KEP Freeze Exception request for KEP #1287: In-place resize (decrease memory limit)

[Tim Allclair]

Enhancement name: In-Place Pod Resize / In-Place Pod Vertical Scaling
Enhancement status (alpha/beta/stable): beta (not graduating)
SIG: Node
k/enhancements repo issue #: https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/issues/1287
PR #’s:

- https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/pull/5368: Relax memory limit decrease restriction
Additional time needed (in days): 3
Reason this enhancement is critical for this milestone:

- Relaxing this restriction removes a critical limitation of in-place pod resize, and removing it will expand the use cases and help provide more feedback. The limitation was put in place last-minute in the v1.33 cycle to leave more time to make a decision on how to proceed. Now we've effectively made that decision, and would like to unblock the implementation.

Risks from adding code late:

- If we don't get the additional container-level usage checks in to v1.34, then it is more likely that a container will get oomkilled during a memory limit decrease, but this is still within the bounds of what we deem acceptable for "best-effort". A user that does not want to take this risk can just avoid decreasing memory limits.

Risks from cutting enhancement: (partial implementation, critical customer usecase, etc.)

- Delay GA (we don't want to remove the restriction in the same release we go GA)

- Delay user feedback on the memory-limit decrease use case (especially for guaranteed pods)

[Dawn Chen]

Approved for SIG Node.

[Vyom Yadav]

Hi all,

The release team is APPROVING this exception request based on the discussion in the Slack thread[0]. Your updated deadline to merge all PRs for your KEP is 21:00 UTC / 14:00 PST, 23rd June 2025.

If you need any clarification, please feel free to reach out to us in the #sig-release Slack channel.

Thanks,
Vyom Yadav
v1.34 Release Team Lead

[0] https://kubernetes.slack.com/archives/C2C40FMNF/p1750519477459389