- The kubelet now creates an iptables chain named `KUBE-IPTABLES-HINT` in
  the `mangle` table. Containerized components that need to modify iptables
  rules in the host network namespace can use the existence of this chain
  to more-reliably determine whether the system is using iptables-legacy or

- Added to `MutableFeatureGate` the ability to override the default setting of feature gates, to allow default-enabling a feature on a component-by-component basis instead of for all affected components simultaneously. ([#122647](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122647), [@benluddy](https://github.com/benluddy))

## Changelog since v1.15.6

### Other notable changes

* Change GCP ILB firewall names to contain the "k8s-fw-" prefix like the rest of the firewall rules. This is needed for consistency and also for other components to identify the firewall rule as k8s/service-controller managed. ([#84622](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/84622), [@prameshj](https://github.com/prameshj))

    - [**kubectl (CLI)**](#kubectl-cli-1)
    - [**Networking**](#networking)
      - [Network Policy](#network-policy)
      - [Load Balancing](#load-balancing)
    - [**Node Components**](#node-components)
      - [Container Runtime Interface](#container-runtime-interface)
    - [**Scheduling**](#scheduling-1)
      - [Scheduler Extender](#scheduler-extender)
    - [**Storage**](#storage-1)

- kubeadm: all master components are now exclusively relying on the `PriorityClassName` pod spec for annotating them as cluster critical components. Since `scheduler.alpha.kubernetes.io/critical-pod` annotation is no longer supported by Kubernetes 1.14 this annotation is no longer added to master components. ([#73857](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/73857), [@ereslibre](https://github.com/ereslibre))...

## Changelog since v1.29.1

## Changes by Kind

### Feature

- Add process_start_time_seconds to /metrics/slis endpoint of all components ([#122750](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122750), [@richabanker](https://github.com/richabanker)) [SIG Architecture, Instrumentation and Testing]
- Kubernetes is now built with go 1.21.7

## Changelog since v1.26.13

## Changes by Kind

### Feature

- Add process_start_time_seconds to /metrics/slis endpoint of all components ([#122750](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/122750), [@richabanker](https://github.com/richabanker)) [SIG Architecture, Instrumentation and Testing]
- Kubernetes is now built with go 1.21.7