Deprecate v1.Endpoints

[danwinship]

Enhancement Description

• One-line enhancement description (can be used as a release note): Officially deprecate the Endpoints API in favor of EndpointSlices, and ensure that it is possible to run clusters without the Endpoints controller.
• Kubernetes Enhancement Proposal: https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/tree/master/keps/sig-network/4974-deprecate-endpoints
• Discussion Link: none, though discussed in person a bit at KubeCon
• Primary contact (assignee): @danwinship
• Responsible SIGs: sig-network
• Enhancement target (which target equals to which milestone):
  • Alpha release target (x.y): 1.33
  • Beta release target (x.y):
  • Stable release target (x.y):
• Alpha
  • KEP (k/enhancements) update PR(s): KEP-4974: initial proposal for deprecating v1.Endpoints #4975
  • Code (k/k) update PR(s):
    • Remove all references to v1.Endpoints from non-network e2e tests kubernetes#128896
    • Test EndpointSlice in dual-stack e2e tests kubernetes#128898
    • Try to clarify EndpointSlice semantics some more kubernetes#129886
    • Mark v1.Endpoints deprecated kubernetes#130098
  • Docs (k/website) update PR(s):
    • Update docs for deprecation of Endpoints API website#49831 (docs)
    • KEP-4974 endpoints deprecation blog post for 1.33 website#49976 (blog post)

Please keep this description up to date. This will help the Enhancement Team to track the evolution of the enhancement efficiently.

[danwinship]

/sig network

[danwinship]

/label lead-opted-in
/milestone v1.33

targeting alpha for 1.33

[dipesh-rawat]

Hello @danwinship 👋, v1.33 Enhancements team here.

Just checking in as we approach enhancements freeze on 02:00 UTC Friday 14th February 2025 / 19:00 PDT Thursday 13th February 2025.

This enhancement is targeting stage alpha for v1.33 (correct me, if otherwise)
/stage alpha

Here's where this enhancement currently stands:

• KEP readme using the latest template has been merged into the k/enhancements repo.
• KEP status is marked as implementable for latest-milestone: v1.32.
• KEP readme has up-to-date graduation criteria
• KEP has a production readiness review that has been completed and merged into k/enhancements. (For more information on the PRR process, check here). If your production readiness review is not completed yet, please make sure to fill the production readiness questionnaire in your KEP by the PRR Freeze deadline on Thursday 6th February 2025 so that the PRR team has enough time to review your KEP.

For this KEP, we would need to update the following:

• Create the KEP readme using the latest template and merge it in the k/enhancements repo.
• Ensure that the KEP has undergone a production readiness review and has been merged into k/enhancements.

The status of this enhancement is marked as At risk for enhancements freeze. Please keep the issue description up-to-date with appropriate stages as well.

If you anticipate missing enhancements freeze, you can file an exception request in advance. Thank you!

[sftim]

Summary suggestion

-Further deprecate v1.Endpoints in favor of EndpointSlices, and ensure that it is possible to run clusters without the Endpoints controller.
+Deprecate Endpoints in favor of EndpointSlices, and ensure that it is possible to run clusters without the Endpoints controller.

• We'd deprecate all versions of Endpoints I think.
• I don't think Endpoints are deprecated yet.
• I guess we should add a page or pages about Endpoints, so that we can point people there (and maybe also so that https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubernetes-api/service-resources/endpoints-v1/ can refer back to it).

[danwinship]

• We'd deprecate all versions of Endpoints I think.

v1 is the only version, so...

I was saying "v1.Endpoints" to make it clear I was talking about the API kind, not the generic concept of endpoints, the EndpointSlice field named Endpoints, etc.

[sftim]

How about "the Endpoints API" then? That should be clear to all readers / would be more likely to be understood than v1.Endpoints.

[dipesh-rawat]

Hi @danwinship 👋, 1.33 Enhancements team here,

Just a quick friendly reminder as we approach the enhancements freeze later this week, at 02:00 UTC Friday 14th February 2025 / 19:00 PDT Thursday 13th February 2025.

