* Strategic Merge Patch

    * Reference docs now display the patch type and patch merge key used by `kubectl apply` to merge and identify unique elements in arrays.

      * `kubectl edit` and `kubectl apply` will keep the ordering of elements in merged lists ([#45980](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/45980), [@mengqiy](https://github.com/mengqiy))

- Fix a bug that a preemptor pod may exist as a phantom in the scheduler. ([#102498](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/102498), [@Huang-Wei](https://github.com/Huang-Wei)) [SIG Scheduling]
- Fix nulls are handles of array's and objects in json patches. ([#102467](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/102467), [@pacoxu](https://github.com/pacoxu)) [SIG API Machinery, Apps, CLI, Cloud Provider, Cluster Lifecycle, Instrumentation, Storage and Testing]

codes for the cipher message family of instructions. const ( aes128 code = 18 aes192 code = 19 aes256 code = 20 ) type block struct { function code // code for cipher message instruction key []byte // key (128, 192 or 256 bits) storage [32]byte // array backing key slice fallback *blockExpanded } // cryptBlocks invokes the cipher message (KM) instruction with // the given function code. This is equivalent to AES in ECB // mode. The length must be a multiple of BlockSize (16). // //go:noescape func...

* Scheduling conformance tests related to daemonsets should set the annotation that relaxes node selection restrictions, if any are set. This ensures conformance tests can run on a wider array of clusters. ([#68793](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/68793), [@aveshagarwal](https://github.com/aveshagarwal))

- Allow CSI drivers to just run offline expansion tests (#102740, @gnufied) [SIG Storage and Testing]
- Bump klog to v2.9.0, fixing log lines that render as byte arrays (#105407, @ehashman) [SIG Architecture, CLI, Cloud Provider, Cluster Lifecycle, Instrumentation and Storage]
- Fix overriding logs files on reboot. (#105614, @rphillips) [SIG Node]

codes for the cipher message family of instructions. const ( aes128 code = 18 aes192 code = 19 aes256 code = 20 ) type block struct { function code // code for cipher message instruction key []byte // key (128, 192 or 256 bits) storage [32]byte // array backing key slice fallback *blockExpanded } // cryptBlocks invokes the cipher message (KM) instruction with // the given function code. This is equivalent to AES in ECB // mode. The length must be a multiple of BlockSize (16). // //go:noescape func...

- Fixed a bug that prevents kubectl to validate CRDs with schema using x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields on object fields.
  Fix kubectl SchemaError on CRDs with schema using x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields on array types. ([#96563](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/96563), [@gautierdelorme](https://github.com/gautierdelorme)) [SIG API Machinery and Testing]

* Support vSphere SAML token auth when using Zones ([#75515](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75515), [@dougm](https://github.com/dougm))
* Fix empty array expansion error in cluster/gce/util.sh ([#76111](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/76111), [@kewu1992](https://github.com/kewu1992))

- Fixed a rare race condition handling requests that timeout. ([#107452](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/107452), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt))
- Fixed a regression in 1.23 that incorrectly pruned data from array items of a custom resource that set `x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields: true`. ([#107688](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/107688), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt))

* Fix empty array expansion error in cluster/gce/util.sh ([#76111](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/76111), [@kewu1992](https://github.com/kewu1992))