([#113329](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/113329), [@RomanBednar](https://github.com/RomanBednar))
- '`registered_metric_total` will now report the number of metrics broken down by
  stability level and deprecated version.'
   ([#112907](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/112907), [@logicalhan](https://github.com/logicalhan))

tolerate the NoSchedule taint if the taint is added to a Node.  There is an open PR ([#48189](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48189)) to resolve this issue, but as this issue also exists in 1.6, and as we do not wish to risk release stability by merging it directly prior to a release without sufficient testing, we have decided to defer merging the PR until the next point release for each minor version ([#48190](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48190)).

* Protobuf...

- Kube-apiserver: fixes a 1.27+ regression in watch stability by serving watch requests without a resourceVersion from the watch cache by default, as in <1.27 (disabling the change in #115096 by default). This mitigates the impact of an etcd watch bug (https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/pull/17555). If the 1.27 change in #115096 to serve these requests from underlying storage is still desired despite the impact on watch stability, it can be re-enabled with a `WatchFromStorageWithoutResourceVersion`...

     * empty at any point. (The sum ensures accuracy up through at least 1<<31 per-segment
     * modifications before recheck.) Method containsValue() uses similar constructions for
     * stability checks.
     */
    long sum = 0L;
    Segment<K, V>[] segments = this.segments;
    for (Segment<K, V> segment : segments) {
      if (segment.count != 0) {
        return false;
      }

## External Dependencies

- Fixes a 1.30+ regression in connection stability for exec / attach / portforward requests initiated using a websocket client ([#130253](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130253), [@fuweid](https://github.com/fuweid)) [SIG API Machinery, CLI and Testing]

API CRUD semantics, admission control, encoding/decoding, conversion, defaulting, persistence layer (etcd), OpenAPI, third-party resources, garbage collection, and client libraries.

For the 1.8 release, SIG API Machinery focused on stability and on ecosystem enablement. Features include the ability to break large LIST calls into smaller chunks, improved support for API server customization with either custom API servers or Custom Resource Definitions, and client side event spam filtering....

### Documentation

- Fix ALPHA stability level reference link ([#98641](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/98641), [@Jeffwan](https://github.com/Jeffwan)) [SIG Auth, Cloud Provider, Instrumentation and Storage]

### Failing Test

The Cluster API effort is currently undergoing a complete rehaul of the existing codebase, moving off Terraform and into using govmomi directly.

### SIG-windows

SIG Windows focused on stability and reliability of our existing feature set. We primarily fixed bugs as we march towards a near future stable release.

## Action Required

- Fixed a bug where a high churn of events was causing master instability by reducing the maximum number of objects (events) attached to a single etcd lease. ([#100084](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/100084), [@mborsz](https://github.com/mborsz)) [SIG API Machinery, Instrumentation and Scalability]