Release of v18.0.2

[harshit-gangal]

This release is scheduled for Wed 20 Dec 2023

Prerequisites for Release

• Notify the community on Slack.
• Make sure the release notes summary is prepared and clean.
• Make sure backport Pull Requests are merged, list below.
  • Add a retry to remove the vttablet directory during upgrade/downgrade backup tests #14753
  • fix: insert on duplicate key update missing BindVars #14728
  • VReplication: Guard against unsafe _vt.vreplication writes #14797
  • Refactor Upgrade downgrade tests #14782
  • [release-18.0] Release of v18.0.2 #14805
  • VReplication: Update singular workflow in traffic switcher #14826
  • [release-18.0] Backport: VReplication SwitchWrites: Properly return errors in SwitchWrites #14800 #14824
  • [release-18.0] Release of v18.0.2 #14810
  • [release-18.0] Refactor Upgrade downgrade tests (#14782) #14832
• Make sure release blocker Issues are closed, list below.

Pre-Release

• Code Freeze.
  • [release-18.0] Code Freeze for v18.0.2 #14804
• Create Release PR.
  • [release-18.0] Release of v18.0.2 #14810
• Create new GitHub Milestone.
  • https://github.com/vitessio/vitess/milestone/49

Release

• Merge the Release PR.
• Tag the release.
• Java release.
• Update release notes on main.
• Go back to dev mode on the release branch.
• Update the website documentation.
• Make sure the release is benchmarked by arewefastyet.
• Docker Images available on DockerHub.
• Close current GitHub Milestone.

Post-Release

• Notify the community on Slack for the new release.