diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index bcf2e1d5ea2..9738c1bd45b 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -143,8 +143,9 @@ workflows:
           filters:
             branches:
               only:
-                - master
+                - release
                 - dev
+                - master
     jobs:
       # Run daily long regression tests
       - regression-test
diff --git a/.github/workflows/generic-dev.yml b/.github/workflows/generic-dev.yml
index bb88de57ca5..8882fcc0b6a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/generic-dev.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/generic-dev.yml
@@ -2,14 +2,13 @@ name: generic-dev
 
 on:
   pull_request:
-    branches: [ dev, master, actionsTest ]
+    branches: [ dev, release, actionsTest ]
 
 jobs:
 
 # Dev PR jobs that still have to be migrated from travis
 #
-# icc (need self-hosted)
-# versionTag
+# versionTag (only on release tags)
 # valgrindTest (keeps failing for some reason. need investigation)
 # staticAnalyze (need trusty so need self-hosted)
 # pcc-fuzz: (need trusty so need self-hosted)
@@ -19,7 +18,7 @@ jobs:
 # I need admins permissions to the repo for that it looks like
 # So I'm tabling that for now
 #
-# The master branch exclusive jobs will be in a separate
+# The release branch exclusive jobs will be in a separate
 # workflow file (the osx tests and meson build that is)
 
   benchmarking:
@@ -36,6 +35,15 @@ jobs:
     - name: make test
       run: make test
 
+  check-32bit: # designed to catch https://github.com/facebook/zstd/issues/2428
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+    - name: make check on 32-bit
+      run: |
+        make libc6install
+        CFLAGS="-m32 -O1 -fstack-protector" make check V=1
+
   gcc-6-7-libzstd:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
@@ -50,6 +58,10 @@ jobs:
         LDFLAGS=-Wl,--no-undefined make -C lib libzstd-mt
         make -C tests zbufftest-dll
 
+    # candidate test (to check) : underlink test
+    # LDFLAGS=-Wl,--no-undefined : will make the linker fail if dll is underlinked
+    # zbufftest-dll : test that a user program can link to multi-threaded libzstd without specifying -pthread
+
   gcc-8-asan-ubsan-testzstd:
     runs-on: ubuntu-16.04 # fails on 18.04
     steps:
@@ -84,6 +96,10 @@ jobs:
         sudo apt-get install clang-3.8
         CC=clang-3.8 make clean msan-test-zstd HAVE_ZLIB=0 HAVE_LZ4=0 HAVE_LZMA=0
 
+    # Note : external libraries must be turned off when using MSAN tests,
+    # because they are not msan-instrumented,
+    # so any data coming from these libraries is always considered "uninitialized"
+
   cmake-build-and-test-check:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
@@ -147,7 +163,7 @@ jobs:
         make clean
         make c99build
         make clean
-        make travis-install
+        make travis-install   # just ensures `make install` works
 
   mingw-cross-compilation:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/generic-release.yml b/.github/workflows/generic-release.yml
index de4a1cb9145..167ba38487f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/generic-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/generic-release.yml
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ name: generic-release
 
 on:
   pull_request:
-    # This will eventually only be for pushes to master
+    # This will eventually only be for pushes to release
     # but for dogfooding purposes, I'm running it even
     # on dev pushes
-    branches: [ dev, master, actionsTest ]
+    branches: [ dev, release, actionsTest ]
 
 jobs:
   # missing jobs
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ jobs:
         sudo apt-get install clang-3.8
         CC=clang-3.8 make tsan-test-zstream
         CC=clang-3.8 make tsan-fuzztest
+
   zlib-wrapper:
     runs-on: ubuntu-16.04
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/linux-kernel.yml b/.github/workflows/linux-kernel.yml
index 35871ff0850..124f7777828 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/linux-kernel.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/linux-kernel.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name: linux-kernel
 
 on:
   pull_request:
-    branches: [ dev, master, actionsTest ]
+    branches: [ dev, release, actionsTest ]
 
 jobs:
   test:
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 226d4c0154e..4757c6b02ae 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ git:
 branches:
   only:
   - dev
+  - release
   - master
   - travisTest
 
