[Reminder] Upcoming Kubernetes 1.23 Code Freeze Deadline - November 16th, 2021

[Rey Lejano]

Hello Kubernauts!

The 1.23 code freeze starts in a little over three weeks on November 16th, 2021 at 18:00 Pacific.

What does this mean for you?

If you are working on an enhancement for the Kubernetes 1.23 release, you should have your PRs merged by November 16th, 2021. After the code freeze is in effect, we will be removing incomplete enhancements from the milestone and you will need to file an exception to get your enhancement back into the release. 

Note: After code freeze, only release-blocking issues and PRs will be allowed back into the milestone. 

If you haven’t already, please provide the Enhancements team with all the relevant PRs for your enhancements by linking them to the issue of the respective enhancement, so that we can be sure to track the status as we get closer to the Code Freeze!

Upcoming Important Dates:

Feature blog freeze - November 2nd, 2021

1.23 Mid-cycle Release Retro - November 3rd, 2021

Code Freeze - November 16th, 2021

Docs Placeholder PRs - November 18th, 2021

Test Freeze - November 23rd, 2021

Docs are Ready for Review - November 23rd, 2021

Start Final Release Notes Draft - November 23rd, 2021

Docs are Complete and Ready to Merge - November 30th, 2021

Feature Blogs are Ready for Review - November 30th, 2021

v1.23.0 release - December 7th, 2021

Feature Blogs

There are currently 6 feature blogs tracked for the 1.23 release. If you would like to write a feature blog about your enhancement(s), enter it on the feature blog tracking sheet by Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021. 

Note: This sheet is editable only by the SIG Chairs and Technical leads. If you don't have edit access to add an entry or have any questions, please reach out to the #release-comms or #sig-release channel.

Documentation for Enhancements

If your enhancement requires new docs or updates to existing docs, then create a doc PR against the dev-1.23 branch in the k/website repo. A placeholder PR is required by Thursday, November 18th (two days after the start of code freeze). Instructions to create a placeholder PR are here. With holidays approaching, we ask enhancement owners to work on documentation changes soon.

Major Themes for the Release
If there is a feature that should be highlighted as a major theme for the 1.23 release, please add a comment to the 1.23 Major Themes discussion thread on GitHub with links to the KEP / k/k / doc PR for us to track.

The deadline to submit an entry is Tuesday, November 23rd, the same day that the release notes team will start the final draft.

Release Retrospectives
The first retrospective for 1.23 occurs mid-cycle and is scheduled for Wednesday, November 3rd at 10:00am Pacific. The second and third (if necessary) retrospectives are scheduled for December 15th and 16th, a week following the scheduled release date.

In case you have any concerns, please feel free to reply to this email or reach out to me or one of the Release Team lead shadows on the #sig-release channel in Kubernetes Slack.

Thank you,

Rey Lejano, 1.23 Release Lead 

(on behalf of the Kubernetes 1.23 Release Team)