Backported PRs:
- [x] #50411 <!-- Fix weird dispatch of * with zero arguments -->
- [x] #50202 <!-- Remove dynamic dispatch from _wait/wait2 -->
- [x] #50064 <!-- Fix numbered prompt with input only with comment -->
- [x] #50026 <!-- Store heapsnapshot files in tempdir() instead of
current directory -->
- [x] #50402 <!-- Add CPU feature helper function -->
- [x] #50387 <!-- update newpages pointer after actually sweeping pages
-->
- [x] #50424 <!-- avoid potential type-instability in _replace_(str,
...) -->
- [x] #50444 <!-- Optimize getfield lowering to avoid boxing in some
cases -->
- [x] #50474 <!-- docs: Fix a `!!! note` which was miscapitalized -->
- [x] #50466 <!-- relax assertion involving pg->nold to reflect that it
may be a bit in… -->
- [x] #50490 <!-- Fix compat annotation for italic printstyled -->
- [x] #50488 <!-- fix typo in `Base.isassigned` with `Tridiagonal` -->
- [x] #50476 <!-- Profile: Add specifying dir for `take_heap_snapshot`
and handling if current dir is unwritable -->
- [x] #50461 <!-- fix typo in the --gcthreads argument description -->
- [x] #50528 <!-- ssair: Correctly handle stmt insertion at end of basic
block -->
- [x] #50533 <!-- ensure internal_obj_base_ptr checks whether objects
past freelist pointer are in freelist -->
- [x] #49322 <!-- improve cat design / performance -->
- [x] #50540 <!-- gc: remove over-eager assertion -->
- [x] #50542 <!-- gf: remove unnecessary assert cycle==depth -->
- [x] #50559 <!-- Expand kwcall lowering positional default check to
vararg -->
- [x] #50058 <!-- Add unwrapping mechanism for triangular mul and solves
-->
- [x] #50551 <!-- typeintersect: also record chained `innervars` -->
- [x] #50552 <!-- read(io, Char): fix read with too many leading ones
-->
- [x] #50541 <!-- precompile: ensure globals are not accidentally
created where disallowed -->
- [x] #50576 <!-- use atomic compare exchange when setting the GC
mark-bit -->
- [x] #50578 <!-- gf: make method overwrite/delete an error during
precompile -->
- [x] #50516 <!-- Fix visibility of assert on GCC12/13 -->
- [x] #50597 <!-- Fix memory corruption if task is launched inside
finalizer -->
- [x] #50591 <!-- build: fix various makefile bugs -->
- [x] #50599 <!-- faster invalid object lookup in conservative gc -->
- [x] #50634 <!-- 🤖 [master] Bump the SparseArrays stdlib from b4b0e72
to 99c99b4 -->
- [x] #50639 <!-- Backport LLVM patches to fix various issues. -->
- [x] #50546 <!-- Revert storage of method instance in LineInfoNode -->
- [x] #50631 <!-- Shift DCE pass to optimize imaging mode code better
-->
- [x] #50525 <!-- only check that values are finite in `generic_lufact`
when `check=true` -->
- [x] #50587 <!-- isassigned for ranges with BigInt indices -->
- [x] #50144 <!-- Page based heap size heuristics -->


Need manual backport:
- [ ] #50595 <!-- Rename ENV variable `JULIA_USE_NEW_PARSER` ->
`JULIA_USE_FLISP_PARSER` -->



Non-merged PRs with backport label:
- [ ] #50637 <!-- Remove SparseArrays legacy code -->
- [ ] #50618 <!-- inference: continue const-prop' when concrete-eval
returns non-inlineable -->
- [ ] #50598 <!-- only limit types in stack traces in the REPL -->
- [ ] #50594 <!-- Disallow non-index Integer types in isassigned -->
- [ ] #50568 <!-- `Array(::AbstractRange)` should return an `Array` -->
- [ ] #50523 <!-- Avoid generic call in most cases for getproperty -->
- [ ] #50172 <!-- print feature flags used for matching pkgimage -->

Currently, `Array(r::AbstractRange)` falls back to `vcat(r)`, but
certain ranges may choose to specialize `vcat(r::AbstractRange)` to not
return an `Array`. This PR ensures that `Array(r)` always returns an
`Array`.

At present, there's some code overlap with `vcat` (just above the
`Array` method added in this PR). Perhaps some of these may be replaced
by `unsafe_copyto!`, but the tests for ranges include some special cases
that don't support `getindex`, which complicates things a bit. I've not
done this for now. In any case, the common bit of code is pretty simple,
so perhaps the duplication is harmless.

(cherry picked from commit 3cc0590)

Currently, `Array(r::AbstractRange)` falls back to `vcat(r)`, but
certain ranges may choose to specialize `vcat(r::AbstractRange)` to not
return an `Array`. This PR ensures that `Array(r)` always returns an
`Array`.

At present, there's some code overlap with `vcat` (just above the
`Array` method added in this PR). Perhaps some of these may be replaced
by `unsafe_copyto!`, but the tests for ranges include some special cases
that don't support `getindex`, which complicates things a bit. I've not
done this for now. In any case, the common bit of code is pretty simple,
so perhaps the duplication is harmless.