@@ -31,49 +32,11 @@ matrix:
       script:
         - make check
 
-    - name: make benchmarking
-      script:
-        - make benchmarking
-
     - name: make test (complete)
       script:
         # DEVNULLRIGHTS : will request sudo rights to test permissions on /dev/null
         - DEVNULLRIGHTS=test make test
 
-    - name: gcc-6 + gcc-7 + libzstdmt compilation   # ~ 6mn
-      script:
-        - make gcc6install gcc7install
-        - CC=gcc-6 CFLAGS=-Werror make -j all
-        - make clean
-        - CC=gcc-7 CFLAGS=-Werror make -j all
-        - make clean
-        - LDFLAGS=-Wl,--no-undefined make -C lib libzstd-mt
-        - make -C tests zbufftest-dll
-        # LDFLAGS=-Wl,--no-undefined : will make the linker fail if dll is underlinked
-        # zbufftest-dll : test that a user program can link to multi-threaded libzstd without specifying -pthread
-
-    - name: gcc-8 + ASan + UBSan + Test Zstd   # ~6.5mn
-      script:
-        - make gcc8install
-        - CC=gcc-8 CFLAGS="-Werror" make -j all
-        - make clean
-        - CC=gcc-8 make -j uasan-test-zstd </dev/null   # test when stdin is not a tty
-
-    - name: gcc-6 + ASan + UBSan + Test Zstd, 32bit mode    # ~4mn
-      script:
-        - make gcc6install libc6install
-        - CC=gcc-6 CFLAGS="-Werror -m32" make -j all32
-        - make clean
-        - CC=gcc-6 make -j uasan-test-zstd32   # note : can complain about pointer overflow
-
-    - name: clang-3.8 + MSan + Test Zstd    # ~3.5mn
-      script:
-        - make clang38install
-        # External libraries must be turned off when using MSAN tests,
-        # because they are not msan-instrumented,
-        # so any data coming from these libraries is always considered "uninitialized"
-        - CC=clang-3.8 make clean msan-test-zstd HAVE_ZLIB=0 HAVE_LZ4=0 HAVE_LZMA=0
-
     - name: Minimal Decompressor Macros    # ~5mn
       script:
         - make clean && make -j all ZSTD_LIB_MINIFY=1 MOREFLAGS="-Werror"
@@ -85,51 +48,11 @@ matrix:
         - make clean && make -j all MOREFLAGS="-Werror -DZSTD_NO_INLINE -DZSTD_STRIP_ERROR_STRINGS"
         - make clean && make check MOREFLAGS="-Werror -DZSTD_NO_INLINE -DZSTD_STRIP_ERROR_STRINGS"
 
-    - name: cmake build and test check    # ~6mn
-      script:
-        - make cmakebuild
-
     - name: static analyzer scanbuild    # ~26mn
       dist: trusty  # note : it's important to pin down a version of static analyzer, since different versions report different false positives
       script:
         - make staticAnalyze
 
-    - name: gcc-8 + ASan + UBSan + Fuzz Test    # ~19mn
-      script:
-        - make gcc8install
-        - CC=gcc-8 make clean uasan-fuzztest
-
-    - name: gcc-6 + ASan + UBSan + Fuzz Test 32bit    # ~15.5mn
-      script:
-        - make gcc6install libc6install
-        - CC=gcc-6 CFLAGS="-O2 -m32" make uasan-fuzztest   # can complain about pointer overflow
-
-    - name: clang-3.8 + MSan + Fuzz Test     # ~14.5mn
-      script:
-        - make clang38install
-        - CC=clang-3.8 make clean msan-fuzztest
-
-    - name: ASan + UBSan + MSan + Regression Test    # ~ 4.5mn
-      script:
-        - make -j uasanregressiontest
-        - make clean
-        - make -j msanregressiontest
-
-    - name: C++, gnu90 and c99 compatibility   # ~3mn
-      script:
-        - make cxxtest
-        - make clean
-        - make gnu90build
-        - make clean
-        - make c99build
-        - make clean
-        - make travis-install    # just ensures `make install` works
-
-    - name: mingw cross-compilation
-      script :
-        - sudo update-alternatives --set x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ /usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++-posix;
-        - CC=x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc CXX=x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ CFLAGS="-Werror -O1" make zstd
-
     - name: Valgrind + Fuzz Test Stack Mode    # ~ 7mn
       script:
         - make valgrindinstall
@@ -162,33 +85,28 @@ matrix:
         - make -C tests checkTag
         - tests/checkTag "$TRAVIS_BRANCH"
 
