Release post - GitLab 11.4

Review Apps: https://release-11-4.about.gitlab.com/2018/10/22/gitlab-11-4-released/

Release post:

• Intro: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/release-11-4/source/posts/2018-10-22-gitlab-11-4-released.html.md
• Items: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/release-11-4/data/release_posts/2018_10_22_gitlab_11_4_released.yml
• Images: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/tree/release-11-4/source/images/11_4

Related files:

• Features YAML link: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/release-11-4/data/features.yml
• Home page banner: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/release-11-4/source/includes/hello-bar.html.haml
• MVPs: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/blob/release-11-4/data/mvps.yml

Handbook references:

• Blog handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/
• Release post handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/release-posts/
• Markdown guide: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/technical-writing/markdown-guide/

People:

• Release Post Managers: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/release-posts/managers/
• Release Managers: https://about.gitlab.com/release-managers/

Release post manager	Tech writer	Copyedit	Messaging Lead	Social
@jramsay	@eread	xx	@johnjeremiah	xx

General contributions

Due date: 2018-10-12 (6th working day before the 22nd)

All contributions added by team members, collaborators, and Product Managers (PMs).

Author's checklist

Due date: 2018-10-12 (6th working day before the 22nd) - @jramsay

The PM leading the post is responsible for adding and checking the following items:

• Label MR: ~"blog post" release release post ~P1
• Assign the MR to yourself
• Add milestone
• Update the links and due dates in this MR description
• Make sure the blog post initial files, as well as this MR template contain the latest templates
• Add authorship (author's data)
• Ask the Marketing reviewer to add the introduction
• Add MVP (feature block)
• Add MVP to data/mvps.yml
• Add cover image (image_title) (scaled and compressed)
• Add social sharing image (twitter_image) (scaled and compressed)
• Make sure all feature descriptions are positive and cheerful
• Make sure all features listed in the direction page are included in the post
• Mention the release managers to remind them to add the upgrade barometer section
• Mention the team leads to remind them to add the performance improvements: Yorick, Douwe, Sean, Remy, Stan, Kamil, Tim Z., Clement, Andre
• Ping @atflowers and @aoetama to add the Release Radar webcast link
• Make sure Upgrade barometer is in
• Check which one is the top feature (with Job and William)
• Check if deprecations are included
• Alert people one working day before each due date (post a comment to #release-post Slack channel)
• Remove remaining template sections
• Make sure all images (png, jpg, and gifs) are smaller than 300 KB each
• Run the release post through an automated spell and grammar check
• Perform the content review

Recurring blocks

Due date: 2018-10-12 (6th working day before the 22nd)

The following sections are always present, and managed by the PM or Eng lead owning the related area:

• Add GitLab Runner improvements: Fabio
• Add Omnibus improvements: Joshua
• Add Mattermost update to the Omnibus improvements section: Victor
• Add Performance improvements: Douwe, Sean, Kamil, Yorick, Tim

Feature blocks

Due date: 2018-10-12 (6th working day before the 22nd)

The Product Managers are responsible for adding their feature blocks to the release post by the due date for general contributions. PMs are also responsible for adding any notable Community Contributions.

PMs: please check your box only when all your features and deprecations were added with completion (documentation links, images, etc). Pls don't check if there are still things missing.

• Andreas (@akaemmerle)
• Daniel (@danielgruesso)
• Fabio (@bikebilly)
• James (@jramsay)
• Jason (@jlenny)
• Jeremy (@jeremy_)
• Joshua (@joshlambert)
• Victor (@victorwu)

Tip: make your own checklist:

• Primary features
• Improvements (secondary features)
• Deprecations
• Documentation updated
• Documentation links added to the post
• Community contributions
• Illustrations added to the post (compressed)
• Update features.yml (with accompanying screenshots)

Review

Ideally, complete the review until the 4th working day before the 22nd, so that the 3rd and the 2nd working day before the release could be left for fixes and small improvements.

Content review

Due date: 2018-10-15 (5th working day before the 22nd)

Performed by the author of the post: @jramsay

• Label MR: ~"blog post" release review-in-progress
• Check all comments in the thread (make sure no contribution was left behind)
• Check Features' names
• Check Features' availability (Core, Starter, Premium, Ultimate badges)
• Check Documentation links (all feature blocks contain documentation_link)
• Make sure documentation_link links to feature webpages when available
• Update home page bannersource/includes/hello-bar.html.haml
• Features were added to data/features.yml (with accompanying screenshots)
• Check all images size < 300KB (compress them all with TinyPNG or similar tool)
• Pull master, resolve any conflicts
• Make sure all discussions in the thread are resolved
• Mention Mark Pundsack to remind him to review
• Assign the MR to the next reviewer (structural check)
• Lock features.yml with File Locking on the 21st

Structural check

Due date: 2018-10-17 (3rd working day before the 22nd)

