The Life and Times of a Kubernetes Feature

Explore the journey of contributing a feature to Kubernetes in this informative conference talk by Swati Sehgal and Francesco Romani from Red Hat. Gain insights into the entire process, from sharing ideas and getting feedback to navigating reviews and understanding the feature lifecycle. Learn about the different stages of feature maturity, including alpha, beta, and GA (General Availability). Discover the importance of KEPs (Kubernetes Enhancement Proposals), good practices for writing them, and what to expect during reviews. Understand the essentials of each stage, including preparations, feature gate management, and Production Readiness Reviews. Delve into the significance of End-to-End (E2E) tests and their expectations. Get inspired by real examples of successful feature contributions and learn what happens after a feature reaches GA stage. Empower yourself with the knowledge and confidence to contribute to the Kubernetes community and make a lasting impact on this powerful container orchestration platform.

Contributor Ladder
Merge requirements
Process (simplified)
Feature Lifecycle & contribution process
What happens in the pre-alpha stage?
What's a KEP?
Good KEP practices
What to expect from the KEP review?
Alpha stage essentials
Alpha stage preparations
Beta stage essentials
Beta stage KEP updates!
Feature gate enabled by default
Production Readiness Review
GA Essentials
End-to-End (E2E) tests
E2E tests expectations
How did they do it?
What happens after GA stage?
Wrapping up
Parting thought - Take initiative