-    # tests for master branch and cron job only
+    # tests for release branch and cron job only
     - name: OS-X    # ~13mn
-      if: branch = master
+      if: branch = release
       os: osx
       script:
         - make test
         - make -C lib all
 
-    - name: zbuff test
-      if: branch = master
-      script:
-        - make -C tests test-zbuff
-
     - name: Versions Compatibility Test   # 11.5mn
-      if: branch = master
+      if: branch = release
       script:
         - make -C tests versionsTest
 
     - name: thread sanitizer   # ~29mn
-      if: branch = master
+      if: branch = release
       script:
         - make clang38install
         - CC=clang-3.8 make tsan-test-zstream
         - CC=clang-3.8 make tsan-fuzztest
 
     - name: PPC64LE + Fuzz test  # ~13mn
-      if: branch = master
+      if: branch = release
       arch: ppc64le
       script:
         - cat /proc/cpuinfo
@@ -196,40 +114,22 @@ matrix:
 
     - name: Qemu PPC64 + Fuzz test  # ~13mn, presumed Big-Endian (?)
       dist: trusty  # note : PPC64 cross-compilation for Qemu tests seems broken on Xenial
-      if: branch = master
+      if: branch = release
       script:
         - make ppcinstall
         - make ppc64fuzz
 
     # note : we already have aarch64 tests on hardware
     - name: Qemu aarch64 + Fuzz Test (on Xenial)    # ~14mn
-      if: branch = master
+      if: branch = release
       dist: xenial
       script:
         - make arminstall
         - make aarch64fuzz
 
-    - name: zlib wrapper test    # ~7.5mn
-      if: branch = master
-      script:
-        - make gpp6install valgrindinstall
-        - make -C zlibWrapper test
-        - make -C zlibWrapper valgrindTest
-
-    - name: LZ4, thread pool, and partial libs tests    # ~4mn
-      if: branch = master
-      script:
-        - make lz4install
-        - make -C tests test-lz4
-        - make check < /dev/null | tee    # mess with lz4 console detection
-        - make clean
-        - make -C tests test-pool
-        - make clean
-        - bash tests/libzstd_partial_builds.sh
-
     # meson dedicated test
     - name: Xenial (Meson + clang)    # ~15mn
-      if: branch = master
+      if: branch = release
       dist: xenial
       language: cpp
       compiler: clang
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 562211cfdee..86092563177 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-v1.4.7
+v1.4.8  (Dec 18, 2020)
+hotfix: wrong alignment of an internal buffer
+
+v1.4.7  (Dec 16, 2020)
 perf: stronger --long mode at high compression levels, by @senhuang42
 perf: stronger --patch-from at high compression levels, thanks to --long improvements
 perf: faster dictionary compression at medium compression levels, by @felixhandte
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index bb85d5876bf..44f2393a2c1 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ possible.
 ## Our Development Process
 New versions are being developed in the "dev" branch,
 or in their own feature branch.
-When they are deemed ready for a release, they are merged into "master".
+When they are deemed ready for a release, they are merged into "release".
 
 As a consequences, all contributions must stage first through "dev"
 or their own feature branch.
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ CI tests run every time a pull request (PR) is created or updated. The exact tes
 that get run will depend on the destination branch you specify. Some tests take
 longer to run than others. Currently, our CI is set up to run a short
 series of tests when creating a PR to the dev branch and a longer series of tests
-when creating a PR to the master branch. You can look in the configuration files
+when creating a PR to the release branch. You can look in the configuration files
 of the respective CI platform for more information on what gets run when.
 
 Most people will just want to create a PR with the destination set to their local dev
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0f36a5f9d65..dcca7662d2f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ Zstandard is dual-licensed under [BSD](LICENSE) and [GPLv2](COPYING).
 
