2025 changelog tracker

[ev-br]

Testing 2025.12 features in CI is a bit of chicken-and-egg, so we need to test locally first, make the array-api-strict release, and then polish the tests. This issue is to track the first step: make sure array-api-strict has all the features, and they have been tested locally.

A checked box means it's been tested with --max-examples 10_000 vs array_api_strict main branch.

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Per the changelog:

Updates

APIs

• __array_namespace__: remove guidance recommending that the returned namespace only include those names which are part of this specification (gh-931) not relevant to array-api-strict
• __array_namespace_info__().default_device: clarify support for None when the default device is not predictable (gh-961) not relevant to array-api-strict
• __setitem__: specify type promotion behavior when the value argument is an array (gh-920) -- was done in BUG: fix __setitem__ for invalid dtype combinations #157 for 2.4.1
• asarray: clarify that behavior when providing a nested sequence is unspecified (gh-917) --- was done in BUG: do not allow asarray of nested sequences of arrays #147 for 2.4.0
• clip: clarify type promotion behavior when providing scalar values for min and/or max arguments (gh-926) -- tested with Test clip-ing of a float array with integer scalars min/max array-api-tests#411
• expand_dims: add support for specifying a tuple of axis positions (gh-988) --- tested with ENH: expand_dims tuple axes array-api-tests#414
• permute_dims: add support for negative axes (gh-980) --- tested with ENH: test permute_dims with axis < 0 array-api-tests#395

Scalar Argument Support

The following APIs were updated to support both scalar and array arguments for one or more arguments:

• searchsorted: add scalar argument support (gh-982) --- tested with WIP: searchsorted: allow x2 to be python scalar array-api-tests#394

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Additions

New APIs and requirements added to the specification.

APIs

• broadcast_shapes: broadcast one or more shapes against one another (gh-983) -- tested in ENH: test broadcast_shapes array-api-tests#403
• isin: test for each element in x1 whether the element is in x2 (gh-959) -- tested in ENH: add a basic test of isin array-api-tests#426

Extensions

• linalg.eig: return the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a real or complex matrix (gh-978) -- tested in WIP: add tests for eig and eigvals array-api-tests#404
• linalg.eigvals: return the eigenvalues of a real or complex matrix (gh-978) -- tested in WIP: add tests for eig and eigvals array-api-tests#404

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Breaking Changes

• __array_namespace_info__().devices: return a tuple rather than a list (gh-981) -- fixed in ENH: return tuples not lists from functions changed in 2025.12 #179
• broadcast_arrays: return a tuple rather than a list (gh-981) -- fixed in ENH: return tuples not lists from functions changed in 2025.12 #179
• meshgrid: return a tuple rather than a list (gh-981) -- fixed in ENH: return tuples not lists from functions changed in 2025.12 #179