This thread has now been closed to direct all further updates about this release onto the latest announcement:

https://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/82397/stable-channel-cycle-8-service-release-1/p1

Please see https://releases.xamarin.com/beta-release-cycle-8-service-release-1-rc-builds/ for the details about this release, including the steps to update or downgrade as needed.

Bug reports wanted!

• Please file a quick bug report using the "Cycle 8" new bug form if you see any behavior that looks suspicious in these versions (and if it isn't clear whether one of the known issues in the release notes matches the problem).

  • If you get any errors when using the form to submit, please select the All Products option and choose the desired product.

• Comment in this forum thread if your question is not related to a suspicious behavior after installation, but instead one of the following:

  • You notice an error in the Release Blog post.
  • You have trouble downloading one of the installer packages.

Remaining higher-visibility known issues from the list for the previous release

None. This release includes candidate fixes or improvements for each of the higher-visibility known issues that were listed in the forum announcement for the previous release.

Fixed bugs

You can view the list of bugs addressed by this Beta version using the following Bugzilla query:

• Cycle 8 – Service Release 1 FIXED bugs

  Note that the bug numbers in this query include some non-public bugs as well as some bugs that were included in the Stable channel Xcode 8.1 compatibility update from October 27.

Open bugs list

You can view all of the remaining bugs that have been reported against the Cycle 8 version that are not yet fixed in "Cycle 8 – Service Release 1" using the following Bugzilla query:

• Xamarin Cycle 8 Bug List, excluding issues now fixed in Service Release 1

  Note that some of the remaining issues on this list are already marked "FIXED." The candidate fixes for those issues are not yet included in this release, but they will be included in a future Service Release or Feature Release.

Some higher-visibility known issues from the open bug list

• [Xamarin for Visual Studio], [Xamarin Studio] - Upcoming compatibility feature, tracked in 44330 - "This version does not have support for files saved in Xcode 8 format" appears when attempting to edit a file with the Xamarin iOS designer after having edited the file with Xcode 8. Xcode 8 introduced a new, non-backwards-compatible XML format for Interface Builder documents that is not yet supported in Xamarin's iOS designer. As it turns out, the beta version of Xcode 8.1 from Apple has in fact backed out of several of those format changes. Candidate fixes are now under test for Xamarin's iOS designer to cover the remaining format changes as present in Xcode 8.1.

• [Xamarin Studio] - 43188 - Sporadic "Out of memory" error during build leaves solution in an unbuildable state until the project is reloaded.

  • Improved in this release: Cycle 8 Service Release 1 includes some fixes that should hopefully eliminate the need to reload the project in this scenario. Additional fixes for the "Out of memory" error itself are also planned.

EDIT Oct 27: Add a note about Xcode 8.1 compatibility.
EDIT Nov 01: Remove note about Xcode 8.1 compatibility. Update bug lists for latest Beta. New fixes: 45899 44257 45379 44724 45644 45856 45861 44570 45676 45847 44193 45862 45855 45711 45611 45269 44551 46062 46266.
EDIT Nov 03: Update bug lists for latest Beta. New fixes: 45269.