 to 25dc93b901a87e864900a8aec6c12e9aa794c0c3. ([\#15060](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15060))
+- Bump systemd-python from 234 to 235. ([\#15061](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15061))
+- Bump serde_json from 1.0.92 to 1.0.93. ([\#15062](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15062))
+- Bump types-requests from 2.28.11.8 to 2.28.11.12. ([\#15063](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15063))
+- Bump types-pillow from 9.4.0.5 to 9.4.0.10. ([\#15064](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15064))
+- Bump sentry-sdk from 1.13.0 to 1.15.0. ([\#15065](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15065))
+- Bump types-jsonschema from 4.17.0.3 to 4.17.0.5. ([\#15099](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15099))
+- Bump types-bleach from 5.0.3.1 to 6.0.0.0. ([\#15100](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15100))
+- Bump dtolnay/rust-toolchain from 25dc93b901a87e864900a8aec6c12e9aa794c0c3 to e12eda571dc9a5ee5d58eecf4738ec291c66f295. ([\#15101](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15101))
+- Bump dawidd6/action-download-artifact from 2.24.3 to 2.25.0. ([\#15102](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15102))
+- Bump types-pillow from 9.4.0.10 to 9.4.0.13. ([\#15104](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15104))
+- Bump types-setuptools from 67.1.0.0 to 67.3.0.1. ([\#15105](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/15105))
+
+
+Dependabot updates
+Locked dependency updates
- Bump dtolnay/rust-toolchain from e645b0cf01249a964ec099494d38d2da0f0b349f to 9cd00a88a73addc8617065438eff914dd08d0955. ([\#14968](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14968))
- Bump docker/build-push-action from 3 to 4. ([\#14952](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/14952))
diff --git a/changelog.d/13755.misc b/changelog.d/13755.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 662ee00e9..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/13755.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Re-type hint some collections as read-only.
diff --git a/changelog.d/13779.bugfix b/changelog.d/13779.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index a92c722c6..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/13779.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Prevent clients from reporting nonexistent events.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/14605.bugfix b/changelog.d/14605.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index cb95a87d9..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14605.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Return spec-compliant JSON errors when unknown endpoints are requested.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14606.misc b/changelog.d/14606.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e2debc96d..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14606.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Faster joins: don't stall when another user joins during a fast join resync.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14675.misc b/changelog.d/14675.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index bc1ac1c82..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14675.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add a class UnpersistedEventContext to allow for the batching up of storing state groups.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14742.misc b/changelog.d/14742.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index c0b5d2c06..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14742.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add check to ensure locked dependencies have source distributions available.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/14834.misc b/changelog.d/14834.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e683212dc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14834.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Tweak comment on `_is_local_room_accessible` as part of room visibility in `/hierarchy` to clarify the condition for a room being visible.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/14840.misc b/changelog.d/14840.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index ff6084284..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14840.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Prevent "WARNING: there is already a transaction in progress" lines appearing in PostgreSQL's logs on some occasions.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/14892.doc b/changelog.d/14892.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 2bc3ad06c..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14892.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Document how to start Synapse with Poetry. Contributed by @thezaidbintariq.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14929.misc b/changelog.d/14929.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 2cc3614df..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14929.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Use `StrCollection` to avoid potential bugs with `Collection[str]`.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14959.doc b/changelog.d/14959.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 45edf1a76..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14959.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update delegation documentation to clarify that SRV DNS delegation does not eliminate all needs to serve files from .well-known locations. Contributed by @williamkray.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14964.feature b/changelog.d/14964.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 13c0bc193..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14964.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Implement the experimental `exact_event_match` push rule condition from [MSC3758](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3758).
diff --git a/changelog.d/14969.feature b/changelog.d/14969.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index a4680ef9c..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14969.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add account data to the command line [user data export tool](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/v1.78/usage/administration/admin_faq.html#how-can-i-export-user-data).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/14973.misc b/changelog.d/14973.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 365762360..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14973.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve performance of `/sync` in a few situations.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14977.misc b/changelog.d/14977.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 4d551c52b..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14977.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Limit concurrent event creation for a room to avoid state resolution when sending bursts of events to a local room.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/14980.misc b/changelog.d/14980.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 145f4a788..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14980.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Skip calculating unread push actions in /sync when enable_push is false.
