I was a Release Lead Shadow on the Kubernetes 1.22 release team and we had another successful Kubernetes release on August 4. We’re pleased to announce that Kubernetes 1.22 brings 53 enhancements this cycle—13 stable, 24 to beta, and 16 new alpha features. Probably the most impactful change to users in the 1.22 release is the removal of deprecated APIs. As part of the API deprecation policy, APIs can no longer remain in “perma-beta” and must either reach GA or release a new beta version—meaning that some releases will include the removal of APIs, including some still widely used APIs. All Kubernetes users must pay careful attention that their deployments are using APIs that are present in 1.22 before upgrading! Check out more details about the removed APIs.
A big shout out to all of those involved in the release team and all contributors volunteering their time and effort to make Kubernetes better with every release!
Some other notable enhancements in this release include:
PodSecurityAdmission (PodSecurityPolicy replacement)
Serving on the Release Team
I started my journey on the Release Team shortly after joining VMware in 2020, when I worked directly with Jeremy Rickard, who was the 1.20 Release Team Lead. I had been deploying applications and managing Kubernetes clusters for a few years at this point and was looking for an opportunity to contribute back upstream. Jeremy encouraged me to apply to be a shadow if it was something I was interested in (I had almost applied in previous cycles but for various unrelated reasons I could not).
With Jeremy’s encouragement I finally applied and was very fortunate to have been picked as a Bug Triage shadow for the 1.20 cycle. Bug Triage’s primary responsibility in the release team is to ensure that issues and pull requests that affect the release are being tracked and addressed. During the release, Bug Triage members will track open PRs/issues and report ones that are release-blocking or not getting any attention from the developers. I learned a lot about the release process, KEPs (Kubernetes Enhancement Proposals) and SIGs (Special Interest Groups) during my first release. What really stood out to me was how so many people with diverse backgrounds and employers come together globally to support an open-source project. Everyone that I have met in the Kubernetes community has been very friendly and welcoming. Ultimately, it was the inclusive and friendly community that inspired me to come back to lead Bug Triage in 1.21.
Deciding that I wanted to lead Bug Triage in 1.21 was an easy decision, thanks to the community and the release team. After learning the processes and making some small improvements, it was my turn to lead Bug Triage and teach the next cohort of release shadows the same processes and procedures I had just learned. Being a lead meant that I had to go through almost 100 interested applicants and try to pick a handful of shadows that would help Bug Triage, with one of the shadows stepping up to take my place and lead Bug Triage in 1.22. It was a tremendously difficult task to only pick a handful of shadows when there are so many interested and talented folks wanting to contribute back in the same ways that I was contributing.
After serving as the Bug Triage lead for 1.21, I was chosen as a lead shadow for the 1.22 cycle. I am incredibly grateful and humbled for the opportunity and the privilege of being able to give back to the community and on a project I interact with daily. Serving on the Release Team is a fantastic way to learn about the Kubernetes community and get involved in a non-code contributing manor. While it is too late to apply to be a shadow for the 1.23 release cycle, interested readers can familiarize themselves with the different subteams and roles here. You can join the #sig-release channel in the Kubernetes Slack to follow along with the release team and be notified when the 1.24 shadow application goes out.
Are these topics interesting to you? Does managing Kubernetes in production and at-scale sound exciting? We operate over 100 clusters in numerous regions supporting mission-critical workloads. We are hiring on the VMware Cloud Services team and you can reach out to me or look for open roles here.
