v4.10.0 - Upcoming Release (Draft & Feedback Requested)

[camilamacedo86]

Following the draft for the upcoming release, we kindly ask for community feedback before we proceed.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions, changes, or improvements that should be addressed prior to the release.

🗓️ ETA: We are planning to start the release process from Monday, November 10th.

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⚠️ Deprecation of helm/v1-alpha plugin in favor of new helm/v2-alpha

The new helm/v2-alpha plugin replaces the deprecated helm/v1-alpha and introduces significant improvements in flexibility, maintainability, and alignment with comunity feedbacks.

Chart values are now better exposed, enabling easier customizations and addressing long-standing issues by consuming the kustomize-generated bundle from make build-installer, instead of relying on fixed templates for chart generation. (#5058, #5172, #5119, #5147, #5173, #5174)

✨ New features

• (go/v4): Upgrade golang-lint from v2.4.0 → v2.5.0. #5128
• (go/v4): Upgrade controller-runtime from v0.22.1→ v0.22.4. (#5129,#5178)
• (go/v4): Upgrade cert-manager used in e2e tests from v1.18.2 → v1.19.1. (#5133,#5136)
• (go/v4): Upgrade Golang version from 1.24 → 1.25. #5130
• (go/v4): Enable multi-architecture support in GitHub Actions and devcontainer scripts by dynamically detecting GOARCH. #5142
• (go/v4): Allow ENV TEST version to be derived from replaces. #5096
• (External Plugins API): Add PluginChain field to external plugin API. #5161
• (External Plugins API): Expose ProjectConfig to external plugins. #5165
• (go/v4): Add support for custom webhook paths. #5171
• (go/v4): Add *.kubeconfig to .gitignore. #5111

🐛 Bug fixes

• (go/v4): Fix project scaffolding failure when directories contain spaces by quoting Makefile variables. #5139
• (External Plugins API): Fix plugin configuration tracking when wrapped in bundles with custom domains. #5166

🎉 Thanks to all contributors!

