- Fix computing backoff delay when using Job pod failure policy, by including in the backoff delay calculation pod failures ignored from the backoffLimit counter.
  
  Also, compute the backoff delay more accurately for deleted pods. ([#119466](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/119466), [@mimowo](https://github.com/mimowo)) [SIG Apps]

Also, Job controller's constants for default backoff and maximal backoff are lowered down to 1s (from 10s) and 1min (from 6min), respectively. These constants are used to determine the backoff delay for the next Job controller sync in case of a request failure. ([#118615](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/118615), [@mimowo](https://github.com/mimowo)) [SIG...

- github.com/klauspost/compress: [v1.17.0](https://github.com/klauspost/compress/tree/v1.17.0)
- github.com/lestrrat-go/backoff/v2: [v2.0.8](https://github.com/lestrrat-go/backoff/tree/v2.0.8)
- github.com/lestrrat-go/blackmagic: [v1.0.2](https://github.com/lestrrat-go/blackmagic/tree/v1.0.2)
- github.com/lestrrat-go/httpcc: [v1.0.1](https://github.com/lestrrat-go/httpcc/tree/v1.0.1)

## Dependencies

### Added
- github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4: [v4.1.3](https://github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4/tree/v4.1.3)
- github.com/go-logr/stdr: [v1.2.2](https://github.com/go-logr/stdr/tree/v1.2.2)
- github.com/grpc-ecosystem/grpc-gateway/v2: [v2.7.0](https://github.com/grpc-ecosystem/grpc-gateway/v2/tree/v2.7.0)
- github.com/jpillora/backoff: [v1.0.0](https://github.com/jpillora/backoff/tree/v1.0.0)

* Adjust batching audit webhook default parameters: increase queue size, batch size, and initial backoff. Add throttling to the batching audit webhook. Default rate limit is 10 QPS. ([#53417](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/53417), [@crassirostris](https://github.com/crassirostris))

- github.com/gofrs/uuid: [v4.0.0+incompatible](https://github.com/gofrs/uuid/tree/v4.0.0)
- github.com/josharian/intern: [v1.0.0](https://github.com/josharian/intern/tree/v1.0.0)
- github.com/jpillora/backoff: [v1.0.0](https://github.com/jpillora/backoff/tree/v1.0.0)
- github.com/nxadm/tail: [v1.4.4](https://github.com/nxadm/tail/tree/v1.4.4)
- github.com/opentracing/opentracing-go: [v1.1.0](https://github.com/opentracing/opentracing-go/tree/v1.1.0)

- Failed pods associated with a job with `parallelism = 1` are recreated by the job controller honoring exponential backoff delay again. However, for jobs with `parallelism > 1`, pods might be created without exponential backoff delay. ([#115020](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/115020), [@nikhita](https://github.com/nikhita)) [SIG Apps]

### **Instrumentation**

#### **Audit**

*   Adjust batching audit webhook default parameters: increase queue size, batch size, and initial backoff. Add throttling to the batching audit webhook. Default rate limit is 10 QPS. ([#53417](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/53417),[ @crassirostris](https://github.com/crassirostris))

- Added `SchedulerPopFromBackoffQ` feature gate that is in beta and enabled by default. Improved scheduling queue behavior by popping pods from the backoffQ when the activeQ is empty. This allows to process potentially schedulable pods ASAP, eliminating a penalty effect of the backoff queue. ([#130772](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130772), [@macsko](https://github.com/macsko)) [SIG Scheduling and Testing]

- Ensured that non-scheduling related errors (e.g., network errors) did not lengthen the Pod scheduling backoff time. ([#128748](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/128748), [@sanposhiho](https://github.com/sanposhiho)) [SIG Scheduling and Testing]