diff --git a/changelog.d/14982.misc b/changelog.d/14982.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 9aaa7ce26..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/14982.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add a schema dump symlinks inside `contrib`, to make it easier for IDEs to interrogate Synapse's database schema.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15004.feature b/changelog.d/15004.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index d11d0aca9..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15004.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Implement [MSC3873](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3873) to unambiguate push rule keys with dots in them.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15008.misc b/changelog.d/15008.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15008.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15020.misc b/changelog.d/15020.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index c5290283f..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15020.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump cryptography from 38.0.4 to 39.0.1.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15022.doc b/changelog.d/15022.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index e1627c20c..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15022.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Document how to start Synapse in the contributing guide.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15026.misc b/changelog.d/15026.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15026.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15027.misc b/changelog.d/15027.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15027.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15028.misc b/changelog.d/15028.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15028.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15031.misc b/changelog.d/15031.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15031.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15033.misc b/changelog.d/15033.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 83dc3a75b..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15033.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump ruff version from 0.0.230 to 0.0.237.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15034.feature b/changelog.d/15034.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 34f320da9..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15034.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Allow Synapse to use a specific Redis [logical database](https://redis.io/commands/select/) in worker-mode deployments.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15035.misc b/changelog.d/15035.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15035.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15037.misc b/changelog.d/15037.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index fabfe77d3..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15037.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update [MSC3952](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3952) support based on changes to the MSC.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15038.bugfix b/changelog.d/15038.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 4695a0975..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15038.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a long-standing bug where the room aliases returned could be corrupted.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15040.misc b/changelog.d/15040.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index ca129b64a..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15040.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Avoid mutating a cached value in `get_user_devices_from_cache`.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15041.misc b/changelog.d/15041.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index d602b0043..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15041.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a rare exception in logs on start up.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15042.feature b/changelog.d/15042.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 7a4de89f0..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15042.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Tag opentracing spans for federation requests with the name of the worker serving the request.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15043.misc b/changelog.d/15043.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index cb1839412..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15043.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Update pyo3-log to v0.8.1.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15045.feature b/changelog.d/15045.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 87766befd..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15045.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Experimental support for [MSC3966](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3966): the `exact_event_property_contains` push rule condition.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15047.misc b/changelog.d/15047.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 561dc874d..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15047.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Avoid mutating cached values in `_generate_sync_entry_for_account_data`.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15052.misc b/changelog.d/15052.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15052.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15053.misc b/changelog.d/15053.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index c27528f5c..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15053.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Refactor arguments of `try_unbind_threepid` and `_try_unbind_threepid_with_id_server` to not use dictionaries.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/15054.misc b/changelog.d/15054.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index d800b107c..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15054.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Merge debug logging from the hotfixes branch.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15059.misc b/changelog.d/15059.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e962b208f..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15059.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump bleach from 5.0.1 to 6.0.0.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15060.misc b/changelog.d/15060.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 5b99e0600..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15060.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump dtolnay/rust-toolchain from 9cd00a88a73addc8617065438eff914dd08d0955 to 25dc93b901a87e864900a8aec6c12e9aa794c0c3.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15061.misc b/changelog.d/15061.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 40017827a..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15061.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump systemd-python from 234 to 235.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15062.misc b/changelog.d/15062.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index adc194063..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15062.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump serde_json from 1.0.92 to 1.0.93.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15063.misc b/changelog.d/15063.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index b52e1faed..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15063.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump types-requests from 2.28.11.8 to 2.28.11.12.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15064.misc b/changelog.d/15064.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 644d4bb23..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15064.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump types-pillow from 9.4.0.5 to 9.4.0.10.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15065.misc b/changelog.d/15065.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index df2f9a773..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15065.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump sentry-sdk from 1.13.0 to 1.15.0.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15068.bugfix b/changelog.d/15068.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index f09ffa287..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15068.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.76.0 where partially-joined rooms could not be deleted using the [purge room API](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/admin_api/rooms.html#delete-room-api).
