Major Themes

The key theme of this release is "new features", we are shipping big features after a while.
We have the following two in this release:

• External Secret Stores Support as an Alpha Feature
• Webhook support for Crossplane and providers

Notable Updates

• Remove deprecated v1beta1 APIs by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2804 (was already part of v1.6.0)
• Add specification for xpkg images and extensions by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2775
• Include imagePullSecrets to rbac-manager serviceaccount by @mcbenjemaa in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2782
• Only set package revision in context of ImageBackend Init() to avoid concurrent access issues by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2789
• External Secret Support as an Alpha Feature by @turkenh in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2940
• Webhook support for crossplane and providers by @muvaf in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2919

Updates

• Delay v1.6 release until Jan 4th by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2766
• Add Design for External Secret Stores by @turkenh in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2494
• Match more windows uname output in install script by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2792
• Provider development guide: Link Terrajet and provider-template by @turkenh in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2790
• Apply merge options from patch policy by @EdgeJ in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2786
• add customAnnotations in helm chart for serviceaccount by @dwerder in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2788
• Update the release table for v1.6 by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2813
• Docs: using the latest kind image by @luebken in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2817
• Make release template (arguably) less onerous by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2811
• Update go-containerregistry to v0.7.0 by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2814
• Initialize feature flags in core by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2826
• Offer claim in composition concept docs by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2821
• Add v1.6.1 to releases table in README.md by @negz in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2833
• Docs: Adding a more info section about providers by @luebken in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2834
• Use bold formatting for xpkg spec motivation section by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2837
• Adding distro information to the getting started guide by @grantgumina in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2819
• Update go and crossplane-runtime to the latest by @muvaf in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2822
• Fix #2805: Replace DOCKER_REGISTRY with PROJECT_NAME by @checkaayush in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2842
• Docs: Added all active providers with Github stars >= 10 by @luebken in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2816
• Consume the new k8schain implementation in ggcr by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2841
• Update releases table to include v1.6.2 by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2859
• Fixing a docs typo in the downstream distro section by @grantgumina in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2872
• docs: update downstream distribution getting started link by @muvaf in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2883
• fix(compositionrevision): Add missing JSON marshaller to CompositionRevision's MapTransform by @MisterMX in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2856
• Update releases table with v1.6.3, v1.5.2, v1.4.4 by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2906
• Add missing word to composition revision guide by @jbw976 in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2908
• feat(bump-aws-versions): #2709 bump versions for provider-aws by @haarchri in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2771
• add(docs): registry self-signed certs by @natereid72 in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2927
• all: fix some typos by @cuishuang in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2933
• Fix failure to pull private packages due to URI scheme by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2939
• Support package base layer descriptor in package images by @hasheddan in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2932
• Fixed small typo by @Piotr1215 in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2946
• Update releases table to reference v1.6.4 by @mcbenjemaa in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2953
• feat(xrd): Add support for version deprecation by @MisterMX in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2948
• Fix broken links in MR API one pager by @ytsarev in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2965
• Fixing incorrect link by @Piotr1215 in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2970
• [Backport release-1.7] Bump Postgresql version in the documentation samples by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2990
• [Backport release-1.7] Update xpkg spec with webhook configurations in providers by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2997
• [Backport release-1.7] Add customAnnotations parameter to the Helm chart by @github-actions in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2995

New Contributors

• @EdgeJ made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2786
• @dwerder made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2788
• @checkaayush made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2842
• @natereid72 made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2927
• @cuishuang made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2933
• @Piotr1215 made their first contribution in https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/pull/2946

Full Changelog: https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/compare/v1.7.0-rc.0...v1.7.0