For core K8s API objects like Pods, Nodes, etc., we
can use protobuf encoding which reduces CPU consumption
related to (de)serialization, reduces overall latency
of the API call, reduces memory footprint, reduces the
amount of work performed by the GC and results in quicker
propagation of objects to event handlers of shared informers.

Signed-off-by: Nikhil-Ladha <[email protected]>

Syncing latest changes from upstream main for kubernetes-csi-addons

Bumps the github-dependencies group in /tools with 1 update: [github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk](https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk).


Updates `github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk` from 1.36.1 to 1.37.0
- [Release notes](https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/releases)
- [Changelog](https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/blob/master/.goreleaser.yml)
- [Commits](operator-framework/operator-sdk@v1.36.1...v1.37.0)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-minor
  dependency-group: github-dependencies
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>

Bumps the golang-dependencies group with 1 update: [google.golang.org/grpc](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-go).


Updates `google.golang.org/grpc` from 1.66.2 to 1.67.0
- [Release notes](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-go/releases)
- [Commits](grpc/grpc-go@v1.66.2...v1.67.0)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: google.golang.org/grpc
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-minor
  dependency-group: golang-dependencies
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <[email protected]>

`pvc.Spec.StorageClassName` is a string pointer and can be nil or empty.
This commit adds check for both nil and empty.

Signed-off-by: Rakshith R <[email protected]>

instead of defining own go version
in test files we can use go.mod to setup
the required version.

Signed-off-by: Madhu Rajanna <[email protected]>

we dont have downstream golang with version
1.22.6 and csi-addons needs 1.22.6 to build
for that reason we can use the toolchain to
enforce the soft dependency.

Signed-off-by: Madhu Rajanna <[email protected]>

Syncing latest changes from upstream main for kubernetes-csi-addons

kubernetes allows us to create pod with '.' in between, we should
not limit parsing such endpoints

Signed-off-by: Rewant Soni <[email protected]>

Syncing latest changes from upstream main for kubernetes-csi-addons