merge 2.7.6 release branch

diff --cc .hgtags
index 8925a8cc97e4d0fcdc98f9124b056e81d91fbfd6,21ef99aa53b497ab1371f3f4be2f7731a53fed88..60d2f95b95b350110e3d14ac04bf7b9ac25ba881
--- 1/.hgtags
--- 2/.hgtags
+++ b/.hgtags
@@@ -160,5 -160,5 +160,6 @@@ a8d18780bc2bccf16bf580587e1e3c934a98f6a
  026ee0057e2d3305f90a9da41daf7c3f9eb1e814 v2.7.4
  ab05e7dd27889b93f20d97bae86170aabfe45ace v2.7.5
  a0025037f11a73df5a7dd03e5a4027adad4cb94e v2.6.9rc1
 +fcb3ec2842f99454322492dd0ec2cf01322df093 v2.6.9
  4913d0e9be30666218cc4d713937e81c0e7f346a v2.7.6rc1
+ 3a1db0d2747ec2d47a8693ed5650f3567161a200 v2.7.6

diff --cc Misc/NEWS
Simple merge