The current status of this enhancement is marked as At risk for enhancement freeze. There are a few requirements mentioned in the comment #4974 (comment) that still need to be completed.

If you anticipate missing enhancements freeze, you can file an exception request in advance. Thank you!

[dipesh-rawat]

Hello @danwinship 👋, 1.33 Enhancements team here.

Now that PR #4975 has been merged, all the KEP requirements are in place and merged into k/enhancements, this enhancement is all good for the upcoming enhancements freeze. 🚀

The status of this enhancement is marked as tracked for enhancement freeze. Please keep the issue description up-to-date with appropriate stages as well. Thank you!

/label tracked/yes

[Urvashi0109]

Hello @danwinship 👋, v1.33 Docs Shadow here.

Does this enhancement work planned for v1.33 require any new docs or modification to existing docs?

If so, please follow the steps here to open a PR against dev-1.33 branch in the k/website repo. This PR can be just a placeholder at this time and must be created before Thursday 27th February 2025 18:00 PDT.

Also, take a look at Documenting for a release to get yourself familiarize with the docs requirement for the release.

Thank you!

[dipesh-rawat]

Hey again @danwinship 👋, 1.33 Enhancements team here,

Just checking in as we approach code freeze at 02:00 UTC Friday 21st March 2025 / 19:00 PDT Thursday 20th March 2025. .

Here's where this enhancement currently stands:

• All PRs to the Kubernetes repo that are related to your enhancement are linked in the above issue description (for tracking purposes).
• All PRs are ready to be merged (they have approved and lgtm labels applied) by the code freeze deadline. This includes tests.

For this enhancement, it looks like the following PRs need to be merged before code freeze (and we need to update the Issue description to include all the related PRs of this KEP):

• Remove all references to v1.Endpoints from non-network e2e tests kubernetes#128896
• Test EndpointSlice in dual-stack e2e tests kubernetes#128898
• Try to clarify EndpointSlice semantics some more kubernetes#129886
• Mark v1.Endpoints deprecated kubernetes#130098

Additionally, please let me know if there are any other PRs in k/k not listed above that we should track for this KEP, so that we can maintain accurate status.

If you anticipate missing code freeze, you can file an exception request in advance.

The status of this enhancement is marked as at risk for code freeze.

[rytswd]

Hi @danwinship 👋 -- this is Ryota (@rytswd) from the 1.33 Communications Team!

For the 1.33 release, we are currently in the process of collecting and curating a list of potential feature blogs, and we'd love for you to consider writing one for your enhancement!

We are under impression that this would probably benefit from a blog post to clarify the actual impact and meaning of it -- as the change description may scare some users. We will be looking into writing a sneak peek blog and highlighting this KEP.

At the same time, it would be beneficial to have a dedicated blog to go deeper into the details with a separate blog post. To opt in to write a feature blog, could you please let us know and open a "Feature Blog placeholder PR" (which can be only a skeleton at first) against the website repository by Wednesday, 5th March, 2025? For more information about writing a blog, please find the blog contribution guidelines 📚

Tip

Some timeline to keep in mind:

• 02:00 UTC Wednesday, 5th March, 2025: Feature blog PR freeze
• Monday, 7th April, 2025: Feature blogs ready for review
• You can find more in the release document

Note

In your placeholder PR, use XX characters for the blog date in the front matter and file name. We will work with you on updating the PR with the publication date once we have a final number of feature blogs for this release.

[danwinship]

@sftim said in the PR review "Ideally, try to cover this in the 'mid point comms' blog about the upcoming release that will deprecate Endpoints." I'm not sure exactly what that means. 🙂

I have started writing a standalone blog post as well.

[rytswd]

Thanks @danwinship, what Tim referred to was the sneak peek blog I mentioned, which is also known as mid cycle deprecation / removal blog. The Release Comms team will be working on putting one together.

