Kubernetes Release: Required Labels - SIG Owner, Priority, and Issue/PR Kind

regarding when an issue was observed and by when the community feels it must be resolved. During [Code Freeze][code-freeze], a milestone must be set to merge a PR. An open issue is no longer required for a PR, but open issues and associated PRs should have synchronized labels. For example a high priority bug issue might not have its associated PR merged if the PR is only marked as lower priority. ### PR Additions PRs are marked as targeting a milestone via the Prow "/milestone" command. This is a blocking requirement during Code Freeze as described above. ## Other Required Labels [Here is the list of labels and their use and purpose.](https://git.k8s.io/test-infra/label_sync/labels.md#labels-that-apply-to-all-repos-for-both-issues-and-prs) ### SIG Owner Label The SIG owner label defines the SIG to which we escalate if a milestone issue is languishing or needs additional attention. If there are no updates after escalation, the issue may be automatically removed from the milestone. These are added with the Prow "/sig" command. For example to add the label indicating SIG Storage is responsible, comment with `/sig storage`. ### Priority Label Priority labels are used to determine an escalation path before moving issues out of the release milestone. They are also used to determine whether or not a release should be blocked on the resolution of the issue. - `priority/critical-urgent`: Never automatically move out of a release milestone; continually escalate to contributor and SIG through all available channels. - considered a release blocking issue - requires daily updates from issue owners during [Code Freeze][code-freeze] - would require a patch release if left undiscovered until after the minor release - `priority/important-soon`: Escalate to the issue owners and SIG owner; move out of milestone after several unsuccessful escalation attempts. - not considered a release blocking issue - would not require a patch release - will automatically be moved out of the release milestone at Code Freeze after a 4 day grace period - `priority/important-longterm`: Escalate to the issue owners; move out of the milestone after 1 attempt. - even less urgent / critical than `priority/important-soon` - moved out of milestone more aggressively than `priority/important-soon` ### Issue/PR Kind Label The issue kind is used to help identify the types of changes going into the release over time. This may allow the Release Team to develop a better understanding of what sorts of issues we would miss with a faster release cadence. For release targeted issues, including pull requests, one of the following issue kind labels must be set: - `kind/api-change`: Adds, removes, or changes an API - `kind/bug`: Fixes a newly discovered bug. - `kind/cleanup`: Adding tests, refactoring, fixing old bugs. - `kind/design`: Related to design - `kind/documentation`: Adds documentation - `kind/failing-test`: CI test case is failing consistently. - `kind/feature`: New functionality. - `kind/flake`: CI test case is showing intermittent failures.

During Code Freeze, a milestone must be set to merge a PR. Open issues are no longer required for a PR, but should have synchronized labels. PRs are marked as targeting a milestone via the Prow "/milestone" command. Key labels include: SIG Owner (added with "/sig" command, used for escalation), Priority (determines escalation path and release blocking status), and Issue/PR Kind (identifies the type of change). Priority levels range from critical-urgent (release blocking, requires daily updates) to important-longterm (less urgent, moved out of milestone aggressively). Issue/PR Kind labels include api-change, bug, cleanup, design, documentation, failing-test, feature, and flake.