krel includes PR with release-note-none when a release notes map file exists #4456

Description

While generating release notes for the v1.37.0-alpha.2 release, krel included kubernetes/kubernetes#137290 in the generated release notes even though the PR was intended to be excluded via release-note-none.

What happened

PR #137290 was included in the generated release notes .md file despite being marked as release-note-none.

After investigation, we found that the PR had a manually added release notes map file. It appears that if a release notes map file exists, krel includes the PR in the generated release notes regardless of the release-note-none marker.

Removing the map file causes the PR to be excluded in subsequent release note generation runs.

Expected behavior

If a PR is marked with release-note-none, it should not appear in the generated release notes, even if a release notes map file exists.

If the current behavior is intentional, it would be helpful to document this interaction clearly.

Additional context

While debugging, we also considered whether krel was matching release note content elsewhere in the PR body (for example, Go code blocks or other release-note-like text). However, the primary observation is that the presence of a release notes map file appears to override the release-note-none exclusion.

It would be helpful to clarify whether this precedence is intentional or whether release-note-none should always take priority.

Reproduction

1. Create or use a PR marked with release-note-none.
2. Add a release notes map file for that PR.
3. Run krel release note generation.
4. Observe that the PR is included in the generated release notes.
5. Remove the map file and rerun the generation.
6. Observe that the PR is no longer included.

References

• Release: v1.37.0-alpha.2
• PR: fix: [sig-scheduling] deferred slice not capturing pod updates in cleanup kubernetes#137290