Readme update and go version update (#3292)

Author: jaydeokar

.github/workflows/integration-tests.yaml

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Set up tools
         run: |
           # Install ginkgo version from go.mod

.github/workflows/kops-test.yaml

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Set up tools
         run: |
           # Install ginkgo version from go.mod

.github/workflows/nightly-cron-tests.yaml

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Set up tools
         run: |
           # Install ginkgo version from go.mod

.github/workflows/pr-automated-tests.yaml

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Set up tools
         run: |
           go install golang.org/x/lint/golint@latest
@@ -51,8 +51,22 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Build CNI images
         run: make multi-arch-cni-build
+  docker-build-init:
+    name: Build Docker init images
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout latest commit in the PR
+        uses: actions/checkout@692973e3d937129bcbf40652eb9f2f61becf3332 # refs/tags/v4.1.7
+      - name: Set up QEMU
+        uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@68827325e0b33c7199eb31dd4e31fbe9023e06e3 # refs/tags/v3.0.0
+      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@d70bba72b1f3fd22344832f00baa16ece964efeb # refs/tags/v3.3.0
+      - name: Set up Go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
+        with:
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Build CNI Init images
         run: make multi-arch-cni-init-build

.github/workflows/pr-manual-tests.yaml

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Set up tools
         run: |
           # Install ginkgo version from go.mod

.github/workflows/release.yaml

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Generate CNI YAML
         run: make generate-cni-yaml
       - name: Create eks-charts PR

.github/workflows/weekly-cron-tests.yaml

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@cdcb36043654635271a94b9a6d1392de5bb323a7 # refs/tags/v5.0.1
         with:
-          go-version: "1.22"
+          go-version: "1.24"
       - name: Set up tools
         run: |
           # Install ginkgo version from go.mod

README.md

@@ -68,9 +68,9 @@ For help, please consider the following venues (in order):
 For all Kubernetes releases, *we recommend installing the latest VPC CNI release*. The following table denotes our *oldest* recommended
 VPC CNI version for each actively supported Kubernetes release.
 
-| Kubernetes Release | 1.31     | 1.30     | 1.29     | 1.28     | 1.27     | 1.26     | 1.25     | 1.24    |
-| ------------------ | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | ------- |
-| VPC CNI Version    | v1.16.4+ | v1.16.0+ | v1.14.1+ | v1.13.4+ | v1.12.5+ | v1.12.0+ | v1.11.4+ | v1.9.3+ |
+| Kubernetes Release | 1.31     | 1.30     | 1.29     | 1.28     | 1.27     | 1.26     |
+| ------------------ | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | -------- |
+| VPC CNI Version    | v1.16.4+ | v1.16.0+ | v1.14.1+ | v1.13.4+ | v1.12.5+ | v1.12.0+ |
 
 ## Version Upgrade
 
@@ -754,7 +754,7 @@ Type: Boolean as a String
 
 Default: `false`
 
-Setting `ENABLE_IMDS_ONLY_MODE` to `true` enables the CNI plugin to operate in environments with strict VPC or IAM restrictions where EC2 API access is limited or unavailable. In this mode, the CNI plugin relies solely on the Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) to retrieve information about ENIs (Elastic Network Interfaces) and determine IP addresses to assign. 
+Setting `ENABLE_IMDS_ONLY_MODE` to `true` enables the CNI plugin to operate in environments with strict VPC or IAM restrictions where EC2 API access is limited or unavailable. In this mode, the CNI plugin relies solely on the Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) to retrieve information about ENIs (Elastic Network Interfaces) and determine IP addresses to assign. These ENIs are only discovered at startup, so ENIs and IPs must be pre-attached and pre-assigned before CNI plugin starts up.
 Enabling this mode automatically sets `DISABLE_NETWORK_RESOURCE_PROVISIONING` and `DISABLE_LEAKED_ENI_CLEANUP` to `true`, as the CNI plugin will not make any EC2 API calls during operation.
 
 ### VPC CNI Feature Matrix