diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 14359b0..2d9d5e7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ All notable changes to PL/php are documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and the project aims to follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 
-## [Unreleased]
+## [2.6.0] - 2026-07-06
 
 ### Added
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2930d32..03629e2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ MODULE_big = plphp
 OBJS = plphp.o plphp_io.o plphp_spi.o
 
 EXTENSION = plphp
-DATA = plphp--2.5.sql plphp--2.0--2.1.sql plphp--2.1--2.2.sql plphp--2.2--2.3.sql plphp--2.3--2.4.sql plphp--2.4--2.5.sql
+DATA = plphp--2.6.sql plphp--2.0--2.1.sql plphp--2.1--2.2.sql plphp--2.2--2.3.sql plphp--2.3--2.4.sql plphp--2.4--2.5.sql plphp--2.5--2.6.sql
 
 # PHP embed SAPI compile/link flags, discovered via php-config.
 PHP_CONFIG ?= php-config
diff --git a/plphp--2.5--2.6.sql b/plphp--2.5--2.6.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e18f1d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plphp--2.5--2.6.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+/* Upgrade PL/php from 2.5 to 2.6.
+ *
+ * 2.6 adds $_SD, a per-function static dictionary that persists across calls
+ * within a session (the private counterpart to the session-global $_SHARED).
+ * The companion bytea_plphp transform ships as its own extension.  All of it
+ * lives in the C module, so there is nothing to change at the SQL level.
+ */
+
+-- complain if script is sourced in psql, rather than via ALTER EXTENSION
+\echo Use "ALTER EXTENSION plphp UPDATE" to load this file. \quit
diff --git a/plphp--2.5.sql b/plphp--2.6.sql
similarity index 100%
rename from plphp--2.5.sql
rename to plphp--2.6.sql
diff --git a/plphp.control b/plphp.control
index 48dc400..c8c9191 100644
--- a/plphp.control
+++ b/plphp.control
@@ -5,6 +5,6 @@
 # the server's OS user.  The extension is therefore superuser-only to install
 # and the language is created without the TRUSTED attribute.
 comment = 'PL/php procedural language (untrusted)'
-default_version = '2.5'
+default_version = '2.6'
 module_pathname = '$libdir/plphp'
 relocatable = false