- Replaced Boolean-pointer-helper functions with the `k8s.io/utils/ptr` implementations. ([#132794](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/132794), [@PatrickLaabs](https://github.com/PatrickLaabs)) [SIG API Machinery, Auth, CLI, Node and Testing]

- Made `kubectl-convert` binary linking static (also affects the deb and rpm packages). ([#114228](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/114228), [@saschagrunert](https://github.com/saschagrunert))
- Migrated controller helper functions to use contextual logging. ([#115049](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/115049), [@fatsheep9146](https://github.com/fatsheep9146))

- Added `kubectl node drain` helper callbacks `OnPodDeletionOrEvictionStarted`
  and `OnPodDeletionOrEvictionFailed`; people extending `kubectl` can use these
  new callbacks for more granularity. Deprecated the `OnPodDeletedOrEvicted`

- Kubernetes is now built with Go `1.24.2` ([#131369](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/131369),...

- Added new k8s.io/component-helpers repository providing shared helper code for (core) components. ([#92507](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/92507), [@ingvagabund](https://github.com/ingvagabund)) [SIG Apps, Node, Release and Scheduling]

- client-go: The `rest.AnonymousClientConfig(*rest.Config) *rest.Config` helper method no longer copies custom `Transport` and `WrapTransport` fields, because those can be used to inject user credentials. ([#75771](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75771), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt))

- Fix an issue with toleration merging & whitelist checking in the PodTolerationRestriction admission controller. ([#81732](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/81732), [@tallclair](https://github.com/tallclair))
- Add a helper function to decode scheduler plugin args. ([#80696](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/80696), [@hex108](https://github.com/hex108))

up flag handling in component-base/logs: that package no longer adds flags to the global flag sets. Commands which want the klog and `--log-flush-frequency` flags must explicitly call `logs.AddFlags`; the new `cli.Run` does that for commands. That helper function also covers flag normalization and printing of usage and errors in a consistent way (print usage text first if parsing failed, then the error). ([#105076](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/105076), [@pohly](https://github.com/pohly))...

* Fix charms leaving services running after remove-unit ([#48446](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48446), [@Cynerva](https://github.com/Cynerva))
* Added helper funcs to schedulercache.Resource. ([#46926](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/46926), [@k82cn](https://github.com/k82cn))

- github.com/docker/distribution: [v2.8.2+incompatible](https://github.com/docker/distribution/tree/v2.8.2)
- github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers: [v0.7.0](https://github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers/tree/v0.7.0)
- github.com/docker/go-events: [e31b211](https://github.com/docker/go-events/tree/e31b211)
- github.com/go-ini/ini: [v1.67.0](https://github.com/go-ini/ini/tree/v1.67.0)