If you have already started working on a dedicated blog, do you have a placeholder PR for that? If you haven't, would you be able to create one, and provide the PR number with us? It would help us track blogs associated with the release, and plan the appropriate schedule for publishing based on the impact and importance of the change (and this KEP will likely be on the top of the list).

We could also look to get the sneak peek blog to use the blog content if it would be short enough. We can discuss more a bit later as we get more into the actual write-up for the sneak peek blog 👍

[danwinship]

done: kubernetes/website#49976

[rytswd]

Thanks @danwinship! I have added the PR link under the Enhancement tracking board 👍

[sftim]

@rytswd what you've called the "sneak peek" blog article was originally the place to announce upcoming deprecations and removals. I recommend announcing this deprecation in that article (and in the release announcement).

I don't see a benefit in a post-release article on top of doing those two things.

[rytswd]

@sftim Noted, that makes sense! The Release Lead team has discussed this earlier and confirmed we would write the mid cycle blog to highlight this deprecation (along with other highlights).

We will make sure to capture this in the Release Blog as well, so I agree we can drop the dedicated Feature Blog.

@danwinship If you have some draft already, would you be able to share with me? If not, no worries, we will reach out to you for the review when our draft is ready 👍

[danwinship]

the draft is in kubernetes/website#49976

[rytswd]

Apologies, I thought it was an empty placeholder PR -- thanks for the share!

@sftim With the draft in kubernetes/website#49976, I'm thinking it may actually be helpful to keep this dedicated blog, and the Comms can highlight this deprecation in a more succinct manner with a link to this feature blog for more details. We could take the whole content here into the mid cycle blog, as well as the main Release Blog -- but it may be easier for users to have a dedicated blog, which they can easily search through the Kubernetes Blog rather than specifically checking 1.33 release blog. What do you think?

[sftim]

We could take the whole content here into the mid cycle blog, as well as the main Release Blog

That feels viable. The main release announcement can hyperlink back to the section of the mid-cycle blog, and we can edit the mid-cycle blog post release to confirm the deprecation.

Alternative option: publish two articles on the same day:

1. mid-cycle announcement
2. a specific article about the deprecation of the Endpoints API, with the mid-cycle blog article linking to this one

The v1.33 release announcement can then reference (a slightly updated) article 2.

Why this? Well, the biggest publicity / social media grouching will be on the day we announce the deprecation and on release day. If we publish a post-release blog article, this arrives after peak grouching.

[rytswd]

@sftim I'm personally leaning towards the second option of having a dedicated article for the deprecation of the Endpoints API. The mid cycle blog would surely be the first place to highlight this change, but I'm also aware many users would check the release blogs upon the actual release, or even weeks and months after the release. Having to go back to the mid cycle for the deprecation details after the release may be confusing to users.

I would love to help with the blog review for the dedicated one so that we can land it earlier, and it would be a more concise update in both the mid cycle and release announcement blogs.

[dipesh-rawat]

Hi @danwinship 👋, 1.33 Enhancements team here,

Just a quick friendly reminder as we approach the code freeze later this week, at 02:00 UTC Friday 21st March 2025 / 19:00 PDT Thursday 20th March 2025.

The current status of this enhancement is marked as At risk for code freeze. There are a few requirements mentioned in the comment #4974 (comment) that still need to be completed.

If you anticipate missing code freeze, you can file an exception request in advance. Thank you!

[danwinship]

@dipesh-rawat I have updated the checklist to label #129837 as no longer required for Alpha; although I still hope to get it in, we can call the feature Alpha even if it does not get in. (It just might require us to stay in Alpha an extra release before going to Beta if we don't get it in now.)

[dipesh-rawat]

@danwinship Thanks, for the update and clarifying the changes needed for Alpha. I’ll mark this as tracked since all required PRs are merged. Also, please let me know if anything changes before the freeze or if there are any other PRs in k/k we should track for this KEP to keep the status accurate.

This enhancement is now marked as tracked for code freeze for the 1.33 Code Freeze!