Release of `v23.0.0-RC1`

[systay]

Note

This release is scheduled for Wed 15 Oct 2025.
The release of vitess-operator v2.16.0-RC1 is also planned.
Release team: @vitessio/release

Important

Please do not edit the content of the Issue's body manually.
The vitess-releaser tool is managing and handling this issue.
You can however click on the check boxes to mark them as done/not done, and write comments.

Prerequisites (~2 weeks before)

• General prerequisites.
  • Be part of the Release team in the vitessio GitHub organization, here.
  • Be an admin of the planetscale/vitess-operator repository.
  • Have access to Vitess' Java repository and have it working locally, guide here.
  • Have vitessio/vitess and planetscale/vitess-operator cloned in the same parent directory.
• Notify the community on Slack.
• Make sure the release notes summary is prepared and clean.
• Make sure important Pull Requests are merged, list below.
  • [release-23.0] Fix handling of tuple bind variables in filtering operations. (#18736) #18747
  • [release-23.0] Address Moderate dependabot vulns in VTAdmin (#18744) #18750
  • [release-23.0] VReplication: Handle compatible DDL changes (#18739) #18749
  • [Query Throttler]Gracefully handle config file not found scenario #18735
  • vtorc: wait for ackers before solving PrimarySemiSyncMustBeSet problem #18732
  • [release-23.0] Release of v23.0.0-RC1 #18755
  • Potential fix for code scanning alert no. 2992: Clear-text logging of sensitive information #18754
  • fix sqlSelectLimit propagating to subqueries #18716
  • [release-23.0] vtorc: address CodeQL scanning alerts (#18753) #18756
  • VReplication: Ensure proper handling of keyspace/database names with dashes #18762
  • [release-23.0] Bump to v23.0.0-SNAPSHOT after the v23.0.0-RC1 release #18761
  • [release-23.0] Potential fix for code scanning alert no. 2992: Clear-text logging of sensitive information (#18754) #18760
  • Resolve commons-lang vulnerability in Java driver #18768
  • [release-23.0] update java packages to use central instead of ossrh (#18765) #18767
  • vtctldclient GetPermissions: hide authentication_string from response #18771
  • Upgrade examples/operator.yaml with the new version #18769
• Make sure release blocker items are closed, list below.

Code Freeze (1 week before)

• Code Freeze.
  • [release-23.0] Code Freeze for v23.0.0-RC1 #18729
• Copy branch protection rules.
• Create new labels.
  • https://github.com/vitessio/vitess/labels?q=release-23.0
• Update the SNAPSHOT version on main.
  • Bump to v24.0.0-SNAPSHOT after the v23.0.0-RC1 release #18730
• Create new GitHub Milestone.
  • https://github.com/vitessio/vitess/milestone/86
• Create vitess-operator release branch.
• Bump the version vitess-operator main.
  • [main] Bump version.go to 2.16.0 planetscale/vitess-operator#725
• Update vitess-operator compatibility table.

Pre-Release (~1-3 days before)

• Create Release PR. _{^{(We do this earlier to catch any issues in the tool and let CI run.)}}
  • [release-23.0] Release of v23.0.0-RC1 #18755
• Update vitess-operator Golang version.
• Update Cobra Docs.

Release (Wed 15 Oct)

• Merge the Release PR.
  • [release-23.0] Release of v23.0.0-RC1 #18755
• Tag the release.
  • https://github.com/vitessio/vitess/releases/tag/v23.0.0-rc1
• Java release.
• Create vitess-operator Release PR.
  • [release-2.16] Release of v2.16.0-RC1 planetscale/vitess-operator#727
• Update release notes on main.
  • [main] Copy v23.0.0-RC1 release notes #18758
• Go back to dev mode on the release branch.
  • [release-23.0] Bump to v23.0.0-SNAPSHOT after the v23.0.0-RC1 release #18761
• Update the website documentation.
• Make sure the release is benchmarked by arewefastyet.
• Docker Images available on DockerHub.
• Check that release artifacts were generated.
• Merge the vitess-operator Release PR.
  • [release-2.16] Release of v2.16.0-RC1 planetscale/vitess-operator#727
• Tag the vitess-operator release.
  • https://github.com/planetscale/vitess-operator/releases/tag/v2.16.0-rc1
• Go back to dev mode on vitess-operator.
  • [release-2.16] Back to dev mode after the release of v2.16.0-rc1 planetscale/vitess-operator#728
• Manual update of vitess-operator test code.

Post-Release (Wed 15 Oct)

• Notify the community on Slack for the new release.
• Twitter announcement.
• Remove bypass branch protection rules, if required.
• Close this Issue.

[systay]

Release completed.