docs: add proposal for Node Bootstrapping working group

Co-authored-by: Johanan Liebermann <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Thilo Fromm <[email protected]>

docs/community/20241112-node-bootstrapping.md

@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+---
+title: ClusterAPI Node Bootstrapping Working Group
+authors:
+    - "@t-lo"
+reviewers:
+    - "@elmiko"
+    - "@eljohnson92"
+    - "@johananl"
+    - "@tormath1"
+    - "@fabriziopandini"
+    - "@sbueringer"
+
+creation-date: 2024-11-12
+last-updated: 2024-11-15
+status: proposed
+see-also:
+  - https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/issues/5294
+  - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fz5vWwhWA-d25_QDqep0LWF6ae0DnTqd5-8k8N0vDDM/edit
+  - https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/issues/9157
+  - https://youtu.be/0AhA4Box3MM?si=IfKJfMWmlA9EW7ri&t=172
+---
+
+# Node Bootstrapping Working Group ("CAPI-NoBo")
+
+This document briefly outlines the scope, communication media, and
+stakeholders for a Working Group dedicated to the Provisioning aspect of
+Node Bootstrapping.
+
+Provisioning, in this context, refers to configuring and customising the
+node operating system to prepare it to serve as a ClusterAPI cluster node.
+
+
+## User Story and Problem Statement
+
+As a Linux Distribution maintainer aiming to support ClusterAPI, or to improve
+my existing support of ClusterAPI in my distribution, I would like to be able to
+cleanly integrate my contributions into the node bootstrapping process without
+interfering with other implementations.
+I would like my contributions to be as re-usable as possible across different
+bootstrap providers.
+I would like to read and to follow documentation, guidelines, and specifications
+on the above.
+I would like to offer a choice of node bootstrapping configuration systems to users,
+enable distribution vendors to extend the choces available by adding new
+configuration systems, and ease maintenance and enable extension of currently
+supported systems for the ClusterAPI developer community.
+
+
+**Problem statement / Example issues**
+
+Currently, the kubeadm bootstrap provider implements two provisioning systems:
+cloud-init and ignition.
+As there is currently no abstract way to pass configuration to  node bootstrapping,
+both configuration system implementations - ignition and cloud-init - must cover
+generic configuration as well as config language specific concerns.
+This leads to duplicate code and to maintenance overhead.
+Also, other providers like e.g. MicroK8s must implement their own OS configuration
+generators since kubeadm's node bootstrapping implementations cannot be re-used.
+MicroK8s currently only supports cloud-init.
+
+Outside of ClusterAPI, both [cloud-init](https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init)
+and [ignition](https://github.com/coreos/ignition) provisioning are widely adopted
+across distributions.
+While cloud-init is used by general-purpose Linux distributions like Ubuntu/Debian,
+SUSE Linux, Alma, Rocky, Fedora, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, ignition is popular
+with special-purpose distributions like Fedora CoreOS / Red Hat CoreOS, SuSE MicroOS
+/ SLE Micro / Kalpa, and Flatcar Container Linux.
+It is likely that more provisioning systems exist; a clean separation between bootstrap and provisioning
+and guidelines on how each is developed will make it easier to add support to ClusterAPI as well as to
+share implementations across bootstrap providers.
+
+
+**Compatibility and API guarantees**
+
+ClusterAPI has been stable for multiple years and is in widespread production use.
+Proposals and implementations of this working group must ensure to not excert operational
+risk on existing integrations.
+Any changes in the kubeadm bootstrap provider in particular must uphold guarantees and
+expectations set by the current implementation and must continue to support current use
+cases OR must provide means for current use cases to continue functioning for an appropriate
+migration period, as well as define a clear path for migration.
+
+## Scope
+
+1. Propose architectural improvements that abstract system configuration with the goal of
+   reducing duplicate functionality in current implementations, easing development of new configuration
+   features, and simplifying integration of new configuration systems for node bootstrapping.
+2. Deliver an example implementation in the kubeadm bootstrap provider.
+3. Approach other bootstrap providers and provide help and guidance for separating provisioning
+   and re-using provisioning implementations.
+
+## Communication
+
+THe WG will work asynchronously, coordinated via the ClusterAPI Slack (see below), and collaborating
+on documents and PRs. We will join the [regular ClusterAPI meetings](https://github.com/flatcar-hub/cluster-api?tab=readme-ov-file#-community-discussion-contribution-and-support)
+and share summary updates on our work and our progress in the "Feature Groups" section, which is a regular part of
+the ClusterAPI meetings.
+
+Chat with stakeholders on Kubernetes [Slack](http://slack.k8s.io/) in the
+[cluster-api](https://kubernetes.slack.com/archives/C8TSNPY4T) channel.
+
+## Stakeholders
+
+Primary Stakeholders are listed below:
+
+- The Flatcar Container Linux project
+  - Johanan Liebermann (@johananl, Microsoft)
+  - Mathieu Tortuyaux (@tormath1, Microsoft)
+  - Thilo Fromm (@t-lo, Microsoft)
+- Michael McCune (@elmiko, Red Hat)
+- Evan Johnson, (@eljohnson92, Akamai)