Performed by technical writers: @eread

• 1. Structural check
• Add the label review-structure
• Check frontmatter (entries, syntax)
• Check image_title and twitter_image
• Check image shadow applied correctly: {image_noshadow: true} when an image already has shadow
• Videos/iframes wrapped in <figure> tags (responsiveness)
• Wrap text
• Check headers in sentence case
• Check feature and product names in capital case
• Check if images are harmonic/consistent
• Add/check cover img reference (at the end of the post)
• Columns (content balance between the columns)
• Meaningful links (SEO)
• Badges consistency (applied to all headings)
• Double check documentation updates
• Check documentation links (point to /ee/, not to /ce/)
• Check about.gitlab.com links: relative URLs
• Check the anchor links in the intro
• Remove any remaining instructions
• Remove HTML comments
• Run deadlink checker
• Pull master
• Update release template with any changes (if necessary)
• Post a comment in the #general channel linking to the review app + MR reminding the team to take a look at the RP and report any problems in the #release-post channel. (Do NOT ping @all or @channel)
• Remove the label review-structure
• Assign the MR to the next reviewer (copyedit)

Further reviews

Due date: 2018-10-18 (2nd working day before the 22nd)

• Copyedit (content team): @erica
  • Title
  • Description
  • Intro
  • Grammar, spelling, clearness (body)
  • Homepage Blurb
  • Tweet social sharing text (for Twitter, FB, and LinkedIn)
  • Assign the MR to the next reviewer (marketing)
• Marketing review (PMMs - messaging lead): @johnjeremiah
  • Write the introduction (by the 6th day before the 22nd)
  • Check/copyedit feature blocks
  • Check/copyedit features.yml
  • Check/copyedit homepage blurb
  • Check/copyedit social sharing text
  • Mention Job for final check
  • Remove the label review-in-progress
  • Assign the MR back to the author

Merge it

The author of the post is responsible for merging the MR and following up with possible adjustments/fixes.

Last check before merging

• Read the important notes below
• Mention @matteeyah to remind him to send the swag pack to the MVP
• Check if all the anchor links in the intro are working
• Check if there are no broken links
• Pull master and fix any conflicts
• Check if there isn't any alert on Slack's #release-post and #general channels
• Check if there isn't any alert on this MR thread
• Check if the tweet copy is ready and someone is ready to share on social media
• Ask the release managers to ping you when the packs are publicly available (and GitLab.com is up and running on the release version)
• Unlock features.yml just before merging
• Merge the MR
• Wait for the pipeline
• Check the look on social media with Twitter Card Validator and Facebook Debugger
• Share on social media

Important notes

• The post is to be merged on the 22nd at 15:00 UTC and as soon as GitLab.com is up and running on the new release version, and all packages are publicly available. Not before.
• The usual release time is 15:00 UTC but it varies according to the deployment. If something comes up and delays the release, the release post will be delayed with the release.
• Coordinate the timing with the release managers. Ask them to keep you in the loop.
• After merging, wait a few minutes to see if no one spot an error (usually posted in #general), then share on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or make sure someone (Emily vH, JJ, Marcia) does.
• Keep an eye on Slack and in the blog post comments for a few hours to make sure no one found anything that should be fixed

