Tasks for v1.15 release cycle

[sbueringer]

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

Tasks

Early in the cycle:

• Prepare main branch for development of the new release
  • PR: 🌱 Prepare main for release 1.15 #3638
• Bump to CAPI main
  • Prereq: CAPI already bumped to the next controller-runtime / k8s.io/* minor version
  • For details, see core CAPI issue: "Tasks to bump to Kubernetes v1.x" (section "Using new Kubernetes dependencies")
  • PR: ⚠️ Bump to CAPI main (05.09.2025) #3628
  • PR: Bump CAPV main jobs to use v1.34.0 kubernetes/test-infra#35491
• Remove previously deprecated code

Release-specific tasks:

Late in the cycle:

• Bump dependencies
• When cutting RC.0: Create the new release branch
• [opt] Cut beta/rc releases
  • Before every release ensure we bumped to latest CPI & CAPI & Kubernetes pre-releases
    • Bump CAPI_HACK_TOOLS_VER
    • Bump dependencies in go.mod
    • Bump core CAPI provider versions in test/e2e/config/vsphere.yaml
    • Bump KUBERNETES* and CPI_IMAGE_K8S_VERSION to latest pre-releases
    • Prior art: 🌱 Bump CAPI to v1.10.0-rc.1, K8S and CPI to v1.33.0-rc.0 #3424
  • Cherry-pick if the release branch was already cut

After the Kubernetes minor release:

• Bump the Kubernetes version
  • Publish new OVA images
    • Build new OVA images with image-builder via a temporary VM in vCenter
    • Publish images to the GCVE CI environment via the vCenter UI:
      • Go to the folder view
        • Move ubuntu-2404 and flatcar from Workload VMs to prow/templates
          • If this is not possible for some reason, you can upload ubuntu-2404 and flatcar manually:
            • Right-click on the prow/templates folder | Deploy OVF Template
              • Select local file
              • Select a name and folder: prow/templates
              • Select a compute resource: k8s-gcve-cluster
              • Select storage: vsanDatastore
              • Select networks: Destination Network: k8s-ci
              • Finish & wait for upload to complete (under tasks)
        • Right-click the templates and Clone to library to capv
    • Publish them via a GitHub release (e.g. templates/v1.30.0)
    • Delete the temporary VM used to build the images
    • Delete ubuntu-2204 and photon templates from Workload VMs
    • Update README.md accordingly
      • Prior art: 📖 Update OVA list with K8s v1.33 images #3437
  • Bump unit & e2e tests to use the new Kubernetes version
    • Add the new image to internal/test/helpers/vcsim/model.go
    • Bump KUBEBUILDER_ENVTEST_KUBERNETES_VERSION in Makefile
    • Bump template env variables in test/e2e/config/vsphere.yaml and test/e2e/config/config-overrides-example.yaml
      • Bump KUBERNETES_VERSION_*
      • Bump KUBERNETES_VERSION_LATEST_CI to the next minor version
      • Bump VSPHERE_CONTENT_LIBRARY_ITEMS, VSPHERE_IMAGE_NAME, VSPHERE_TEMPLATE, FLATCAR_VSPHERE_TEMPLATE
      • Bump CPI_IMAGE_K8S_VERSION & regenerate packaging/flavorgen/cloudprovider/cpi/cpi.yaml by
        checking out the release tag of https://github.com/kubernetes/cloud-provider-vsphere and running:
        helm template charts/vsphere-cpi --namespace kube-system > ../../sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/packaging/flavorgen/cloudprovider/cpi/cpi.yaml
    • Bump in:
      • test/e2e/data/infrastructure-vsphere-govmomi/main/clusterclass/patch-vsphere-template.yaml
      • test/e2e/data/infrastructure-vsphere-supervisor/main/clusterclass/patch-vsphere-template.yaml
    • Prior art: ✨ Bump Kubernetes to v1.32 and add new OVA's #3294
    • Cherry-pick
  • Bump CPI GA release as soon as available
    • Cherry-pick
  • Update ProwJobs to use the Kubernetes GA release
    • Prior art: CAPV: Bump prowjob-gen config to v1.33 kubernetes/test-infra#34688
  • Start using next Kubernetes release on main
    • Prior art: 🌱 Start using 1.34 for CI latest on main #3438
  • Special task this time: Revert workaround for removed --pod-infra-container-image flag (xref: 🌱 CI: clear /etc/sysconfig/kubelet to ensure --pod-infra-container-image is not set #3661)

Prepare & publish the release:

• Bump to latest CAPI version (Kubernetes & CPI if necessary)
  • Bump CAPI_HACK_TOOLS_VER
  • Bump dependencies in go.mod
  • Bump core CAPI provider versions in test/e2e/config/vsphere.yaml
  • Bump KUBERNETES* and CPI_IMAGE_K8S_VERSION to latest releases, if necessary
  • Prior art: 🌱 Bump sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api to v1.9.0 #3291
  • Cherry-pick
• Cut the minor release

Continuously:

• Reduce the amount of flaky tests