diff --git a/changelog.d/15069.misc b/changelog.d/15069.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e7a619ad2..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15069.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Faster joins: omit device list updates originating from partial state rooms in /sync responses without lazy loading of members enabled.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15070.misc b/changelog.d/15070.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 0f3244de9..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15070.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix clashing database transaction name.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15072.misc b/changelog.d/15072.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15072.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15073.feature b/changelog.d/15073.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 2889e3444..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15073.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Remove spurious `dont_notify` action from the defaults for the `.m.rule.reaction` pushrule.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15074.bugfix b/changelog.d/15074.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index d1ceb4f4c..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15074.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a long-standing bug where federated joins would fail if the first server in the list of servers to try is not in the room.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15075.feature b/changelog.d/15075.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index d25a7567a..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15075.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Update the error code returned when user sends a duplicate annotation.
-
diff --git a/changelog.d/15078.doc b/changelog.d/15078.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 641f9a993..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15078.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a mistake in registration_shared_secret_path docs.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/15079.bugfix b/changelog.d/15079.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 907892c1e..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15079.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug introduced in Synapse v1.74.0 where searching with colons when using ICU for search term tokenisation would fail with an error.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changelog.d/15080.bugfix b/changelog.d/15080.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 965d0b921..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15080.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Reduce the likelihood of a rare race condition where rejoining a restricted room over federation would fail.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15083.doc b/changelog.d/15083.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 5385f4884..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15083.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Refer to a more recent blog post on the [Database Maintenance Tools](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/usage/administration/database_maintenance_tools.html) page. Contributed by @jahway603.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15084.misc b/changelog.d/15084.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 93ceaeafc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15084.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Improve type hints.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15096.bugfix b/changelog.d/15096.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 09b4d861f..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15096.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.76 where workers would fail to start if the `health` listener was configured.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15099.misc b/changelog.d/15099.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 53ed621cc..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15099.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump types-jsonschema from 4.17.0.3 to 4.17.0.5.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15100.misc b/changelog.d/15100.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 035d09454..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15100.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump types-bleach from 5.0.3.1 to 6.0.0.0.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15101.misc b/changelog.d/15101.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 807dbb554..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15101.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump dtolnay/rust-toolchain from 25dc93b901a87e864900a8aec6c12e9aa794c0c3 to e12eda571dc9a5ee5d58eecf4738ec291c66f295.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15102.misc b/changelog.d/15102.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index bb6037d52..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15102.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump dawidd6/action-download-artifact from 2.24.3 to 2.25.0.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15104.misc b/changelog.d/15104.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index e9fa87592..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15104.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump types-pillow from 9.4.0.10 to 9.4.0.13.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15105.misc b/changelog.d/15105.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 5bce811d3..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15105.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Bump types-setuptools from 67.1.0.0 to 67.3.0.1.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15108.bugfix b/changelog.d/15108.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 30af8b439..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15108.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix a bug introduced in Synapse 1.75 where the [portdb script](https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/release-v1.78/postgres.html#porting-from-sqlite) would fail to run after a room had been faster-joined.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15114.misc b/changelog.d/15114.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index 8e08d632e..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15114.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Upper-bound frozendict dependency. This works around us being unable to test installing our wheels against Python 3.11 in CI.
diff --git a/changelog.d/15120.misc b/changelog.d/15120.misc
deleted file mode 100644
index ebbc0c902..000000000
--- a/changelog.d/15120.misc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Tweak logging for when a worker waits for its view of a replication stream to catch up.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 71e8bc0d6..f9e95ee5e 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-matrix-synapse-py3 (1.77.0ubuntu1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
+matrix-synapse-py3 (1.78.0~rc1) stable; urgency=medium
* Add `matrix-org-archive-keyring` package as recommended.
+ * New Synapse release 1.78.0rc1.
- -- Synapse Packaging team Mon, 20 Feb 2023 15:41:41 +0000
+ -- Synapse Packaging team Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:29:19 +0000
matrix-synapse-py3 (1.77.0) stable; urgency=medium
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1444642c8..cef7d295c 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ manifest-path = "rust/Cargo.toml"
[tool.poetry]
name = "matrix-synapse"
-version = "1.77.0"
+version = "1.78.0rc1"
description = "Homeserver for the Matrix decentralised comms protocol"
authors = ["Matrix.org Team and Contributors "]
license = "Apache-2.0"