data/release_posts/2018_10_22_gitlab_11_4_released.yml

+features:
+# TOP FEATURE
+  top:
+    - name: "Merge Request Reviews"
+      available_in: [premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/discussions/index.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/batch-comments.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/1984'
+      description: |
+        Code review in merge requests is a powerful feature in GitLab. Team members
+        have conversations linked to specific lines of code in a diff, and can even
+        resolve them. However, the process can get unwieldy in merge requests with
+        large diffs. Often, a reviewer may need to leave upwards of 10 or more comments
+        in a single sitting. And the 9th or 10th comment may actually render earlier
+        comments unnecessary. The end result is that the merge request author
+        gets a slew of notifications and has to sort them out one by one.
+
+        With this release, we are introducing Merge Request Reviews. This will
+        allow a reviewer to draft as many code comments in a merge requests as they
+        wish, make sure they are all consistent, and then submit them all
+        as a single action. Since the drafts are saved to GitLab, a reviewer can
+        even spread their work over many sessions, say starting a review on their
+        desktop at work during the day, and then wrapping it up at home on their
+        tablet device later in the evening. Once the draft comments are submitted,
+        they appear as normal individual comments. This allows individual team members
+        the flexibility to do code review however they want, but still being compatible
+        with the entire team.
+
+        In future iterations, we will improve the feature to provide a
+        [preview](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/4327)
+        before the batch submit action, and also combine all those notifications
+        that those comments currently generate, into
+        [one batched notification](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/4326).
+
+# PRIMARY FEATURES
+  primary:
+    - name: "Create and toggle feature flags for your applications (alpha)"
+      available_in: [premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/operations/feature_flags.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/feature_flags.png'
+      reporter: jlenny
+      team: release
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/6220'
+      description: |
+        This feature gives you the ability to create and manage feature flags for
+        your software directly in the product. Simply create a new feature
+        flag, validate it using the simple API instructions in your software,
+        and you have the ability to control the behavior of your software
+        in the field via the feature flag within GitLab itself.
+
+        Feature Flags offer a feature toggle system for your application.
+        They enable teams to achieve Continuous Delivery by deploying new
+        features to production in smaller batches for controlled testing,
+        separating feature delivery from customer launch. This helps reduce
+        risk, and allows you to easily manage which features to enable.
+
+        Note that this is an alpha feature being introduced for the first time,
+        so while we encourage you to check out the feature and provide feedback,
+        we want you to be aware that the implementation could change in subsequent
+        releases.
+
+    - name: "File tree for browsing merge request diff"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/index.html#merge-request-diff-file-navigation'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/file-tree.png'
+      reporter: jramsay
+      team: create
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/14249'
+      description: |
+        Code review is an essential practice of every successful project, but
+        knowing what has changed can be hard to determine from a flat list of
+        diffs. GitLab now includes a searchable file tree of changes to make it
+        easy to see which files have changed and jump between them.
+
+        The file tree summarizes the structure and size of the change, similar
+        to `diff-stats`, providing an overview of the change and improving
+        navigation between diffs. Search allows reviewers to limit their code
+        review to a subset of files by path or filetype, simplifying reviews by
+        specialists focussed on only a subset of the merge request.
+
+        Previously the list of changed files was available through a searchable
+        drop down, that was best suited to jumping to a specific file.
+
+    - name: "Suggest Code Owners as merge request approvers"
+      available_in: [starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/merge_request_approvals.html#codeowners-file'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/suggest-approvers.png'
+      reporter: jramsay
+      team: create
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/5382'
+      description: |
+        Knowing who is the best person to review your changes isn't always
+        obvious. Code owners are now shown as suggested approvers when creating
+        or editing a merge request to make assigning the right person easy.
+
+        Support for defining code owners was introduced in
+        [GitLab 11.3](/2018/09/22/gitlab-11-3-released/#code-owners). In
+        upcoming releases, code owners will be further integrated into the
+        merge request workflow with
+        [automatic assignment](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/1012)
+        and
+        [required approvals](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/4418).
+
+    - name: "New user profile page overview"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/#user-profile'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/user-profile-redesign.png'
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: manage
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/49801'
+      description: |
+        No matter how engaged you are on GitLab, your activity is a relevant
+        source of information and engagement indicator, displayed right at your
+        personal profile page. Your personal profile should give a simple insight
+        into what you are interested in and working on.
+
+        With this release, we introduce a redesigned profile page overview, showing
+        your activity via the familiar but shortened contribution graph with your
+        latest activities and your most relevant personal GitLab projects.
+
+    - name: "Set and show your status message within the user menu"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/#current-status'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/user-menu-status.png'
+      image_noshadow: true
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: manage
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/49075'
+      description: |
+        With [GitLab 11.2](/2018/08/22/gitlab-11-2-released/#personal-status-messages)
+        we introduced personal status messages for the first time, allowing you to
