diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1e2ea3a2..06b5ebd3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,16 +6,52 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+- Added support for PHP8.2
+
 ### Changed
-- Template variable scope bubbling has been simplified and made more consistent 
+- All Smarty code is now in the \Smarty namespace. For simple use-cases, you only need to add
+  `use \Smarty\Smarty;` to your script and everything will work. If you extend Smarty or use
+  Smarty plug-ins, please review your code to see if they assume specific class or method names.
+  E.g.: `Smarty_Internal_Template` is now `\Smarty\Template\`, `SmartyException` is now `\Smarty\Exception`.
+- Template variable scope bubbling has been simplified and made more consistent. 
+  The global scope now equals the Smarty scope in order to avoid global state side effects. Please read
+  the documentation for more details.
+- Lexers and Parsers PHP files are no longer under version control, but generated from sources (.y and .plex) 
+- Smarty now always runs in multibyte mode, using `symfony/polyfill-mbstring` if required. Please use the
+  multibyte extension for optimal performance.
+
+### Deprecated
+- `$smarty->getPluginsDir()`
+- `$smarty->loadFilter()`
+- `$smarty->setPluginsDir()`
+- `$smarty->assignGlobal()`
+- Using `$smarty->registerFilter()` for registering variable filters will trigger a notice.
+- 
 
 ### Removed
-- Removed support for $cache_attrs for registered plugins
-- Removed support for undocumented {make_nocache} tag
-- Removed support for deprecated {insert} tag, the 'insert' plugin type and the associated $smarty->trusted_dir variable
-- Removed the undocumented {block_parent} and {parent} alternatives to {$smarty.block.parent}
-- Removed the undocumented {block_child} and {child} alternatives to {$smarty.block.child}
-- Removed support for loading config files into a non-local scope using {config_load} from a template 
+- Dropped support for PHP7.1
+- Removed `$smarty->left_delimiter` and `$smarty->right_delimiter`, use `$smarty->getLeftDelimiter()`/`$smarty->setLeftDelimiter()` and `$smarty->getRightDelimiter()`/`$smarty->setRightDelimiter()`
+- Removed support for the `$cache_attrs` parameter for registered plugins
+- Removed support for undocumented `{make_nocache}` tag
+- Removed support for deprecated `{insert}` tag, the 'insert' plugin type and the associated $smarty->trusted_dir variable
+- Removed the undocumented `{block_parent}` and `{parent}` alternatives to `{$smarty.block.parent}`
+- Removed the undocumented `{block_child}` and `{child}` alternatives to `{$smarty.block.child}`
+- Removed support for loading config files into a non-local scope using `{config_load}` from a template 
+- Removed `$smarty->autoload_filters` in favor of `$smarty->registerFilter()`
+- Removed `$smarty->trusted_dir` and `$smarty->allow_php_templates` since support for executing php scripts from templates has been dropped  
+- Removed `$smarty->php_functions` and `$smarty->php_modifiers`. If you need a PHP-function in your templates,
+  register it as a modifier.
+- Removed support for `$smarty->getTags()`
+- Removed the abandoned `$smarty->direct_access_security` setting
+- Dropped support for `$smarty->plugins_dir` and `$smarty->use_include_path`. If you must, use `$smarty->addPluginsDir()` instead,
+  but it's better to use Smarty::addExtension() to add an extension or Smarty::registerPlugin to
+  quickly register a plugin using a callback function.
+- Removed constants such as SMARTY_DIR to prevent global side effects.
+- Removed direct access to `$smarty->template_dir`. Use `$smarty->setTemplateDir()`.
+- Removed direct access to `$smarty->cache_dir`. Use `$smarty->setCacheDir()`.
+- Removed `$smarty->loadPlugin()`, use `$smarty->registerPlugin()` instead.
+- Removed `$smarty->appendByRef()` and `$smarty->assignByRef()`.
 
 ### Fixed
 - `$smarty->muteUndefinedOrNullWarnings()` now also mutes PHP7 notices for undefined array indexes [#736](https://github.com/smarty-php/smarty/issues/736)
diff --git a/TODO.txt b/TODO.txt
index 4b15ef6c..0462fd57 100644
--- a/TODO.txt
+++ b/TODO.txt
@@ -5,9 +5,15 @@
 - review ->(step|total|first|last|do_else|key|show|iteration|index)
 - review ->tpl_vars, ->config_vars, ->value
 
+## Review public static vars
+- such as _CHARSET and _IS_WINDOWS
+
 ## Build
 - add compiled lexers and parsers to Release assets automatically
 
+## Benchmark
+- benchmark to see that performance hasn't degraded
+
 ## Block / inheritance
 - Consider phasing out $smarty.block.child as this reverses the inheritance hierarchy and might cause infinite loops
   when combined with $smarty.block.parent
@@ -21,9 +27,6 @@
 ## Plugin system
 - fix template security checks in one place in compiler
 
-## Data, TemplateBase, Smarty, Template, Debug, Data hierarchy:
-- review usages of ->_getSmartyObj and ->smarty: maybe change this, so we can hide more internals
-
 ## Beatify output
 - compiled templates could be proper classes, possibly using [nette/php-generator](https://packagist.org/packages/nette/php-generator)
 
diff --git a/docs/programmers/plugins/plugins-resources.md b/docs/programmers/plugins/plugins-resources.md
index 4195222f..400f4efa 100644
--- a/docs/programmers/plugins/plugins-resources.md
+++ b/docs/programmers/plugins/plugins-resources.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ The Resource Handler must then implement the function
 `renderUncompiled(\Smarty\Template $_template)`. `$_template` is
 a reference to the current template and contains all assigned variables
 which the implementor can access via
-`$_template->smarty->getTemplateVars()`. These Resources simply echo
+`$_template->getSmarty()->getTemplateVars()`. These Resources simply echo
 their rendered content to the output stream. The rendered output will be
 output-cached if the Smarty instance was configured accordingly. See
 `src/Resource/PhpPlugin.php` for an example.
diff --git a/src/Smarty.php b/src/Smarty.php
index 7a8333d6..48fb0d47 100644
--- a/src/Smarty.php
+++ b/src/Smarty.php
@@ -490,13 +490,6 @@ class Smarty extends \Smarty\TemplateBase
      */
     protected $compile_dir = './templates_c/';
 
-    /**
-     * plugins directory
-     *
-     * @var array
-     */
-    protected $plugins_dir = array();
-
     /**
      * cache directory
      *