* Some refactoring of error/status messages and functions to align with new approach.
* This PR will leverage subtests on the existing table tests for the scheduler units. ([#63661](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/63661), [@xchapter7x](https://github.com/xchapter7x))
    * Some refactoring of error/status messages and functions to align with new approach.

    - [Node Binaries](#node-binaries-19)
  - [Changelog since v1.17.0](#changelog-since-v1170)
  - [What’s New (Major Themes)](#whats-new-major-themes)
    - [Kubernetes Topology Manager Moves to Beta - Align Up!](#kubernetes-topology-manager-moves-to-beta---align-up)
    - [Serverside Apply - Beta 2](#serverside-apply---beta-2)

* Move hardPodAffinitySymmetricWeight to scheduler policy config ([#44159](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/44159), [@wanghaoran1988](https://github.com/wanghaoran1988))

* Align Extender's validation with prioritizers. ([#45091](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/45091), [@k82cn](https://github.com/k82cn))

* Remove unnecessary metrics (http/process/go) from being exposed by etcd-version-monitor ([#41807](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/41807), [@shyamjvs](https://github.com/shyamjvs))
* Align the hyperkube image to support running binaries at /usr/local/bin/ like the other server images ([#41017](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/41017), [@luxas](https://github.com/luxas))

- Added Service Account field in the output of `kubectl describe pod` command. ([#111192](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/111192), [@aufarg](https://github.com/aufarg))

    * Some refactoring of error/status messages and functions to align with new approach.
* kubeadm upgrade now supports external etcd setups again ([#63495](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/63495), [@detiber](https://github.com/detiber))

  Bump NodeProblemDetector version to v0.8.0 to reduce forced NodeStatus updates frequency to 5 minutes. ([#84007](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/84007), [@wojtek-t](https://github.com/wojtek-t))
- The topology manager aligns resources for pods of all QoS classes with respect to NUMA locality, not just Guaranteed QoS pods. ([#83492](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/83492), [@ConnorDoyle](https://github.com/ConnorDoyle))

- `kubeadm`: will now allow deploying a kubelet that is 3 versions older than the version of `kubeadm` (N-3). This aligns with the recent change made by SIG Architecture that extends the support skew between the control plane and kubelets. Tolerate this new kubelet skew for the commands `init`, `join` and `upgrade`. Note that if the `kubeadm` user applies a control plane...

- XFS-filesystems are now force-formatted (option `-f`) in order to avoid problems being formatted due to detection of magic super-blocks. This aligns with the behaviour of formatting of ext3/4 filesystems. ([#104923](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/104923), [@davidkarlsen](https://github.com/davidkarlsen))

  The `--` separator has been recommended since the Kubernetes v1.18 release, which also deprecated the legacy way of invoking `kubectl exec`.
  
  This change aligns with the deprecation of legacy `kubectl exec` command execution and enforces the use of `kubectl exec [POD] -- [COMMAND]` for improved compatibility and adherence to recommended practices."