Update the maintainer and user walkthroughs so they reflect the
completed 8.2.0 release publication instead of the pre-release ready
state.
Capture the final PR merge set, issue closure state, and the exact
release commands that were executed on main.
Add the 8.2.0 changelog entry and align the release-facing user docs
with the current maintenance sweep so the release workflow has the
required notes and public version references in place.
Refresh README release messaging and contributor acknowledgements ahead
of the automated release commit and tag creation.
