Third release candidate for 8.18. The release notes are here:

https://www.libvips.org/2025/12/04/What's-new-in-8.18.html

Notable changes since 8.17:

• add dcrawload, dcrawload_source, dcrawload_buffer: load raw camera files using libraw [lxsameer]
• add magickload_source: load from a source with imagemagick
• add vips__worker_exit(): enables fast threadpool shutdown
• larger mmap windows on 64-bit machines improve random access mode for many file formats
• pdfload: control region to be rendered via page_box [lovell]
• system: add "cache" argument
• add vips_image_get_tile_width(), vips_image_get_tile_height(): get tile cache geometry hints [jbaiter]
• add vips_uhdrload(), vips_uhdrload_buffer(), vips_uhdrload_source(): load an UltraHDR image
• add vips_uhdrsave(), vips_uhdrsave_buffer(), vips_uhdrsave_target(): save an UltraHDR image
• fix cpp binding leak [VivitionDeveloper]
• add "gainmap" to VipsKeep
• add vips_image_get_gainmap()
• thumbnail updates gainmaps
• add "bitdepth" to jxlsave
• add "path" option to vipsthumbnail, deprecate "output" option [zjturner]
• add "exact" to webpsave
• add "uhdr2scRGB"
• dzsave has gainmap support
• cpp: add .gainmap(), .set(VImage)
• add support for Oklab and Oklch colourspaces
• add vips_Oklab2XYZ(), vips_XYZ2Oklab()
• add vips_Oklab2Oklch(), vips_OKlch2Oklab()
• add vips_interpretation_bands()
• heifsave: add "tune" parameter
• require C++14 as a minimum standard [kleisauke]
• prefer libpng over spng

Test windows binaries (for rc2) here:

https://github.com/libvips/build-win64-mxe/releases/tag/v8.18.0-rc2