Refactor overall code and fix failing specs

Fix Project#to_reference

Fix wrong spaces and update changelog

Refactor #to_reference for Project & Issue

Fix and improves Project#to_reference

Merge branch '27248-filtered-search-does-not-allow-filtering-labels-with-multiple-words' into 'master'

Fix filtering label and milestone with multiple words

Closes #27248 and #27334

See merge request !8830

Resolve "NameError: uninitialized constant ApplicationSetting::DEFAULTS"

Closes #27280

See merge request !8805

Merge branch '26448-unnecessary-request-is-made-when-filter-input-box-is-focused-by-keyboard' into 'master'

Only search commits on input change since last search

Closes #26448

See merge request !8488

Fix search bar search param encoding

Closes #27398

See merge request !8753

Contribution calendar now scrolls right by default

See merge request !6192

UI updates

See merge request !8669

Add rspec_profiling to the rspec environment

Closes #23034

See merge request !7854

Fixed cancel button in the services form not redirecting back to the integrations settings view

Closes #27301

See merge request !8843

Fix project name label's for reference in project settings

Closes #27259

See merge request !8795

Fix a transient failure in the `Explore::ProjectsController` spec

Closes #27350

See merge request !8847

Don't call `#uniq` on a relation

See merge request !8784

Use new partial to render a badge without a link in the builds details.

Closes #26947

See merge request !8740

Fixed merge request tabs extra margin

Closes #26853

See merge request !8841

Fix Error 500 when repositories contain annotated tags pointing to blobs

Closes #27228

See merge request !8800

Fixed extra margin when the merge request tabs are affixed

This was caused by some weird padding that was on the container & then
not correctly removed.

The fix involved removing the container from inside the tabs holder div
& then adding the widths through CSS depending on if fixed & whether the
parent is limited width or not.

In reality out container classes need to be fixed as it is getting pretty un-managable at the moment this should of been an easy fix, but in reality turned into something much harder.

Closes #26853

When there was no project, no search, and no current user or author
param, the AutocompleteController would call `#uniq!` on a relation
instead of an array. This performed the less-efficient `SELECT DISTINCT`
when it wasn't even needed (because the query wouldn't return duplicates
anyway - duplicates were only added by putting a user on top of the
list).

Signed-off-by: Rémy Coutable <remy@rymai.me>

This will avoid autoloading issues in the long term.
Signed-off-by: Rémy Coutable <remy@rymai.me>

Also, remove non-existing Ci::ApplicationSetting.expire!
Signed-off-by: Rémy Coutable <remy@rymai.me>

Update changelog description

Changes after review