(cherry picked from commit 3cc0590)

Backported PRs:
- [x] #50637 <!-- Remove SparseArrays legacy code -->
- [x] #50665 <!-- print `@time` msg into print buffer -->
- [x] #50523 <!-- Avoid generic call in most cases for getproperty -->
- [x] #50635 <!-- `versioninfo()`: include build info and unofficial
warning -->
- [x] #50670 <!-- Make reinterpret specialize fully. -->
- [x] #50666 <!-- include `--pkgimage=no` caches for stdlibs -->
- [x] #50765 
- [x] #50764
- [x] #50768
- [x] #50767
- [x] #50618 <!-- inference: continue const-prop' when concrete-eval
returns non-inlineable -->
- [x] #50689 <!-- Attach `tanpi` docstring to method -->
- [x] #50671 <!-- Fix rdiv of complex lhs by real factorizations -->
- [x] #50598 <!-- only limit types in stack traces in the REPL -->
- [x] #50766 <!-- Don't partition alwaysinline functions -->
- [x] #50771 <!-- re-allow non-string values in ENV `get!` -->
- [x] #50682 <!-- Add fallback if we have make a weird GC decision. -->
- [x] #50781 <!-- fix `bit_map!` with aliasing -->
- [x] #50172 <!-- print feature flags used for matching pkgimage -->
- [x] #50844 <!-- Bump OpenBLAS binaries to use the new GEMM
multithreading threshold -->
- [x] #50826 <!-- Update dependency builds -->
- [x] #50845 <!-- fix #50438, use default pool for at-threads -->
- [x] #50568 <!-- `Array(::AbstractRange)` should return an `Array` -->
- [x] #50655 <!-- fix hashing regression. -->
- [x] #50779 <!-- Minor refactor to image generation -->
- [x] #50791 <!-- Make symbols internal in jl_create_native, and only
externalize them when partitioning -->
- [x] #50724 <!-- Merge opaque closure modules with the rest of the
workqueue -->
- [x] #50738 <!-- Add alignment to constant globals -->
- [x] #50871 <!-- macOS: Don't inspect dead threadtls during exception
handling. -->

Need manual backport:

Contains multiple commits, manual intervention needed:

Non-merged PRs with backport label:
- [ ] #50850 <!-- Remove weird Rational dispatch and add pi functions to
list -->
- [ ] #50823 <!-- Make ranges more robust with unsigned indexes. -->
- [ ] #50809 <!-- Limit type-printing in MethodError -->
- [ ] #50663 <!-- Fix Expr(:loopinfo) codegen -->
- [ ] #50594 <!-- Disallow non-index Integer types in isassigned -->
- [ ] #50385 <!-- Precompile pidlocks: add to NEWS and docs -->
- [ ] #49805 <!-- Limit TimeType subtraction to AbstractDateTime -->

Backported PRs:
- [x] #47782 <!-- Generalize Bool parse method to AbstractString -->
- [x] #48634 <!-- Remove unused "deps" mechanism in internal sorting
keywords [NFC] -->
- [x] #49931 <!-- Lock finalizers' lists at exit -->
- [x] #50064 <!-- Fix numbered prompt with input only with comment -->
- [x] #50474 <!-- docs: Fix a `!!! note` which was miscapitalized -->
- [x] #50516 <!-- Fix visibility of assert on GCC12/13 -->
- [x] #50635 <!-- `versioninfo()`: include build info and unofficial
warning -->
- [x] #49915 <!-- Revert "Remove number / vector (#44358)" -->
- [x] #50781 <!-- fix `bit_map!` with aliasing -->
- [x] #50845 <!-- fix #50438, use default pool for at-threads -->
- [x] #49031 <!-- Update inference.md -->
- [x] #50289 <!-- Initialize prev_nold and nold in gc_reset_page -->
- [x] #50559 <!-- Expand kwcall lowering positional default check to
vararg -->
- [x] #49582 <!-- Update HISTORY.md for `DelimitedFiles` -->
- [x] #50341 <!-- invokelatest docs should say not exported before 1.9
-->
- [x] #50525 <!-- only check that values are finite in `generic_lufact`
when `check=true` -->
- [x] #50444 <!-- Optimize getfield lowering to avoid boxing in some
cases -->
- [x] #50523 <!-- Avoid generic call in most cases for getproperty -->
- [x] #50860 <!-- Add `Base.get_extension` to docs/API -->
- [x] #50164 <!-- codegen: handle dead code with unsafe_store of FCA
pointers -->
- [x] #50568 <!-- `Array(::AbstractRange)` should return an `Array` -->
- [x] #50871 <!-- macOS: Don't inspect dead threadtls during exception
handling. -->

Need manual backport:
- [ ] #48542 <!-- Add docs on task-specific buffering using
multithreading -->
- [ ] #50591 <!-- build: fix various makefile bugs -->


Non-merged PRs with backport label:
- [ ] #50842 <!-- Avoid race conditions with recursive rm -->
- [ ] #50823 <!-- Make ranges more robust with unsigned indexes. -->
- [ ] #50663 <!-- Fix Expr(:loopinfo) codegen -->
- [ ] #49716 <!-- Update varinfo() docstring signature -->
- [ ] #49713 <!-- prevent REPL from erroring in numbered mode in some
situations -->
- [ ] #49573 <!-- Implement jl_cpu_pause on PPC64 -->
- [ ] #48726 <!-- fix macro expansion of property destructuring -->
- [ ] #48642 <!-- Use gc alloc instead of alloc typed in lowering -->
- [ ] #48183 <!-- Don't use pkgimage for package if any includes fall in
tracked path for coverage or alloc tracking -->
- [ ] #48050 <!-- improve `--heap-size-hint` arg handling -->
- [ ] #47615 <!-- Allow threadsafe access to buffer of type inference
profiling trees -->