+        share your current availability, mood, or simply your favorite animal.
+
+        With this release, we make setting your status even more simple and
+        frictionless. A new "Set status" item in your user menu provides a fresh
+        modal that allows you to set and clear your status right within context.
+        In addition, your set status is also shown in your user menu, on top of
+        your full name and user name, including set Emoji and message.
+
+    - name: "Move ability to use includes in <code>.gitlab-ci.yml</code> from Starter to Core"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#include'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/verify-includes.png'
+      reporter: jlenny
+      team: verify
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/42861'
+      description: |
+        We are very happy to announce in this release that the usage of
+        includes within the `.gitlab-ci.yml` is now available in Core. This
+        will help ensure templates and other shared resources are always
+        compatible between free and non-free users, and also unlocks the
+        ability for everyone to do best-practice development using reusable
+        snippets in your CI/CD pipelines.
+
+    - name: "Run jobs <code>only</code>/<code>except</code> for modifications on a path or file"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#only-changes'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/verify-onlyexceptchanges.png'
+      reporter: jlenny
+      team: verify
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/19232'
+      description: |
+        A popularly requested feature, we're proud to now offer the
+        ability within the `.gitlab-ci.yml` to use `only`/`except` rules for jobs
+        based on when modifications occur to a specific file or path (glob).
+
+        This will allow more control for users whose repositories contain different
+        kinds of assets or builds, ensuring only the appropriate steps are
+        executed for the kinds of changes that were committed, speeding up
+        overall pipeline execution.
+
+    - name: "Add timed incremental rollouts to Auto DevOps"
+      available_in: [premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#timed-incremental-rollout-to-production'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/timed_incremental_rollouts.png'
+      reporter: jlenny
+      team: release
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7545'
+      description: |
+        You've had the ability within Auto DevOps to setup incremental
+        rollouts for a while now, and with this release, we are adding
+        an option to also set up _timed_ incremental rollouts where
+        the rollout will automatically continue on a timed cadence
+        unless there is some error.
+
+    - name: "Support Kubernetes RBAC for GitLab managed apps"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/clusters/#role-based-access-control-rbac'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/k8s-rbac.png'
+      reporter: danielgruesso
+      team: configure
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/29398'
+      description: |
+        Security is paramount when setting up your infrastructure for the first time or connecting to
+        existing one. Role-based access control (RBAC) was made generally available as part of Kubernetes'
+        1.8 release, providing more granular controls to regulate access to Kubernetes resources.
+
+        Our Kubernetes integration will now offer the capability to either create an RBAC-enabled
+        cluster on GKE or to connect with an existing cluster that is RBAC-enabled, providing increased
+        security for your infrastructure.
+
+    - name: "Auto DevOps support for RBAC"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/autodevops-rbac.png'
+      reporter: danielgruesso
+      team: configure
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/44597'
+      description: |
+        Auto DevOps now supports interacting with and deploying applications to RBAC-enabled Kubernetes clusters.
+
+        Role-based access control (RBAC) is an important tool that allows operators to ensure the reliability,
+        security, and efficiency of their Kubernetes cluster. Using Auto DevOps in conjunction with an RBAC-enabled
+        cluster ensures your applications take advantage of the increased infrastructure security.
+
+    - name: "Support PostgreSQL DB migration and initialization for Auto DevOps"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/#auto-deploy'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/db-migrations.png'
+      reporter: danielgruesso
+      team: configure
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/48004'
+      description: |
+        Using Auto DevOps to automatically detect, build, test, deploy, and monitor your application
+        just got more powerful. Starting in 11.4, Auto DevOps now provides the ability to initialize or
+        migrate PostgreSQL databases in your project.
+
+        Simply define a project variable to initialize or migrate your PostgreSQL database, and Auto DevOps
+        will do the rest.
+
+# SECONDARY FEATURES
+  secondary:
+    - name: "List of subscribed labels"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/labels.html#searching-for-project-labels'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/subscribed-labels.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/50835'
+      description: |
+        Labels in GitLab are very powerful since they can be applied to issues,
+        merge requests, and epics. As you use more labels, it can be difficult to
+        maintain them.
+
+        In a recent previous release, we added the ability to search by labels on
+        the project labels list page. With this release, you can now search by labels,
+        sort by name/created at/updated at, and even see a list of labels you have
+        subscribed to. This is available both in group and project labels list pages.
+
+    - name: "Filter by WIP merge requests"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/work_in_progress_merge_requests.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/wip-filter.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/13650'
+      description: |
+        Merge requests are a core part of GitLab, allowing team members to collaborate
+        on code transparently. In particular, we encourage teams to share their
+        work early, and use the WIP (work in progress) feature to indicate that
+        a merge request is still undergoing active work and should not be merged
+        yet.
+
+        With this release, we're making it easier for users to differentiate
+        between WIP and non-WIP merge requests by having a dedicated filter in
+        both group-level and project-level merge requests lists. This allows users
+        to quickly focus in on merge requests that are still in their early stages
+        of work, versus those that are toward the final stages of review before
+        merge.
+
