Major Themes

The key theme of this release is performance and scalability. This release introduces a --max-reconcile-rate flag that controls how frequently Crossplane may reconcile its resources. With the default value of --max-reconcile-rate=10 (per second) Crossplane v1.6 is able to drive large bursts of claims (each composed of a handful of managed resources) to readiness 2x to 5x faster than Crossplane v1.5.

Upcoming API Removals

Note that v1.6 will be the lat version of Crossplane that supports the following v1alpha1 APIs, which will be removed in v1.7. Please migrate to the v1 iteration of these APIs if you have not already. The v1alpha1 and v1 APIs are identical, so migration should simply be a case of updating the apiVersion in your packages:

• Provider.meta.pkg.crossplane.io/v1alpha1
• Configuration.meta.pkg.crossplane.io/v1alpha1

Notable Updates

• Support exponential backoff and configurable reconcile rates by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2602
• composite: publish all keys if the filter on xrd is empty by @muvaf in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2673
• Reeanble K8s credential providers by @MisterMX in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2559
• late initializing some xrc fields from the xr by @RinkiyaKeDad in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2680

Updates

• Add recommended Kubernetes app labels to Crossplane components by @nlamirault in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2614
• [master] Align GCP provider docs about serviceaccount creation with current UI by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2717
• Update README.md with v1.5.1, v1.4.3, v1.3.3 by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2726
• design: add provider strategy doc by @muvaf in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2701
• docs: Add missing link to crossplane-runtime 0.9.0 by @terrytangyuan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2729
• add note to package doc by @fahedouch in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2727
• Update packages docs to indicate Lock is a beta feature by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2728
• Switch to buildx explicitly and stop publishing to multiple arch repos by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2718
• Use dedicated Upbound Registry robots for Configurations and Crossplane by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2740
• Actually cache the go build cache between CI runs by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2742
• Use go.cachedir in all CI steps by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2743
• readme: add release calendar link by @muvaf in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2747
• Update Azure credentials step to not require AD access by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2748
• Fix matchLabels blocking upgrade by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2749
• Fix Multi-Tenant guide mistake by @LvLs9 in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2746
• Make spec.controller.image in Provider.meta.pkg.crossplane.io optional and default to self by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2758
• Test propagation of XR machinery fields to claims by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2761
• [Backport release-1.6] Include imagePullSecrets to rbac-manager serviceaccount by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2783
• [Backport release-1.6] Match more windows uname output in install script by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2795
• [Backport release-1.6] Provider development guide: Link Terrajet and provider-template by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2798
• [Backport release-1.6] Only set package revision in context of ImageBackend Init() to avoid concurrent access issues by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2802
• [Backport release-1.6] Remove deprecated v1beta1 APIs by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2806
• [Backport release-1.6] Apply merge options from patch policy by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2807
• [Backport release-1.6] add customAnnotations in helm chart for serviceaccount by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2808
• Pin snippet links and configurations to v1.6.0 by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2810

New Contributors

• @goober made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2633
• @cpanato made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2657
• @RinkiyaKeDad made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2658
• @zonybob made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2525
• @tv42 made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2699
• @nlamirault made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2614
• @fahedouch made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2727
• @MisterMX made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2559
• @LvLs9 made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2746
• @EdgeJ made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2786

Full Changelog: https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/compare/v1.6.0-rc.0...v1.6.0