Tasks for v1.8.0 release cycle

[adilGhaffarDev]

Please see the corresponding section in release-tasks.md for documentation of individual tasks.

Tasks

Notes:

• Weeks are only specified to give some orientation.
• The following is based on the v1.8 release cycle. Modify according to the tracked release cycle.

Week 1:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.7.1 release
• [Release Lead] Finalize release schedule and team
  • PR: 📖 Add members of 1.8 release #10490
• [Release Lead] Add/remove release team members
  • OWNERS PR: 🌱 Swap in new 1.8 RT members in OWNERS #10473
  • org PR: Update capi v1.8 release team members kubernetes/org#4895
  • community PR: Update capi v1.8 release team members kubernetes/community#7842
• [Release Lead] Prepare main branch for development of the new release
  • PR: 🌱 Prepare main branch for v1.8 development #10524
• [Communications Manager] Add docs to collect release notes for users and migration notes for provider implementers
  • PR: 📖 Add v1.7 to v1.8 migration guide #10528
• [Communications Manager] Update supported versions
  • PR: 📖 Update CAPI support and guarantees for v1.8 #10529

Week 1 to 4:

• [Release Lead] [Track] Remove previously deprecated code

Week 6:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.7.2 & v1.6.5 releases

Week 9:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.7.3 & v1.6.6 releases

Week 11 to 12:

• [Release Lead] [Track] Bump dependencies

Week 13:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.8.0-beta.0 release
• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.7.4 & v1.6.7 releases
• [Release Lead] Create a new GitHub milestone for the next release
• [Communications Manager] Communicate beta to providers

Week 14:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.8.0-beta.1 release
• [Release Lead] Set a tentative release date for the next minor release
• [Release Lead] Assemble next release team
• [Release Lead] Select release lead for the next release cycle

Week 15:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.8.0-rc.0 release
• [Release Lead] Update milestone applier and GitHub Actions
• [CI Manager] Setup jobs and dashboards for the release-1.8 release branch
• [Communications Manager] Ensure the book for the new release is available

Week 16:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.8.0-rc.1 release

Week 17:

• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.8.0 release
• [Release Lead] Cut the v1.7.5 & v1.6.8 releases
• [Release Lead] Organize release retrospective
• [Communications Manager] Change production branch in Netlify to the new release branch
• [Communications Manager] Update clusterctl links in the quickstart

Continuously:

• [Release lead] Maintain the GitHub release milestone
• [Release lead] Bump the Go version
• [Communications Manager] Communicate key dates to the community
• [Communications Manager] Improve release process documentation
• [Communications Manager] Maintain and improve user facing documentation about releases, release policy and release calendar
• [CI Manager] Monitor CI signal
• [CI Manager] Reduce the amount of flaky tests
• [CI Manager] Bug triage
• [CI Manager] Maintain and improve release automation, tooling & related developer docs

If and when necessary:

• [Release Lead] [Track] Bump the Cluster API apiVersion
• [Release Lead] [Track] Bump the Kubernetes version
• [Release Lead] Track Release and Improvement tasks

[adilGhaffarDev]

/triage accepted
/assign adilGhaffarDev

[adilGhaffarDev]

/cc @sbueringer @fabriziopandini @vincepri @killianmuldoon @chrischdi @enxebre for visibility
/area release

[Nivedita-coder]

Hey @adilGhaffarDev,
I would like to do Prepare main branch for development of the new release task! :)

[chandankumar4]

Add docs to collect release notes for users and migration notes for provider implementers - PR #10528
Update supported versions - PR #10529
@adilGhaffarDev