What's Changed

• 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/gomega from 1.38.1 to 1.38.2 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/gomega from 1.38.1 to 1.38.2 #5059
• 📖 Bump sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4 from 4.7.1 to 4.8.0 in /docs/book/src/simple-external-plugin-tutorial/testdata/sampleexternalplugin/v1 by @dependabot[bot] in 📖 Bump sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4 from 4.7.1 to 4.8.0 in /docs/book/src/simple-external-plugin-tutorial/testdata/sampleexternalplugin/v1 #5061
• 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 from 2.25.1 to 2.25.2 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 from 2.25.1 to 2.25.2 #5065
• ✨ feat: Upgrade controller-gen from v0.18.0 to v0.19.0 by @camilamacedo86 in ✨ feat: Upgrade controller-gen from v0.18.0 to v0.19.0 #5064
• ✨ Upgrade golang CI from v2.3.0 to v2.4.0 by @camilamacedo86 in ✨ Upgrade golang CI from v2.3.0 to v2.4.0 #5063
• ✨ feat: upgrade controller-runtime from v0.21.0 to v0.22.0 by @camilamacedo86 in ✨ feat: upgrade controller-runtime from v0.21.0 to v0.22.0 #5062
• 📖 Remove unit tests badge from README by @camilamacedo86 in 📖 Remove unit tests badge from README #5067
• 🐛 (go/v4): Fix Docker builds failing when projects don’t include apis/, controllers/, or webhooks by updating .dockerignore to allow only Go source files and module metadata by @camilamacedo86 in 🐛 (go/v4): Fix Docker builds failing when projects don’t include apis/, controllers/, or webhooks by updating .dockerignore to allow only Go source files and module metadata #5048
• 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 from 2.25.2 to 2.25.3 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 from 2.25.2 to 2.25.3 #5077
• 📖 Bump github.com/spf13/pflag from 1.0.7 to 1.0.10 in /docs/book/src/simple-external-plugin-tutorial/testdata/sampleexternalplugin/v1 by @dependabot[bot] in 📖 Bump github.com/spf13/pflag from 1.0.7 to 1.0.10 in /docs/book/src/simple-external-plugin-tutorial/testdata/sampleexternalplugin/v1 #5076
• 🌱 Bump actions/setup-node from 4 to 5 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump actions/setup-node from 4 to 5 #5078
• 🌱 Bump actions/setup-go from 5 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump actions/setup-go from 5 to 6 #5079
• 🌱 Bump github.com/spf13/cobra from 1.9.1 to 1.10.1 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump github.com/spf13/cobra from 1.9.1 to 1.10.1 #5070
• 📖 add note about Windows support by @vitorfloriano in 📖 add note about Windows support #5080
• 🐛 (AutoUpdate/v1-alpha): Adjust comments on Auto Update workflow by @vitorfloriano in 🐛 (AutoUpdate/v1-alpha): Adjust comments on Auto Update workflow #5082
• 🐛 (alpha generate command): Ensure kubebuilder reuses its own binary instead of relying on $PATH by @ashishkpathak-connect in 🐛 (alpha generate command): Ensure kubebuilder reuses its own binary instead of relying on $PATH #5081
• 🌱 (e2e) upgrade certmanager from v1.16.3 to v1.18.2 by @camilamacedo86 in 🌱 (e2e) upgrade certmanager from v1.16.3 to v1.18.2 #5084
• 🌱 (e2e/docs): upgrade prometheus version used to run the tests by @camilamacedo86 in 🌱 (e2e/docs): upgrade prometheus version used to run the tests #5085
• 🌱 go: upgraded github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.9 => v1.0.10 by @camilamacedo86 in 🌱 go: upgraded github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.9 => v1.0.10 #5086
• ⚠️ (helm/v1-alpha): Migrate from installCRDs=true to crds.enabled=true in GitHub action test-chart.yml by @camilamacedo86 in ⚠️ (helm/v1-alpha): Migrate from installCRDs=true to crds.enabled=true in GitHub action test-chart.yml #5083
• 🌱 Bump github.com/spf13/afero from 1.14.0 to 1.15.0 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump github.com/spf13/afero from 1.14.0 to 1.15.0 #5091
• 🌱 Bump golang.org/x/text from 0.28.0 to 0.29.0 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump golang.org/x/text from 0.28.0 to 0.29.0 #5090
• 🌱 Bump helm.sh/helm/v3 from 3.18.6 to 3.19.0 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump helm.sh/helm/v3 from 3.18.6 to 3.19.0 #5095
• 🌱 Bump golang.org/x/tools from 0.36.0 to 0.37.0 by @dependabot[bot] in 🌱 Bump golang.org/x/tools from 0.36.0 to 0.37.0 #5094
• ✨ Upgrade controller-runtime from v0.22.0 to v0.22.1 by @camilamacedo86 in ✨ Upgrade controller-runtime from v0.22.0 to v0.22.1 #5098
• ✨ Upgrade kustomize from v5.6.0 to v5.7.1 by @camilamacedo86 in ✨ Upgrade kustomize from v5.6.0 to v5.7.1 #5099
• 🐛 (go/v4): Fix e2e test to validate that metrics are exported without asserting a controller-specific metric by @camilamacedo86 in 🐛 (go/v4): Fix e2e test to validate that metrics are exported without asserting a controller-specific metric #5100
• 🐛 (go/v4) Handle empty CRD directories in Makefile install/uninstall targets by @nerdeveloper in 🐛 (go/v4) Handle empty CRD directories in Makefile install/uninstall targets #5042
• 📖 (docs) drop patchStrategy/protobuf tags from Conditions in Getting Started section by @pedjak in 📖 (docs) drop patchStrategy/protobuf tags from Conditions in Getting Started section #5104
• 📖 (doc): Add demo for auto-update plugin by @camilamacedo86 in 📖 (doc): Add demo for auto-update plugin #5105

New Contributors

• @ashishkpathak-connect made their first contribution in 🐛 (alpha generate command): Ensure kubebuilder reuses its own binary instead of relying on $PATH #5081
• @nerdeveloper made their first contribution in 🐛 (go/v4) Handle empty CRD directories in Makefile install/uninstall targets #5042
• @pedjak made their first contribution in 📖 (docs) drop patchStrategy/protobuf tags from Conditions in Getting Started section #5104

Full Changelog: v4.9.0...master