 ## Contributing
 
-The "dev" branch is the one where all contributions are merged before reaching "master".
-If you plan to propose a patch, please commit into the "dev" branch, or its own feature branch.
-Direct commit to "master" are not permitted.
+The `dev` branch is the one where all contributions are merged before reaching `release`.
+If you plan to propose a patch, please commit into the `dev` branch, or its own feature branch.
+Direct commit to `release` are not permitted.
 For more information, please read [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md).
diff --git a/TESTING.md b/TESTING.md
index 7e5305178b9..b851d1c8d71 100644
--- a/TESTING.md
+++ b/TESTING.md
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ They consist of the following tests:
 
 Long Tests
 ----------
-Long tests run on all commits to `master` branch,
+Long tests run on all commits to `release` branch,
 and once a day on the current version of `dev` branch,
 on TravisCI.
 They consist of the following tests:
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 169c66bd61d..0e872557525 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
-# Following tests are run _only_ on master branch
-# To reproduce these tests, it's possible to push into a branch `appveyorTest`
-# or a branch `visual*`, they will intentionnally trigger `master` tests
+# Following tests are run _only_ on `release` branch
+# and on selected feature branch named `appveyorTest` or `visual*`
 
 -
   version: 1.0.{build}
   branches:
     only:
+    - release
     - master
-    - appveyorTest
+    - /appveyor*/
     - /visual*/
   environment:
     matrix:
     - COMPILER: "gcc"
       HOST:     "mingw"
       PLATFORM: "x64"
-      SCRIPT:   "make allzstd MOREFLAGS=-static && make -C tests fullbench-lib"
+      SCRIPT:   "make allzstd MOREFLAGS=-static"
       ARTIFACT: "true"
       BUILD:    "true"
     - COMPILER: "gcc"
@@ -92,9 +92,9 @@
           cd programs\ && 7z a -tzip -mx9 zstd-win-binary-%PLATFORM%.zip zstd.exe &&
           appveyor PushArtifact zstd-win-binary-%PLATFORM%.zip &&
           cp zstd.exe ..\bin\zstd.exe &&
-          git clone --depth 1 --branch master https://github.com/facebook/zstd &&
+          git clone --depth 1 --branch release https://github.com/facebook/zstd &&
           cd zstd &&
-          git archive --format=tar master -o zstd-src.tar &&
+          git archive --format=tar release -o zstd-src.tar &&
           ..\zstd -19 zstd-src.tar &&
           appveyor PushArtifact zstd-src.tar.zst &&
           certUtil -hashfile zstd-src.tar.zst SHA256 > zstd-src.tar.zst.sha256.sig &&
diff --git a/contrib/seekable_format/zstd_seekable_compression_format.md b/contrib/seekable_format/zstd_seekable_compression_format.md
index bf3080f7bbe..55aebfd2e9d 100644
--- a/contrib/seekable_format/zstd_seekable_compression_format.md
+++ b/contrib/seekable_format/zstd_seekable_compression_format.md
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ __`Frame_Size`__
 The total size of the skippable frame, not including the `Skippable_Magic_Number` or `Frame_Size`.
 This is for compatibility with [Zstandard skippable frames].
 
-[Zstandard skippable frames]: https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/master/doc/zstd_compression_format.md#skippable-frames
+[Zstandard skippable frames]: https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/release/doc/zstd_compression_format.md#skippable-frames
 
 #### `Seek_Table_Footer`
 The seek table footer format is as follows:
diff --git a/doc/zstd_manual.html b/doc/zstd_manual.html
index cb5ded0703a..315488844ba 100644
--- a/doc/zstd_manual.html
+++ b/doc/zstd_manual.html
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 <html>
 <head>
 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
-<title>zstd 1.4.7 Manual</title>
+<title>zstd 1.4.8 Manual</title>
 </head>
 <body>
-<h1>zstd 1.4.7 Manual</h1>
+<h1>zstd 1.4.8 Manual</h1>
 <hr>
 <a name="Contents"></a><h2>Contents</h2>
 <ol>
diff --git a/lib/common/fse.h b/lib/common/fse.h
index 83a07847aaa..dd5fc44e809 100644
--- a/lib/common/fse.h
+++ b/lib/common/fse.h
@@ -335,9 +335,10 @@ size_t FSE_buildCTable_rle (FSE_CTable* ct, unsigned char symbolValue);
 
