<h3 id="String_types">String types</h3>

<p>
A <i>string type</i> represents the set of string values.
A string value is a (possibly empty) sequence of bytes.
The number of bytes is called the length of the string and is never negative.
Strings are immutable: once created,
it is impossible to change the contents of a string.
The predeclared string type is <code>string</code>;
it is a <a href="#Type_definitions">defined type</a>.
</p>

* kubeadm has removed `.Etcd.SelfHosting` from its configuration API. It was never used in practice ([#63871](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/63871), [@luxas](https://github.com/luxas))

Variables that were part of kube-env that were only used for kubelet flags are no longer being set, and are being replaced by the more portable mechanism of the kubelet configuration file. The individual variables in the kube-env metadata entry were never meant to be a stable interface and this release note only applies if you are depending on them. ([#60020](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/60020), [@roberthbailey](https://github.com/roberthbailey))

* kube-proxy: feature gates...

  feature gates enabled) that their pods could get stuck in the pending phase when deleted.
  
  Users who maintain controllers which relied on the fact that pods with RestartPolicy=Always
  never enter the Succeeded phase may need to adapt their controllers. This is because as a consequence of 
  the change pods which use RestartPolicy=Always may end up in the Succeeded phase in two scenarios: pod 

- Terminating a restartPolicy=Never pod no longer has a chance to report the pod succeeded when it actually failed. ([#88440](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/88440), [@smarterclayton](https://github.com/smarterclayton)) [SIG Node and Testing]

- Node affinity, Node selectors, and tolerations are now mutable for Jobs that are suspended and have never been started ([#105479](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/105479), [@ahg-g](https://github.com/ahg-g))
- Pod template annotations and labels are now mutable for Jobs that are suspended and have never been started ([#105980](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/105980), [@ahg-g](https://github.com/ahg-g))

- Fixed a bug that an init container with containerRestartPolicy with `Always` cannot update its state from terminated to non-terminated for the pod with restartPolicy with `Never` or `OnFailure`. ([#123323](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/123323), [@gjkim42](https://github.com/gjkim42))

* kubectl: Fix bug that showed terminated/evicted pods even without `--show-all`. ([#48786](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48786), [@janetkuo](https://github.com/janetkuo))
* Never prevent deletion of resources as part of namespace lifecycle ([#48733](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48733), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt))

- Terminating a restartPolicy=Never pod no longer has a chance to report the pod succeeded when it actually failed. ([#88440](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/88440), [@smarterclayton](https://github.com/smarterclayton)) [SIG Node and Testing]

- The pod phase lifecycle guarantees that terminal Pods, those whose states are Unready or Succeeded, can not regress and will have all container stopped. Hence, terminal Pods will never be reachable and should not publish their IP addresses on the Endpoints or EndpointSlices, independently of the Service TolerateUnready option. ([#110260](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/110260), [@robscott](https://github.com/robscott))...