For 1.9. release (#1694)

* Remove some documentation related to the 1.9.0 pre-release repo structure.

* Fix some outdated copypasta in docs.

* First draft of release notes in whats_new.rst

* First draft of release notes in whats_new.rst

.github/workflows/main.yml

@@ -15,9 +15,7 @@ on:
 
 env:
   DOCKER_USER: gadockersvc
-  DOCKER_IMAGE: opendatacube/datacube-tests:latest1.9
-  # NB Restore standard image name when merge into develop
-  # DOCKER_IMAGE: opendatacube/datacube-tests:latest
+  DOCKER_IMAGE: opendatacube/datacube-tests:latest
 
 
 jobs:

docs/about/whats_new.rst

@@ -8,10 +8,44 @@ What's New
 v1.9.next
 =========
 
+v1.9.0 (23rd December 2024)
+===========================
+
+1.9.0 is first major release of the Open Data Cube in several years.  The focus has been on retiring technical
+debt and unused features and preparing for major architectural changes in subsequent releases.
+
+As there are some backwards incompatibilities in this release, we recommend that you read the migration notes
+at ``docs/installation/MIGRATION-1.8-to-1.9`` before upgrading.
+
+Major changes from recent 1.8.x releases include:
+
+- A new index driver that uses PostGIS spatial indexes to provide faster and more accurate geospatial search
+  and provide better support for storing data that covers regions where traditional lat/long seach is
+  inadequate (i.e. covering polar regions or crossing the anti-meridian).
+
+  The new postgis index driver implements a new API for working with dataset lineage, and only supports
+  a single location per dataset. It is otherwise largely backwards compatible with the legacy postgres index driver.
+
+  The legacy "postgres" index driver is still available, but will be removed in a future release.
+- A new configuration layer that provides more predictable and consistent behaviour and will be easier to
+  extend in future.
+
+  Given the nature and scope of the changes, the new configuration layer is not fully backwards compatible
+  with the old implementation, but the vast majority of use cases should only require minor adjustments
+  to existing configuration and code at most.
+- The old ``datacube.utils.geometry`` library is now deprecated.  ``odc-geo`` is used internally throughout,
+  and we recommend updating all your code to use odc-geo rather than the deprecated internal library.
+- The long-deprecated executor and ingestion workflows have been removed.
+
+
+Changes since 1.9.0-rc13
+------------------------
+
 - API autodocs cleanup (:pull:`1688`)
 - Further metadata fix for new lineage API (:pull:`1690`)
 - Update release process ready for post-1.9.0 release (:pull:`1691`)
 - Removed all references to the postgis driver as "experimental" in tests and documentation (:pull:`1693`)
+- Update whats_new.rst etc. for 1.9.0 release (:pull:`1694`)
 
 v1.9.0-rc13 (16th December 2024)
 ===============================

docs/installation/extending-odc.rst

@@ -164,12 +164,9 @@ Index Plug-ins
     `datacube.plugins.index <https://github.com/opendatacube/datacube-core/blob/9c0ea8923fa5d29dc2a813141ad64daea74c4902/setup.py#L112>`__
 
 A connection to an ``Index`` is required to find data in the Data Cube.
-Already implemented in the ``develop`` branch was the concept of
-``environments`` which are a named set of configuration parameters used
-to connect to an ``Index``. This PR extends this with an
-``index_driver`` parameter, which specifies the name of the Index Driver
-to use. If this parameter is missing, it falls back to using the default
-PostgreSQL Index.
+
+ODC Configuration environments have an ``index_driver`` parameter, which specifies the name of the Index Driver
+to use. See :doc:`database/configuration`.
 
 A set of abstract base classes are defined in :py:mod:`datacube.index.abstract`. An index plugin
 is expected to supply implementations of all these abstract base classes. If any abstract