 /* FSE_buildCTable_wksp() :
  * Same as FSE_buildCTable(), but using an externally allocated scratch buffer (`workSpace`).
- * `wkspSize` must be >= `FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE(maxSymbolValue, tableLog)`.
+ * `wkspSize` must be >= `FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE_U32(maxSymbolValue, tableLog)` of `unsigned`.
  */
-#define FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE(maxSymbolValue, tableLog) (sizeof(unsigned) * (maxSymbolValue + 2) + (1ull << tableLog))
+#define FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE_U32(maxSymbolValue, tableLog) (maxSymbolValue + 2 + (1ull << (tableLog - 2)))
+#define FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE(maxSymbolValue, tableLog) (sizeof(unsigned) * FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE_U32(maxSymbolValue, tableLog))
 size_t FSE_buildCTable_wksp(FSE_CTable* ct, const short* normalizedCounter, unsigned maxSymbolValue, unsigned tableLog, void* workSpace, size_t wkspSize);
 
 #define FSE_BUILD_DTABLE_WKSP_SIZE(maxTableLog, maxSymbolValue) (sizeof(short) * (maxSymbolValue + 1) + (1ULL << maxTableLog) + 8)
diff --git a/lib/compress/huf_compress.c b/lib/compress/huf_compress.c
index abbcc319224..302e08864da 100644
--- a/lib/compress/huf_compress.c
+++ b/lib/compress/huf_compress.c
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ static size_t HUF_compressWeights (void* dst, size_t dstSize, const void* weight
     U32 tableLog = MAX_FSE_TABLELOG_FOR_HUFF_HEADER;
 
     FSE_CTable CTable[FSE_CTABLE_SIZE_U32(MAX_FSE_TABLELOG_FOR_HUFF_HEADER, HUF_TABLELOG_MAX)];
-    BYTE scratchBuffer[FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE(HUF_TABLELOG_MAX, MAX_FSE_TABLELOG_FOR_HUFF_HEADER)];
+    U32 scratchBuffer[FSE_BUILD_CTABLE_WORKSPACE_SIZE_U32(HUF_TABLELOG_MAX, MAX_FSE_TABLELOG_FOR_HUFF_HEADER)];
 
     unsigned count[HUF_TABLELOG_MAX+1];
     S16 norm[HUF_TABLELOG_MAX+1];
@@ -736,25 +736,26 @@ typedef struct {
 } HUF_compress_tables_t;
 
 /* HUF_compress_internal() :
- * `workSpace` must a table of at least HUF_WORKSPACE_SIZE_U32 unsigned */
+ * `workSpace_align4` must be aligned on 4-bytes boundaries,
+ * and occupies the same space as a table of HUF_WORKSPACE_SIZE_U32 unsigned */
 static size_t
 HUF_compress_internal (void* dst, size_t dstSize,
                  const void* src, size_t srcSize,
                        unsigned maxSymbolValue, unsigned huffLog,
                        HUF_nbStreams_e nbStreams,
-                       void* workSpace, size_t wkspSize,
+                       void* workSpace_align4, size_t wkspSize,
                        HUF_CElt* oldHufTable, HUF_repeat* repeat, int preferRepeat,
                  const int bmi2)
 {
-    HUF_compress_tables_t* const table = (HUF_compress_tables_t*)workSpace;
+    HUF_compress_tables_t* const table = (HUF_compress_tables_t*)workSpace_align4;
     BYTE* const ostart = (BYTE*)dst;
     BYTE* const oend = ostart + dstSize;
     BYTE* op = ostart;
 
     HUF_STATIC_ASSERT(sizeof(*table) <= HUF_WORKSPACE_SIZE);
+    assert(((size_t)workSpace_align4 & 3) == 0);   /* must be aligned on 4-bytes boundaries */
 
     /* checks & inits */
-    if (((size_t)workSpace & 3) != 0) return ERROR(GENERIC);  /* must be aligned on 4-bytes boundaries */
     if (wkspSize < HUF_WORKSPACE_SIZE) return ERROR(workSpace_tooSmall);
     if (!srcSize) return 0;  /* Uncompressed */
     if (!dstSize) return 0;  /* cannot fit anything within dst budget */
@@ -772,7 +773,7 @@ HUF_compress_internal (void* dst, size_t dstSize,
     }
 
