[DOCS] Connectors 8.16.0 release notes

docs/reference/connector/docs/connectors-release-notes.asciidoc

@@ -4,7 +4,13 @@
 <titleabbrev>Release notes</titleabbrev>
 ++++
 
-[INFO]
+[NOTE]
 ====
-Prior to version 8.16.0, the connector release notes were published as part of the https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/enterprise-search/current/changelog.html[Enterprise Search documentation].
+Prior to version *8.16.0*, the connector release notes were published as part of the {enterprise-search-ref}/changelog.html[Enterprise Search documentation].
 ====
+
+Release notes:
+
+* <<es-connectors-release-notes-8-16-0>>
+
+include::release-notes/connectors-release-notes-8.16.0.asciidoc[]

docs/reference/connector/docs/release-notes/connectors-release-notes-8.16.0.asciidoc

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+[[es-connectors-release-notes-8-16-0]]
+=== 8.16.0 connectors release notes
+
+[discrete]
+[[es-connectors-release-notes-8-16-0-breaking]]
+==== Breaking Changes
+
+* Directly accessing connector and sync job state through `.elastic-connectors*` indices is deprecated, and will be disallowed entirely in a future release. Instead, the Elasticsearch Connector APIs should be used. Connectors framework code now uses the Elasticsearch Connector APIs by default.
+See https://github.com/elastic/connectors/pull/2884[*PR 2902*]..
+
+[discrete]
+[[es-connectors-release-notes-8-16-0-enhancements]]
+==== Enhancements
+
+* *Docker namespaces*
++
+Starting in `8.16.0`, two of our published Docker images and release artifacts now _also_ live under a new namespace: `integrations`, in addition to the existing `enterprise-search` namespace.
+This concerns the https://github.com/elastic/connectors[Elastic Connectors] and the https://github.com/elastic/data-extraction-service[Elastic Data Extraction Service].
++
+Please note that we recommend using the new `integrations` namespace, as we are consolidating integration Docker images there. We encourage users to adopt the new namespace as soon as possible.
++
+** *Example*:
++
+Old namespace::
+`docker.elastic.co/enterprise-search/elastic-connectors:v8.16.0`
++
+New namespace::
+`docker.elastic.co/integrations/elastic-connectors:v8.16.0`
+
+* Docker images now use Chainguard's Wolfi base image (`docker.elastic.co/wolfi/jdk:openjdk-11-dev`), replacing the previous `ubuntu:focal` base.
+
+* The Sharepoint Online connector now works with the `Sites.Selected` permission instead of the broader permission `Sites.Read.All`.
+See https://github.com/elastic/connectors/pull/2762[*PR 2762*].
+
+* Starting in 8.16.0, connectors will start using proper SEMVER, with `MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH`, which aligns with Elasticsearch/Kibana versions. This drops the previous `.BUILD` suffix, which we used to release connectors between Elastic stack releases. Going forward, these inter-stack-release releases will be suffixed instead with `+<timestamp>`, aligning with Elastic Agent and conforming to SEMVER. 
+See https://github.com/elastic/connectors/pull/2749[*PR 2749*].
+
+* Connector logs now use UTC timestamps, instead of machine-local timestamps. This only impacts logging output.
+See https://github.com/elastic/connectors/pull/2695[*PR 2695*].
+
+[discrete]
+[[es-connectors-release-notes-8-16-0-bug-fixes]]
+==== Bug fixes
+
+* The Dropbox connector now fetches the files from team shared folders.
+See https://github.com/elastic/connectors/pull/2718[*PR 2718*].