docs: announcement for release 1.30.0rc1 (#449)

Signed-off-by: Gabriele Bartolini <gabriele.bartolini@enterprisedb.com>
Signed-off-by: Marco Nenciarini <marco.nenciarini@enterprisedb.com>
Co-authored-by: Marco Nenciarini <marco.nenciarini@enterprisedb.com>

Author: gbartolini

README.md

@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ docker run --rm \
   -v "$(pwd)":/src \
   --entrypoint sh \
   hugomods/hugo:debian-reg-dart-sass-node-git-0.161.1 \
-  -c "npm install && npm run dev -- --bind 0.0.0.0 -p 8080"
+  -c "npm install && npm run dev -- --bind 0.0.0.0 -p 8080 -F"
 ```
 
 The site will then be available at <http://localhost:8080>.

content/releases/cloudnative-pg-1-30.0-rc1-released/58364dde1adc4a0a8.37186404-2048x1445.jpg

@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+---
+title: "CloudNativePG 1.30.0 RC1 Released!"
+date: 2026-06-19
+draft: false
+authors:
+ - gbartolini
+image:
+    url: 58364dde1adc4a0a8.37186404-2048x1445.jpg
+    attribution: from <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/58364dde1a/">Saurabh</a>
+tags:
+ - release
+ - postgresql
+ - postgres
+ - kubernetes
+ - k8s
+ - cloudnativepg
+ - preview
+ - cnpg
+ - DatabaseRole
+ - primaryLease
+ - high-availability
+ - security
+ - GitOps
+ - PgBouncer
+ - ImageCatalogs
+summary: "The CloudNativePG community is excited to announce the first release candidate of CloudNativePG 1.30! This preview introduces the DatabaseRole CRD for declarative, GitOps-friendly role management and a Lease-based primary election primitive for safer failover. Join us in testing these updates to shape the final release."
+---
+
+The CloudNativePG Community is thrilled to announce the first release candidate
+of CloudNativePG 1.30! This preview release provides an opportunity to explore
+new features and enhancements before the final version is officially launched.
+While refinements may still occur, here's a look at what's new.
+
+## Key Features
+
+### DatabaseRole CRD for declarative role management
+
+The headline addition in 1.30 is the new
+[`DatabaseRole`](https://cloudnative-pg.io/docs/preview/declarative_role_management/#the-databaserole-resource)
+custom resource, which manages a PostgreSQL role as a standalone Kubernetes
+object rather than inline in the `Cluster`'s `.spec.managed.roles` stanza. Each
+role now has its own lifecycle, status and RBAC, which suits GitOps workflows
+and lets role definitions live next to the applications that own them. Migrating
+an existing role is simply a matter of moving its stanza into a dedicated
+manifest.
+
+A `DatabaseRole` can also include a `clientCertificate` block, having the
+operator automatically generate and renew a TLS client certificate signed by
+the cluster's client CA and stored in a `<databaserole-name>-client-cert`
+Secret. This enables password-free PostgreSQL `cert` authentication, with the
+Secret cleaned up automatically when the feature is disabled or the resource is
+deleted.
+
+### Primary Lease for safe primary election
+
+CloudNativePG 1.30 introduces a Kubernetes `Lease` object, named after the
+cluster, that acts as a mutex serializing primary promotion. The instance
+manager must hold the lease before acting as primary and releases it on clean
+shutdown, so replicas can promote without waiting for the full TTL. Timings are
+configurable through the new
+[`.spec.primaryLease`](https://cloudnative-pg.io/docs/preview/failover/#tuning-the-primary-lease)
+stanza.
+
+To be precise about the architecture: the lease is a promotion gate, not a
+fence. Primary isolation remains responsible for fencing — the Lease simply
+closes the window for an uncoordinated promotion during transitions.
+
+## There's More…
+
+Explore other improvements in this release, including:
+
+- **In-place major upgrades with Image Volume extensions** — `pg_upgrade`
+  in-place upgrades are now supported for clusters using Image Volume
+  extensions, mounting the source- and target-version extension images side by
+  side so a failed upgrade reverts cleanly.
+- **PgBouncer image management via Image Catalogs** — the `Pooler` can now
+  reference an `ImageCatalog` or `ClusterImageCatalog` entry through
+  `spec.pgbouncer.imageCatalogRef`, with referencing `Poolers` automatically
+  reconciled and rolled out when a catalog entry changes.
+- **TLS for the Pooler metrics endpoint** via `.spec.monitoring.tls.enabled`,
+  with hot certificate reloading on every handshake.
+- **Cluster as a VPA/HPA target** through a new `status.selector` on the scale
+  subresource, mapping a `Cluster` to its instance pods.
+
+This release also adds support for Kubernetes 1.36 and updates the default
+PostgreSQL version to 18.4.
+
+> **Heads-up on an API change:** the `cluster` reference is now immutable on the
+> `Database`, `Pooler`, `Publication`, `Subscription` and `ScheduledBackup`
+> resources. Re-pointing one of these at a different cluster is now rejected by a
+> CEL validation rule at the API server, as it had no well-defined semantics.
+
+Dive into the full details in the
+[release notes for 1.30 RC1](https://cloudnative-pg.io/docs/preview/release_notes/v1.30/).
+
+## Testing
+
+The stability of each CloudNativePG release relies on the community's
+engagement. Testing your workloads with this release candidate helps identify
+bugs and regressions early.
+
+- View the [open issues for the 1.30 release](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/milestones).
+- Report bugs directly on [GitHub](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/issues/new/choose).
+
+## Release Timeline
+
+This is the first release candidate for CloudNativePG 1.30. Further candidates
+will be released only as necessary before the final launch, currently planned
+before the end of June.
+
+## Join the Community
+
+[Connect with our community on your preferred platform](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg#getting-in-touch)!
+
+Thank you for your continued support of CloudNativePG. Your contributions help
+us advance the Kubernetes-native PostgreSQL experience.