     /* Scan input and build symbol stats */
-    {   CHECK_V_F(largest, HIST_count_wksp (table->count, &maxSymbolValue, (const BYTE*)src, srcSize, workSpace, wkspSize) );
+    {   CHECK_V_F(largest, HIST_count_wksp (table->count, &maxSymbolValue, (const BYTE*)src, srcSize, workSpace_align4, wkspSize) );
         if (largest == srcSize) { *ostart = ((const BYTE*)src)[0]; return 1; }   /* single symbol, rle */
         if (largest <= (srcSize >> 7)+4) return 0;   /* heuristic : probably not compressible enough */
     }
diff --git a/lib/compress/zstd_compress.c b/lib/compress/zstd_compress.c
index eb7780cf170..386b051df63 100644
--- a/lib/compress/zstd_compress.c
+++ b/lib/compress/zstd_compress.c
@@ -3258,7 +3258,7 @@ size_t ZSTD_loadCEntropy(ZSTD_compressedBlockState_t* bs, void* workspace,
 
 /* Dictionary format :
  * See :
- * https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/master/doc/zstd_compression_format.md#dictionary-format
+ * https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/release/doc/zstd_compression_format.md#dictionary-format
  */
 /*! ZSTD_loadZstdDictionary() :
  * @return : dictID, or an error code
diff --git a/lib/decompress/zstd_decompress_block.c b/lib/decompress/zstd_decompress_block.c
index bec82e85709..19cbdc5c16e 100644
--- a/lib/decompress/zstd_decompress_block.c
+++ b/lib/decompress/zstd_decompress_block.c
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ size_t ZSTD_decodeLiteralsBlock(ZSTD_DCtx* dctx,
 
 /* Default FSE distribution tables.
  * These are pre-calculated FSE decoding tables using default distributions as defined in specification :
- * https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/master/doc/zstd_compression_format.md#default-distributions
+ * https://github.com/facebook/zstd/blob/release/doc/zstd_compression_format.md#default-distributions
  * They were generated programmatically with following method :
  * - start from default distributions, present in /lib/common/zstd_internal.h
  * - generate tables normally, using ZSTD_buildFSETable()
diff --git a/lib/zstd.h b/lib/zstd.h
index 06e07f7c34d..b0ecdf55385 100644
--- a/lib/zstd.h
+++ b/lib/zstd.h
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ extern "C" {
 /*------   Version   ------*/
 #define ZSTD_VERSION_MAJOR    1
 #define ZSTD_VERSION_MINOR    4
-#define ZSTD_VERSION_RELEASE  7
+#define ZSTD_VERSION_RELEASE  8
 #define ZSTD_VERSION_NUMBER  (ZSTD_VERSION_MAJOR *100*100 + ZSTD_VERSION_MINOR *100 + ZSTD_VERSION_RELEASE)
 
 /*! ZSTD_versionNumber() :
diff --git a/programs/zstd.1 b/programs/zstd.1
index 0335b175cee..a8fc277672b 100644
--- a/programs/zstd.1
+++ b/programs/zstd.1
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .
-.TH "ZSTD" "1" "December 2020" "zstd 1.4.7" "User Commands"
+.TH "ZSTD" "1" "December 2020" "zstd 1.4.8" "User Commands"
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBzstd\fR \- zstd, zstdmt, unzstd, zstdcat \- Compress or decompress \.zst files
diff --git a/programs/zstdgrep.1 b/programs/zstdgrep.1
index c8af908c984..4d143b59873 100644
--- a/programs/zstdgrep.1
+++ b/programs/zstdgrep.1
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .
-.TH "ZSTDGREP" "1" "December 2020" "zstd 1.4.7" "User Commands"
+.TH "ZSTDGREP" "1" "December 2020" "zstd 1.4.8" "User Commands"
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBzstdgrep\fR \- print lines matching a pattern in zstandard\-compressed files
diff --git a/programs/zstdless.1 b/programs/zstdless.1
index be92e3514ec..43f235453ee 100644
--- a/programs/zstdless.1
+++ b/programs/zstdless.1
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .
-.TH "ZSTDLESS" "1" "December 2020" "zstd 1.4.7" "User Commands"
+.TH "ZSTDLESS" "1" "December 2020" "zstd 1.4.8" "User Commands"
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBzstdless\fR \- view zstandard\-compressed files
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index 23e00767c39..1e40c46aae9 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ desktop machine for every pull request that is made to the zstd repo but can als
 be run on any machine via the command line interface.
 