+    - name: "Highlight <code>@mentions</code> for yourself distinctly"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issues/issues_functionalities.html#13-mentions'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/highlight-yourself-distinct.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/49036'
+      description: |
+        When collaborating in a long discussion in an issue or merge request, often
+        many users are involved, making it difficult to quickly at a glance, see
+        comments that are directed at you.
+
+        With this release, `@mentions` for yourself (i.e. the current user), are highlighted
+        in a different color, allowing you to easily see which comments involve you,
+        helping you focus on them quickly.
+
+    - name: "Click to insert Markdown table and link"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/markdown.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/link-table-markdown.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/29788'
+      description: |
+        GitLab supports GitLab Flavored Markdown (GFM) in most places throughout
+        GitLab where you enter text, providing the power of rich formatting with
+        a simple syntax. In particular, you can create tables in GFM. Previously,
+        this was painful to use, especially for large tables, since you had to type
+        a lot of characters or paste in a previous table just to format it the way
+        you want. Similarly, GFM also supports URL links. But sometimes you may
+        forget the particular syntax.
+
+        With this release, you can now click on the table button in the GFM editor,
+        and this will automatically insert a table for you. You can then easily
+        enter table values or extend the table, formatting it just the way you want.
+        You can use this in description and comment boxes all throughout GitLab.
+
+        You can now also click on the link button, and this will generate the URL
+        link syntax skeleton for you. Allowing you to quickly paste in a link and
+        write the name of it.
+
+        Thank you [George Tsiolis](https://gitlab.com/gtsiolis) for the table contribution!
+
+        Thank you [Jan Beckmann](https://gitlab.com/kingjan1999) for the URL link contribution!
+
+    - name: "Include new issues created in Burndown Chart"
+      available_in: [starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/milestones/burndown_charts.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/burndown-chart.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/6174'
+      description: |
+        Burndown Charts help teams track work, as it progresses throughout a milestone.
+        Usually, the scope of work is decided and agreed on before the milestone
+        begins. But occasionally, there will be important exceptions to the rule,
+        (such as an emergency bug or security fix) and new scope needs to be included,
+        in the form of new issues.
+
+        With this release, burndown charts now accounts for these
+        new issues that are created in the middle of a milestone, resulting in an
+        uptick of its line.
+
+    - name: "Expanded weight values in issues API"
+      available_in: [starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/issues.html'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/6822'
+      description: |
+        In a previous release, we expanded the allowable values of issue weight
+        from a small number to effectively unlimited, any number greater than zero.
+
+        With this release, we've brought this flexibility to the issues API as well,
+        allowing users to set this field with the newly expanded number range with
+        the API.
+
+    - name: "Lock discussion quick action"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/quick_actions.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/lock-discussion-quick-action.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/39173'
+      description: |
+        Locking discussions in issues and merge requests is helpful to direct conversations
+        to newer issues (or merge requests). It can also be used to control abusive
+        or otherwise unproductive behavior.
+
+        With this release, we now have quick actions to lock and unlock discussions,
+        making it easier to type a comment and lock/unlock all one action.
+
+        Thank you [Mehdi Lahmam](https://gitlab.com/mehlah) for the contribution!
+
+    - name: "Close epics"
+      available_in: [ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/group/epics/'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/close-epics.png'
+      reporter: victorwu
+      team: plan
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7013'
+      description: |
+        Similar to issues and merge requests, you can now close (and re-open) epics
+        in GitLab. The epics list now has the Open, Closed, and All tabs, just like
+        issues. So when you have completed all the work in an epic, or it is no
+        longer relevant, you can close it, and it won't appear anymore in the default
+        list view.
+
+        You can close (and re-open) an epic via buttons on the epic, via quick actions
+        in an epic comment, and also via the API, exactly like issues.
+
+    - name: "Improve Admin Area settings structure"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      gitlab_com: false
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/admin_area/settings/'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/admin-area-settings.png'
+      image_noshadow: true
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: manage
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/44998'
+      description: |
+        Depending on your responsibilities, administrating GitLab can provide
+        a very complex challenge due to all things GitLab offers.
+
+        With this release, we improve the experience of our Admin Area Settings by
+        moving all sections into new, individual Settings sub-pages. This provides
+        admins a time-saving shortcut to access any detail to manage.
+
+    - name: "Explore projects by popularity"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/search/#projects'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/explore-projects-by-stars.png'
+      image_noshadow: true
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: manage
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/47203'
+      description: |
+        At GitLab, we do our best to enable you to explore relevant and cool projects
+        on your GitLab instance.
+        With this release, a new filter "Most stars" provides an incredible useful
+        filter to show projects most starred on your instance.
+
+        Thank you for this contribution, [Jacopo Beschi](https://gitlab.com/jacopo-beschi)!
+
+    - name: "Display code language percentage on project overview"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/#repository-languages'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/repo-code-language-percentage.png'
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: manage
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/51457'
+      description: |
