Release Play 2.8.1

[dwijnand]

Preparing the release

Better to do this in advance:

• [x] Make sure that other teams inside Lightbend are aware of the upcoming release, even if it is a minor/patch one
  • [x] ~Lightbend Telemetry Team~
  • [x] ~Lightbend Platform Team~
  • [x] ~Akka Team~
• [x] ~Triage issues~

Do the Release (Full document)

• [x] ~Release projects that Play depends on~

  • [x] ~release play-json~
  • [x] ~Look for PRs that should be merged.~
  • [x] ~Look at status:needs-backport, status:needs-forwardport issues/PRs (including closed ones).~
  • [x] ~Look at issues/PRs tagged milestone version (including closed ones).~
  • [x] ~Update any dependencies that are needed. (e.g JDK, Scala)~
  • [x] ~release play-ws~
  • [x] ~Look for PRs that should be merged.~
  • [x] ~Look at status:needs-backport, status:needs-forwardport issues/PRs (including closed ones).~
  • [x] ~Look at issues/PRs tagged milestone version (including closed ones).~
  • [x] ~Update any dependencies that are needed. (e.g JDK, Scala)~
  • [x] ~Make sure play-ws uses new play-json~
  • [x] ~release twirl~
  • [x] ~Look for PRs that should be merged.~
  • [x] ~Look at status:needs-backport, status:needs-forwardport, status:needs-backport-1.3 issues/PRs (including closed ones).~
  • [x] ~Look at issues/PRs tagged milestone version (including closed ones).~
  • [x] ~Update any dependencies that are needed. (e.g JDK, Scala)~
  • [x] release play-file-watch: play-file-watch#68 play-file-watch#v1.1.11
  • [x] release play-file-watch: play-file-watch#69 play-file-watch#v1.1.12

• x[]

  • [x] ~Look for PRs that should be merged.~
  • [x] ~Look at status:needs-backport, status:needs-forwardport, status:needs-backport-2.6 issues/PRs (including closed ones).~
  • [x] Look at issues/PRs tagged milestone version (including closed ones).
  • [x] ~Update any dependencies that are needed. (e.g JDK, Scala)~
  • [x] ~Make sure play uses new play-json, play-ws, twirl~
  • [x] Make sure play uses new play-file-watch play#10015

• x[]

  • [x] ~release play-slick~
  • [x] ~release scalatestplus-play~
  • [x] ~release play-grpc~

• x[]

• x[] PR

• x[] play-samples#88

• [x] ~Update Example Code Service~

• x[]

  • x[]
  • x[] play.com#366
  • x[]
  • [x] ~Deploy the website changes~

• x[]

  • [x] ~Write a blog post on https://playframework.ghost.io/ghost/24 about the release.~
  • [x] Write a topic on https://discuss.lightbend.com/: https://discuss.lightbend.com/t/play-2-8-1-released/5845
  • [x] Write a release on https://github.com/playframework/playframework/releases: 2.8.1
  • [x] Send an internal email to eng-updates
  • [x] ~Tweet about the new release.~

• x[]

[dwijnand]

All done.

@marcospereira could you deploy the website changes, please? I don't have access. Also, I'm not sure if you want to tweet the release too.