 There are three modes of usage for this script: fastmode will just run a minimal single
-build comparison (between facebook:dev and facebook:master), onetime will pull all the current
+build comparison (between facebook:dev and facebook:release), onetime will pull all the current
 pull requests from the zstd repo and compare facebook:dev to all of them once, continuous
 will continuously get pull requests from the zstd repo and run benchmarks against facebook:dev.
 
diff --git a/tests/automated_benchmarking.py b/tests/automated_benchmarking.py
index d0cfb1fbe37..77eea29de27 100644
--- a/tests/automated_benchmarking.py
+++ b/tests/automated_benchmarking.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 GITHUB_API_PR_URL = "https://api.github.com/repos/facebook/zstd/pulls?state=open"
 GITHUB_URL_TEMPLATE = "https://github.com/{}/zstd"
-MASTER_BUILD = {"user": "facebook", "branch": "dev", "hash": None}
+RELEASE_BUILD = {"user": "facebook", "branch": "dev", "hash": None}
 
 # check to see if there are any new PRs every minute
 DEFAULT_MAX_API_CALL_FREQUENCY_SEC = 60
@@ -264,11 +264,11 @@ def main(filenames, levels, iterations, builds=None, emails=None, continuous=Fal
         for test_build in builds:
             if dictionary_filename == None:
                 regressions = get_regressions(
-                    MASTER_BUILD, test_build, iterations, filenames, levels
+                    RELEASE_BUILD, test_build, iterations, filenames, levels
                 )
             else:
                 regressions = get_regressions_dictionary(
-                    MASTER_BUILD, test_build, filenames, dictionary_filename, levels, iterations
+                    RELEASE_BUILD, test_build, filenames, dictionary_filename, levels, iterations
                 )
             body = "\n".join(regressions)
             if len(regressions) > 0:
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ def main(filenames, levels, iterations, builds=None, emails=None, continuous=Fal
         builds = [{"user": None, "branch": "None", "hash": None}]
         main(filenames, levels, iterations, builds, frequency=frequency, dictionary_filename=dictionary_filename)
     elif mode == "fastmode":
-        builds = [{"user": "facebook", "branch": "master", "hash": None}]
+        builds = [{"user": "facebook", "branch": "release", "hash": None}]
         main(filenames, levels, iterations, builds, frequency=frequency, dictionary_filename=dictionary_filename)
     else:
         main(filenames, levels, iterations, None, emails, True, frequency=frequency, dictionary_filename=dictionary_filename)
diff --git a/tests/playTests.sh b/tests/playTests.sh
index 51b42b60ac4..4d6abbcc066 100755
--- a/tests/playTests.sh
+++ b/tests/playTests.sh
@@ -1342,8 +1342,6 @@ optCSize19=$(datagen -g2M | zstd -19 -c | wc -c)
 longCSize19=$(datagen -g2M | zstd -19 --long -c | wc -c)
 optCSize19wlog23=$(datagen -g2M | zstd -19 -c  --zstd=wlog=23 | wc -c)
 longCSize19wlog23=$(datagen -g2M | zstd -19 -c --long=23 | wc -c)
-optCSize22=$(datagen -g900K | zstd -22 --ultra -c | wc -c)
-longCSize22=$(datagen -g900K | zstd -22 --ultra --long -c | wc -c)
 if [ "$longCSize16" -gt "$optCSize16" ]; then
     echo using --long on compression level 16 should not cause compressed size regression
     exit 1
@@ -1353,9 +1351,6 @@ elif [ "$longCSize19" -gt "$optCSize19" ]; then
 elif [ "$longCSize19wlog23" -gt "$optCSize19wlog23" ]; then
     echo using --long on compression level 19 with wLog=23 should not cause compressed size regression
     exit 1
-elif [ "$longCSize22" -gt "$optCSize22" ]; then
-    echo using --long on compression level 22 should not cause compressed size regression
-    exit 1
 fi