+        We recently introduced a new code language bar on the Project overview page,
+        providing a quick overview about programming languages involved.
+
+        With GitLab 11.4, we introduce an additional absolute measure by showing
+        a new percentage value for each relevant code language shown. This provides
+        a more quantitative view of your project's technology stack.
+
+        Thank you for this contribution, [Johann Hubert Sonntagbauer](https://gitlab.com/johann.sonntagbauer)!
+
+    - name: "Download two-factor recovery codes"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/account/two_factor_authentication.html#recovery-codes'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/2fa-codes-download.png'
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: manage
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/47963'
+      description: |
+        Two-factor authentication is a de facto standard for signing up for any relevant web-based
+        application. At GitLab we understand and take this seriously. Whenever you set up a two-factor
+        authentication initially, we provide limited recovery codes that allow you to regain access
+        to your account as a fallback.
+
+        With this release, we now support download of recovery codes as a text
+        file using the new "Download codes" button.
+
+        Thank you for this contribution, [Luke Picciau](https://gitlab.com/Qwertie)!
+
+    - name: "Filter admin Runners view by Runner type and state"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      gitlab_com: false
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/runners/'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/runner-admin-filter.png'
+      reporter: jlenny
+      team: release
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/36781'
+      description: |
+        The admin runner view now supports the ability to filter
+        by runner type and state, giving you more options to manage
+        especially large fleets of runners in your environment.
+
+    - name: "Add support for interactive web terminal to Docker executor"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      gitlab_com: false
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/interactive_web_terminal/'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/verify-webterm.png'
+      reporter: jlenny
+      team: verify
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/3467'
+      description: |
+        The interactive web terminals feature has been expanded to be
+        compatible with Docker executors as well. For now, the Docker session
+        is closed as soon as the script exits, but we are aiming to further
+        improve this behavior by resolving [#3605](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/3605) in
+        our next release.
+
+    - name: "Skip Auto DevOps jobs based on feature availability"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/autodevops/'
+      reporter: danielgruesso
+      team: configure
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/48399'
+      description: |
+        Starting in 11.4 Auto DevOps will now evaluate the plan (GitLab.com) or tier (self-managed)
+        for the instance in which it's running in order to determine which jobs to skip. This will
+        result in faster Auto DevOps pipeline when certain features are not in use.
+
+        This will not only save you time but will also result in a cleaner view of Auto DevOps pipeline,
+        showing you only the relevant jobs for your project.
+
+    - name: "Allow pipelines to schedule delayed jobs"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/README.html#when-delayed'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/verify-delayedjobruns.png'
+      reporter: jlenny
+      team: verify
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/51352'
+      description: |
+        It is now possible to set a job to start after a delay
+        via the `when` keyword in `.gitlab-ci.yml`. The timer starts
+        ticking when the job would have otherwise started, giving you
+        control to implement tasks that need to wait for a period of time to occur - for
+        example, when implementing timed incremental rollouts, or any
+        other delays needed after performing some other action.
+
+    - name: "Interactive runbooks with Nurtch and JupyterHub"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/clusters/#installing-applications'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/nurtch.png'
+      reporter: danielgruesso
+      team: configure
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/45912'
+      description: |
+        Interactive runbooks provide a powerful way for operators to interact with various systems to carry out
+        common tasks such as diagnosing, deploying, and measuring infrastructure components.
+
+        The JupyterHub app offered via GitLab's Kubernetes integration now ships with Nurtch's
+        [Rubix library](https://github.com/amit1rrr/rubix), providing a simple way to create DevOps
+        runbooks. A sample runbook is provided, showcasing [common operations](https://youtu.be/Q_OqHIIUPjE).
+
+    - name: "Add manual entries for License Management"
+      available_in: [ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/license_management.html#manual-license-management'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/license_management.png'
+      reporter: bikebilly
+      team: secure
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/5940'
+      description: |
+        License Management policy allows developers to define if they want to approve or blacklist
+        a specific license for their project. This can be done as soon as a new license is introduced,
+        directly in the merge request page. But sometimes project maintainers want to populate the
+        list beforehand, so that developers already know if their changes are aligned with the policy.
+
+        In GitLab 11.4, we introduce the ability to add manual entries for License Management. Project
+        maintainers can prefill the policy in the **Settings > CI/CD > License Management** page by
+        choosing from a set of common licenses, or add a custom entry to that list.
+
+    - name: "Alert thresholds now displayed on metrics dashboard"
+      available_in: [ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/integrations/prometheus.html#setting-up-alerts-for-prometheus-metrics'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/alert_threshold.png'
+      reporter: joshlambert
+      team: monitor
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/6036'
+      description: |
+        With GitLab 11.4, configured alert thresholds are now displayed directly on the metrics charts.
+        This allows easier determination of which metrics are currently generating alerts, and better
+        visualization of the interplay of the metric and alert threshold.
+
+    - name: "Git protocol v2"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/git_protocol.html'
+      reporter: jramsay
+      team: create
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/46555'
+      description: |
