feat: next release from main is 1.45.0 (#1972)

* chore: setup 1.44.x lts branch

* chore: bump version to 1.45.0-SNAPSHOT to avoid conflict with lts patch releases.

* "revert: bump version to 1.45.0-SNAPSHOT to avoid conflict with lts patch releases."

This reverts commit 30e48b4.

Author: zhumin8

.github/release-please.yml

@@ -22,3 +22,7 @@ branches:
     handleGHRelease: true
     releaseType: java-backport
     branch: 1.43.x
+  - bumpMinorPreMajor: true
+    handleGHRelease: true
+    releaseType: java-backport
+    branch: 1.44.x

.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml

@@ -84,6 +84,20 @@ branchProtectionRules:
       - dependencies (11)
       - clirr
       - cla/google
+  - pattern: 1.44.x
+    isAdminEnforced: true
+    requiredApprovingReviewCount: 1
+    requiresCodeOwnerReviews: true
+    requiresStrictStatusChecks: false
+    requiredStatusCheckContexts:
+      - units (7)
+      - units (8)
+      - units (11)
+      - windows
+      - dependencies (8)
+      - dependencies (11)
+      - clirr
+      - cla/google
 permissionRules:
   - team: yoshi-admins
     permission: admin