✨ New features
- (go/v4): Upgrade controller-gen from v0.18.0 to v0.19.0 #5064
 - (go/v4): Upgrade golang CI from v2.3.0 to v2.4.0 #5063
 - (go/v4): Upgrade controller-runtime from v0.21.0 to v0.22.1 #5062 #5098
 - (go/v4): Upgrade kustomize from v5.6.0 to v5.7.1 #5099
 - (helm/v1-alpha): Migrate from 
installCRDs=truetocrds.enabled=truein GitHub actiontest-chart.ymlto address deprecation #5083 
🐛 Bug fixes
- (go/v4): Fix Docker builds failing when projects don’t include 
apis/,controllers/, orwebhooksby updating.dockerignoreto allow only Go source files and module metadata #5048 - (AutoUpdate/v1-alpha): Adjust comments on Auto Update workflow #5082
 - (alpha generate command): Ensure kubebuilder reuses its own binary instead of relying on 
$PATH#5081 - (go/v4): Fix e2e test to validate that metrics are exported without asserting a controller-specific metric #5100
 - (go/v4): Handle empty CRD directories in Makefile install/uninstall targets #5042
 
🎉 Thanks to all contributors!
What's Changed
- 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/gomega from 1.38.1 to 1.38.2 by @dependabot[bot] in #5059
 - 📖 Bump sigs.k8s.io/kubebuilder/v4 from 4.7.1 to 4.8.0 in /docs/book/src/simple-external-plugin-tutorial/testdata/sampleexternalplugin/v1 by @dependabot[bot] in #5061
 - 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 from 2.25.1 to 2.25.2 by @dependabot[bot] in #5065
 - ✨ feat: Upgrade controller-gen from v0.18.0 to v0.19.0 by @camilamacedo86 in #5064
 - ✨ Upgrade golang CI from v2.3.0 to v2.4.0 by @camilamacedo86 in #5063
 - ✨ feat: upgrade controller-runtime from v0.21.0 to v0.22.0 by @camilamacedo86 in #5062
 - 📖 Remove unit tests badge from README by @camilamacedo86 in #5067
 - 🐛 (go/v4): Fix Docker builds failing when projects don’t include apis/, controllers/, or webhooks by updating .dockerignore to allow only Go source files and module metadata by @camilamacedo86 in #5048
 - 🌱 Bump github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 from 2.25.2 to 2.25.3 by @dependabot[bot] in #5077
 - 📖 Bump github.com/spf13/pflag from 1.0.7 to 1.0.10 in /docs/book/src/simple-external-plugin-tutorial/testdata/sampleexternalplugin/v1 by @dependabot[bot] in #5076
 - 🌱 Bump actions/setup-node from 4 to 5 by @dependabot[bot] in #5078
 - 🌱 Bump actions/setup-go from 5 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in #5079
 - 🌱 Bump github.com/spf13/cobra from 1.9.1 to 1.10.1 by @dependabot[bot] in #5070
 - 📖 add note about Windows support by @vitorfloriano in #5080
 - 🐛 (AutoUpdate/v1-alpha): Adjust comments on Auto Update workflow by @vitorfloriano in #5082
 - 🐛 (alpha generate command): Ensure kubebuilder reuses its own binary instead of relying on $PATH by @ashishkpathak-connect in #5081
 - 🌱 (e2e) upgrade certmanager from v1.16.3 to v1.18.2 by @camilamacedo86 in #5084
 - 🌱 (e2e/docs): upgrade prometheus version used to run the tests by @camilamacedo86 in #5085
 - 🌱 go: upgraded github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.9 => v1.0.10 by @camilamacedo86 in #5086
 ⚠️ (helm/v1-alpha): Migrate from installCRDs=true to crds.enabled=true in GitHub actiontest-chart.ymlby @camilamacedo86 in #5083- 🌱 Bump github.com/spf13/afero from 1.14.0 to 1.15.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #5091
 - 🌱 Bump golang.org/x/text from 0.28.0 to 0.29.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #5090
 - 🌱 Bump helm.sh/helm/v3 from 3.18.6 to 3.19.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #5095
 - 🌱 Bump golang.org/x/tools from 0.36.0 to 0.37.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #5094
 - ✨ Upgrade controller-runtime from v0.22.0 to v0.22.1 by @camilamacedo86 in #5098
 - ✨ Upgrade kustomize from v5.6.0 to v5.7.1 by @camilamacedo86 in #5099
 - 🐛 (go/v4): Fix e2e test to validate that metrics are exported without asserting a controller-specific metric by @camilamacedo86 in #5100
 - 🐛 (go/v4) Handle empty CRD directories in Makefile install/uninstall targets by @nerdeveloper in #5042
 - 📖 (docs) drop patchStrategy/protobuf tags from Conditions in Getting Started section by @pedjak in #5104
 - 📖 (doc): Add demo for auto-update plugin by @camilamacedo86 in #5105
 
New Contributors
- @ashishkpathak-connect made their first contribution in #5081
 - @nerdeveloper made their first contribution in #5042
 - @pedjak made their first contribution in #5104
 
Full Changelog: v4.8.0...v4.9.0