+        Developers fetch refs many times a day to check if the current branch
+        is behind the remote branch. Git protocol v2 is a major update to Git's
+        [wire protocol](https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/technical/pack-protocol.html)
+        which defines how clones, fetches, and pushes are communicated between
+        the client (your computer) and the server (GitLab). The new wire
+        protocol improves the performance of fetch commands and enables future
+        protocol improvements.
+
+        Previously, all responses to fetch commands included a list of all
+        references in the repository. For example, fetching updates for a
+        single branch (e.g. `git fetch origin master`) would also retrieve a
+        complete list of all references. In the case of large projects, this
+        could be over 100,000 refs and 10s of megabytes of data.
+
+        Git protocol v2 is supported from Git v2.18.0 and is opt-in. To enable
+        globally run `git config --global protocol.version=2`. Git protocol v2
+        over SSH is not yet enabled on GitLab.com and must be enabled manually.
+
+    - name: "Geo UX improvements in Admin Area"
+      available_in: [premium, ultimate]
+      gitlab_com: false
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/geo/replication/configuration.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/geo_admin_area_improvements.png'
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: geo
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7126'
+      description: |
+        As a Geo admin, keeping an overview of your secondary nodes setup and the synchronization
+        state is crucial when working with distributed teams.
+
+        With GitLab 11.4, we improve the Geo-related Admin Area settings by improving and showing even
+        more synchronization and verification details in the user interface. On your primary node, a
+        new button "Open projects" adds a new quick link to navigate to the "Projects" list of the
+        corresponding secondary node.
+        On secondary nodes, a new "All" tab gives you a quick overview about the verification state
+        of all projects.
+
+        [Further UX improvements](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/369) are in our pipeline!
+
+    - name: "Prometheus 2.0 upgrade for Omnibus GitLab"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      gitlab_com: false
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/update/gitlab_11_changes.html#11-4'
+      reporter: joshlambert
+      team: monitor
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/issues/2940'
+      description: |
+        Omnibus GitLab comes out of the box with Prometheus, allowing [easy observability of deployed instances](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/monitoring/prometheus/).
+        The Prometheus team has released a major new version, the 2.x series, which offers a
+        [number of improvements](https://prometheus.io/blog/2017/11/08/announcing-prometheus-2-0/).
+        These include improved performance and a more efficient time-series database format. Unfortunately
+        because of the architectural changes to the database, it is not backwards compatible with the old 1.x format.
+
+        With GitLab 11.4, Prometheus 2.4.2 is now available in the Omnibus package so users can take advantage of its benefits.
+
+        - New installations of 11.4 and above will start with Prometheus 2.
+        - Existing installations will not be automatically upgraded. We have added a new command, `gitlab-ctl prometheus-upgrade`, which can
+        be utilized to [upgrade Prometheus and optionally migrate data](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/update/gitlab_11_changes.html#11-4). Prometheus will be stopped during data migration.
+        - GitLab 12.0 will [automatically upgrade to Prometheus 2.0](#deprecations). With the automatic upgrade, Prometheus 1.0 data will not be migrated.
+
+        For more information on upgrading Prometheus to 2.4.2, please review our [update documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/update/gitlab_11_changes.html#11-4).
+
+    - name: "Geo improvements"
+      available_in: [premium, ultimate]
+      gitlab_com: false
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/geo/replication/configuration.html'
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      issueboard_url: 'https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/boards/796982?scope=all&utf8=✓&state=opened&label_name[]=Geo&milestone_title=11.4'
+      description: |
+        We continually focus on improving our [Geo](/features/gitlab-geo/) feature for distributed teams. Some of the additional noteworthy improvements in GitLab 11.4 include:
+
+        - [Major performance improvements](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=✓&state=closed&label_name%5B%5D=Geo%20Performance&milestone_title=11.4)
+        - [Include keep-around references in checksum calculation](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/5196)
+        - [Migrating uploads to object storage does no longer leave behind local files](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7108)
+        - [Primary node repository verification now always gives the correct checksum](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7213)
+        - [Reliable Sidekiq queueing ensures data integrity](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7279)
+
+        Read our fresh blog post on [how we built GitLab Geo](/2018/09/14/how-we-built-gitlab-geo/).
+
+    - name: "Geo improvements for SSH Git commands proxy to primary node"
+      available_in: [premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/geo/replication/configuration.html'
+      image_url: '/images/11_4/geo_ssh_proxy_improvements.png'
+      reporter: akaemmerle
+      team: geo
+      issue_url: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7541'
+      description: |
+        Making Geo as easy to use as possible is one of our constant goals to support widely distributed
+        teams using GitLab. In [11.3](https://about.gitlab.com/2018/09/22/gitlab-11-3-released/#geo-improvements)
+        we added initial support for proxying SSH `git push` from secondary nodes to primary nodes.
+
+        With this release, we further improve the performance and usability of this feature, allowing
+        to clone and push to projects in a Geo scenario without having to maintain multiple configurations or update the remote URL manually.
+
+    - name: "GitLab Runner 11.4"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/runner'
+      documentation_text: "Read through the documentation of GitLab Runner"
+      description: |
+        We're also releasing GitLab Runner 11.4 today! GitLab Runner is the open source project
+        that is used to run your CI/CD jobs and send the results back to GitLab.
+
+        #### Most interesting changes:
+
+        - [Support JSON logging](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/1020)
+        - [Add docker support for interactive web terminal](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/1008)
