docs(release): update changelog for the 2025-12 release (#15813)

Author: scotthart

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,11 +4,37 @@
 breaking changes in the upcoming 3.x release. This release is scheduled for
 2024-12 or 2025-01.
 
-## v2.44.0 - TBD
+## v2.44.0 - 2025-12
 
 ### [BigQueryControl](google/cloud/bigquerycontrol/README.md)
 - !fix(bigquerycontrol): PatchRoutine RPC has been removed.
 
+### [Bigtable](/google/cloud/bigtable/README.md)
+
+- Support for ([GoogleSQL](https://docs.cloud.google.com/bigtable/docs/googlesql-overview)) has been added to the Bigtable library. Please see the new ([bigtable::Client](https://docs.cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/bigtable/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1bigtable_1_1Client)) class for more details. 
+
+### [Spanner](/google/cloud/spanner/README.md)
+
+- fix(spanner): Do not compare iterators from different containers ([#15665](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15665))
+
+### [Storage](/google/cloud/storage/README.md)
+
+- fix(storage): always use latest write handle for fast resume in gRPC BidiWriteObject ([#15795](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15795))
+- feat(storage): add support for partial list bucket ([#15763](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15763))
+- fix(storage): Add start appendable condition for bypassing full object checksum ([#15786](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15786))
+- feat(storage): add GrpcMetricsExcludedLabelsOption for gRPC metrics label filtering ([#15735](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15735))
+- fix(storage): enable fast resume for rapid object write streams by including write handle ([#15762](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15762))
+- feat(storage): add configurable metrics export timeout for GCS gRPC Client ([#15629](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15629))
+
+### [Common Libraries](/google/cloud/README.md)
+
+- feat(credentials): add support for creating ComputeEngine credentials explicitly ([#15789](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15789))
+- feat: Support scopes field in impersonated json ([#15675](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-cpp/pull/15675))
+
+### [Google APIs interface definitions](https://github.com/googleapis/googleapis)
+
+- This release is based on definitions as of [2025-11-27T07:02:42Z](https://github.com/googleapis/googleapis/tree/8cd3749f4b98f2eeeef511c16431979aeb3a6502)
+
 ## v2.43.0 - 2025-10
 
 ### [Storage](/google/cloud/storage/README.md)

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ project(
     google-cloud-cpp
     VERSION 2.44.0
     LANGUAGES CXX)
-set(PROJECT_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE "rc")
+set(PROJECT_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE "")
 
 if (NOT "${PROJECT_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE}" STREQUAL "")
     set(PROJECT_VERSION "${PROJECT_VERSION}-${PROJECT_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE}")

MODULE.bazel

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 module(
     name = "google_cloud_cpp",
-    version = "2.44.0-rc",  # Updated by CMake
+    version = "2.44.0",  # Updated by CMake
     compatibility_level = 2,  # Updated by CMake
 )
 

google/cloud/internal/version_info.h

@@ -21,6 +21,6 @@
 #define GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_VERSION_MINOR 44
 // NOLINTNEXTLINE(modernize-macro-to-enum)
 #define GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_VERSION_PATCH 0
-#define GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE "rc"
+#define GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE ""
 
 #endif  // GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_GOOGLE_CLOUD_INTERNAL_VERSION_INFO_H