diff --git a/.semaphore/semaphore.yml b/.semaphore/semaphore.yml
index 4f7c5c33c..00c34cf85 100644
--- a/.semaphore/semaphore.yml
+++ b/.semaphore/semaphore.yml
@@ -8,28 +8,28 @@ execution_time_limit:
 global_job_config:
   env_vars:
     - name: LIBRDKAFKA_VERSION
-      value: v2.6.1
+      value: v2.8.0
   prologue:
     commands:
       - checkout
       - mkdir artifacts
 blocks:
-  - name: Test
-    dependencies: []
-    run:
-      # don't run the tests on non-functional changes...
-      when: "change_in('/', {exclude: ['.github/']})"
-    task:
-      jobs:
-        - name: Test
-          commands:
-            - sem-version python 3.9
-            - pip install tox
-            - tox -e cover
-            - mkdir test-output
-            - cp test-report.xml test-output
-            - test-results publish test-output
-            - artifact push workflow coverage.xml
+  # - name: Test
+  #   dependencies: []
+  #   run:
+  #     # don't run the tests on non-functional changes...
+  #     when: "change_in('/', {exclude: ['.github/']})"
+  #   task:
+  #     jobs:
+  #       - name: Test
+  #         commands:
+  #           - sem-version python 3.9
+  #           - pip install tox
+  #           - tox -e cover
+  #           - mkdir test-output
+  #           - cp test-report.xml test-output
+  #           - test-results publish test-output
+  #           - artifact push workflow coverage.xml
   - name: "Wheels: OSX x64 - Python 3.6-3.12"
     run:
       when: "tag =~ '.*'"
@@ -302,15 +302,15 @@ blocks:
             - artifact push project artifacts/confluent-kafka-python-wheels-${SEMAPHORE_GIT_TAG_NAME}-${SEMAPHORE_WORKFLOW_ID}.tgz --destination confluent-kafka-python-wheels-${SEMAPHORE_GIT_TAG_NAME}-${SEMAPHORE_WORKFLOW_ID}.tgz
             - echo Thank you
 
-after_pipeline:
-  task:
-    agent:
-      machine:
-        type: s1-prod-ubuntu20-04-amd64-1
-    jobs:
-      - name: SonarQube
-        commands:
-          - checkout
-          - sem-version java 11
-          - artifact pull workflow coverage.xml
-          - emit-sonarqube-data --run_only_sonar_scan
+# after_pipeline:
+#   task:
+#     agent:
+#       machine:
+#         type: s1-prod-ubuntu20-04-amd64-1
+#     jobs:
+#       - name: SonarQube
+#         commands:
+#           - checkout
+#           - sem-version java 11
+#           - artifact pull workflow coverage.xml
+#           - emit-sonarqube-data --run_only_sonar_scan
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8ea767353..a7ff292d5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # Confluent's Python client for Apache Kafka
 
+## v2.8.0
+
+v2.8.0 is a feature release with the features, fixes and enhancements:
+
+confluent-kafka-python v2.8.0 is based on librdkafka v2.8.0, see the
+[librdkafka release notes](https://github.com/confluentinc/librdkafka/releases/tag/v2.8.0)
+for a complete list of changes, enhancements, fixes and upgrade considerations.
+
+
 ## v2.7.0
 
 v2.7.0 is a feature release with the features, fixes and enhancements present in v2.6.2 including the following fix:
@@ -10,6 +19,7 @@ confluent-kafka-python v2.7.0 is based on librdkafka v2.6.1, see the
 [librdkafka release notes](https://github.com/confluentinc/librdkafka/releases/tag/v2.6.1)
 for a complete list of changes, enhancements, fixes and upgrade considerations.
 
+
 ## v2.6.2
 
 > [!WARNING]
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 2f7a4818d..7e9bbf313 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 include README.md
+include LICENSE
 include src/confluent_kafka/src/*.[ch]
 prune tests
 prune docs
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 86bf02e0f..7dc3592fa 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 # built documents.
 #
 # The short X.Y version.
-version = '2.7.0'
+version = '2.8.0'
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
 release = version
 ######################################################################
diff --git a/examples/docker/Dockerfile.alpine b/examples/docker/Dockerfile.alpine
index a3d421201..26c006bbd 100644
--- a/examples/docker/Dockerfile.alpine
+++ b/examples/docker/Dockerfile.alpine
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ FROM alpine:3.12
 
 COPY . /usr/src/confluent-kafka-python
 
-ENV LIBRDKAFKA_VERSION v2.6.1
+ENV LIBRDKAFKA_VERSION v2.8.0
 ENV KAFKACAT_VERSION master
 
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d18bf7e37..a4427bf95 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "confluent-kafka"
-version = "2.7.0"
+version = "2.8.0"
 description = "Confluent's Python client for Apache Kafka"
 classifiers = [
     "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ classifiers = [
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
     "Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules"]
 readme = "README.md"
-license = { file = "LICENSE" }
 requires-python = ">=3.7"
 dynamic = ["dependencies", "optional-dependencies"]
 
diff --git a/src/confluent_kafka/src/confluent_kafka.h b/src/confluent_kafka/src/confluent_kafka.h
index a6c4162d5..5acbf8ed3 100644
--- a/src/confluent_kafka/src/confluent_kafka.h
+++ b/src/confluent_kafka/src/confluent_kafka.h
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@
  *  0xMMmmRRPP
  *  MM=major, mm=minor, RR=revision, PP=patchlevel (not used)
  */
-#define CFL_VERSION     0x02070200
-#define CFL_VERSION_STR "2.7.0"
+#define CFL_VERSION     0x02080000
+#define CFL_VERSION_STR "2.8.0"
 
 /**
  * Minimum required librdkafka version. This is checked both during
@@ -51,19 +51,19 @@
  * Make sure to keep the MIN_RD_KAFKA_VERSION, MIN_VER_ERRSTR and #error
  * defines and strings in sync.
  */
-#define MIN_RD_KAFKA_VERSION 0x020601ff
+#define MIN_RD_KAFKA_VERSION 0x020800ff
 
 #ifdef __APPLE__
-#define MIN_VER_ERRSTR "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.6.1 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from Homebrew by running `brew install librdkafka` or `brew upgrade librdkafka`"
+#define MIN_VER_ERRSTR "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.8.0 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from Homebrew by running `brew install librdkafka` or `brew upgrade librdkafka`"
 #else
-#define MIN_VER_ERRSTR "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.6.1 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from the Confluent repositories, see http://docs.confluent.io/current/installation.html"
+#define MIN_VER_ERRSTR "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.8.0 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from the Confluent repositories, see http://docs.confluent.io/current/installation.html"
 #endif
 
 #if RD_KAFKA_VERSION < MIN_RD_KAFKA_VERSION
 #ifdef __APPLE__
-#error "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.6.1 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from Homebrew by running `brew install librdkafka` or `brew upgrade librdkafka`"
+#error "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.8.0 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from Homebrew by running `brew install librdkafka` or `brew upgrade librdkafka`"
 #else
-#error "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.6.1 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from the Confluent repositories, see http://docs.confluent.io/current/installation.html"
+#error "confluent-kafka-python requires librdkafka v2.8.0 or later. Install the latest version of librdkafka from the Confluent repositories, see http://docs.confluent.io/current/installation.html"
 #endif
 #endif