+        - [Add support docker machine web terminal support](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/1046)
+        - [Allow disabling docker entrypoint overwrite](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/965)
+        - [Add metrics with concurrent and limit values](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/1019)
+        - [Add a gitlab_runner_jobs_total metric](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/1018)
+        - [Add a job duration histogram metric](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/1025)
+        - [Fix command and args assignment when creating containers with K8S executor](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/merge_requests/1010)
+
+        List of all changes can be found in GitLab Runner's [CHANGELOG](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/blob/v11.4.0/CHANGELOG.md).
+
+# Omnibus and performance
+
+    - name: "Omnibus improvements"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      gitlab_com: false
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/'
+      reporter: joshlambert
+      team: distribution
+      description: |
+        - `redis` has been updated to 3.2.12, which is a critical security update that fixes multiple vulnerabilities. After upgrading to 11.4, run `gitlab-ctl restart redis` to ensure the new version is running.
+        - GitLab 11.4 includes [Mattermost 5.3](https://mattermost.com/blog/mattermost-5-3-enhanced-search-on-desktop-and-mobile-plugin-hackathon-highlights-and-more/),
+        an [open source Slack-alternative](https://mattermost.com/) whose newest release includes enhanced search on desktop and mobile, plus much more.
+        It includes [security updates](https://about.mattermost.com/security-updates/) and upgrading is recommended.
+        - `git` has been updated to 2.18.1, and `libpng` to 1.6.35.
+        - `gnupg` has been updated to 2.2.10, `gpgme` to 1.10.0, `libgcrypt` to 1.8.3, `npth` to 1.6, `libgpg-error` to 1.32, and `libassuan` to 2.5.1.
+        - Certificates in the `trusted_certs` directory are now set to `0644` permissions instead of `0755`.
+
+    - name: "Performance improvements"
+      available_in: [core, starter, premium, ultimate]
+      performance_url: 'https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/merge_requests?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=merged&label_name%5B%5D=performance&milestone_title=11.4' # Link to the merged MRs in the corresponding milestone
+      reporter: multiple
+      team: multiple
+      description: |
+        Some of the more noteworthy performance improvements in GitLab 11.4 include:
+
+        - [Rendering Markdown with many label references is faster](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/48221)
+        - [Issue discussions with many cross-project commit references are faster](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/43094)
+        - [Fetching related branches for an issue runs fewer queries](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/43097)
+        - [Fetching environments for a merge request runs fewer queries](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/43109)
+        - [Computing recipients for notification emails runs fewer queries](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/47496)
+        - [Creating a new diff discussion on a merge request is faster](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/49002)
+        - [Fetching "Last commit" info in tree view makes fewer Gitaly calls](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/37433)
+        - [Loading merge request is faster after removing dead code](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/51172)
+
+# MVP
+mvp:
+  fullname: "Luke Picciau"
+  gitlab: Qwertie
+  description: |
+    Luke added the ability to
+    [download 2FA recovery codes as a file](#download-two-factor-recovery-codes),
+    making them easier to backup. 2FA recovery codes are needed to access your
+    GitLab account if you lose access to your phone or one time password
+    secret.
+
+    Thank you, Luke for your contribution!
+
+# COVER IMAGE LICENCE
+cover_img:
+  image_url: 'https://unsplash.com/photos/vn58Tq0L-bc'
+  licence: Unsplash
+  licence_url: 'https://unsplash.com/license'
+
+# CTA BUTTONS
+cta:
+  - title: "Join us for an upcoming event"
+    link: '/events/'
+  - title: "Sign up for the 11.4 Release Radar webcast"
+    link: '/webcast/monthly-release/gitlab-11.4---collaboration/'
+
+# UPGRADE BAROMETER
+barometer:
+  reporter: release-man
+  description: |
+    To upgrade to GitLab 11.4 from the latest 11.3 version, no downtime is required. To upgrade
+    without downtime, please consult the [documentation on downtimeless upgrades](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/update/README.html#upgrading-without-downtime).
+
+    For this release we have migrations, post-deploy migrations, and to help with the larger
+    migrations we have introduced background migrations.
+
+    GitLab.com migrations took approximately 34 minutes and post-deploy migrations amounted for a
+    total of around two minutes.
+
+    GitLab Geo users, please consult the documentation on [upgrading Geo](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/geo/replication/updating_the_geo_nodes.html).
+
+    To ease setup, [Omniauth is now enabled by default](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/integration/omniauth.html).
+    As no external providers are automatically configured, this shouldn't affect
+    most installations. However, if you have previously configured an external
+    provider **without** enabling omniauth, it will be activated when upgrading
+    to 11.4. To prevent this from happening, you can either remove the provider
+    from your configuration, or [explicitly disable Omniauth](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/integration/omniauth.html#disabling-omniauth).
+
+# DEPRECATIONS
+deprecations:
+  - feature_name: "Support for Docker versions in GitLab Runner"
+    due: October 22, 2018
+    reporter: jlenny
+    description: |
+      With GitLab 11.4 (October 22, 2018), support for Docker versions before 1.12 (API version 1.24) have been be deprecated in line with
+      Docker's latest [version recommendation guidance](https://docs.docker.com/develop/sdk/#api-version-matrix). Beyond
+      the 11.4 release these older versions are no longer be officially supported and could stop working at any time.
+  - feature_name: "Support for Prometheus 1.x in Omnibus GitLab"
+    due: GitLab 12.0
+    reporter: joshlambert
+    description: |
+      With GitLab 11.4 (October 22, 2018) the bundled Prometheus 1.0 version is deprecated in Omnibus GitLab. Prometheus 2.0 is [now included](#prometheus-20-upgrade-for-omnibus-gitlab),
+      however the metrics format is incompatible with 1.0. Existing installations can upgrade to 2.0 and optionally migrate their data [using an included tool](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/update/gitlab_11_changes.html#11-4).
+
+      With GitLab 12.0 any installation not yet running Prometheus 2.0 will be automatically upgraded. Metric data from Prometheus 1.0 will not be migrated, and will be lost.