#### API Machinery
* The protobuf serialization of API objects has been updated to store maps in a predictable order to ensure that the representation of that object does not change when saved into etcd. This prevents the same object from being seen as being modified, even when no values have changed. ([#47701](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/47701), [@smarterclayton](https://github.com/smarterclayton))

  * No longer updates the last-applied-configuration annotation when --save-config is unspecified or false. ([#41924](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/41924), [@ymqytw](https://github.com/ymqytw))
  * Fixes issue that caused apply to revert changes made by edit

#### Bug fixes

The method value <code>x.M</code> is a function value that is callable
with the same arguments as a method call of <code>x.M</code>.
The expression <code>x</code> is evaluated and saved during the evaluation of the
method value; the saved copy is then used as the receiver in any calls,
which may be executed later.
</p>

<pre>
type S struct { *T }
type T int
func (t T) M() { print(t) }

t := new(T)

* StatefulSet controllers no longer force a resync every 30 seconds when nothing has changed. ([#75622](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75622), [@jonsabo](https://github.com/jonsabo))
* Ensures the conformance test image saves results before exiting when ginkgo returns non-zero value. ([#76039](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/76039), [@johnSchnake](https://github.com/johnSchnake))

- Reduce the number of calls to docker for stats via dockershim. For Windows this reduces the latency when calling docker, for Linux this saves cpu cycles. ([#104287](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/104287), [@jsturtevant](https://github.com/jsturtevant)) [SIG Node and Windows]

* Ensures the conformance test image saves results before exiting when ginkgo returns non-zero value. ([#76039](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/76039), [@johnSchnake](https://github.com/johnSchnake))

* fix CreateVolume func: use search mode instead ([#54687](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/54687), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))
* remove time waiting after create storage account (save 25s) ([#56679](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/56679), [@andyzhangx](https://github.com/andyzhangx))