version bump and rel notes for 7.4.0 release

[rashmichandrashekar (rashmichandrashekar)]

PR Description

Version bump and release notes for the 7.4.0 release.

Version

otelcollector/VERSION: 7.3.0 -> 7.4.0.

Release notes

Adds ## Release 09-11-2026 and covers every commit merged to main after #1670 (520fbb13). All 27 first-parent commits in the range are accounted for exactly once (21 AKS/Arc, 6 Pipeline/Docs/Templates). All dependency (build(deps)) updates are listed under AKS and Arc Container Images regardless of which module they touch..

AKS and Arc Container Images

• build(deps): bump github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4 from 4.26.6 to 4.26.7 in /otelcollector/fluent-bit/src (build(deps): bump github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4 from 4.26.6 to 4.26.7 in /otelcollector/fluent-bit/src #1674)
• build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk from 1.44.0 to 1.45.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang (build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk from 1.44.0 to 1.45.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang #1673)
• build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric from 1.44.0 to 1.45.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang (build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric from 1.44.0 to 1.45.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang #1672)
• feat: support azureMonitorProfile.metrics.controlPlane.enabled in onboarding templates (ARM/Bicep/Terraform/Policy) (feat: support azureMonitorProfile.metrics.controlPlane.enabled in onboarding templates (ARM/Bicep/Terraform/Policy) #1590)
• build(deps): Upgrade otelcollector to v0.158.0 (build(deps): Upgrade otelcollector to v0.158.0 #1685)
• build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlpmetric/otlpmetricgrpc from 1.42.0 to 1.46.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang (build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlpmetric/otlpmetricgrpc from 1.42.0 to 1.46.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang #1700)
• build(deps): bump brace-expansion from 1.1.11 to 1.1.18 in /tools/az-prom-rules-converter (build(deps): bump brace-expansion from 1.1.11 to 1.1.18 in /tools/az-prom-rules-converter #1693)
• build(deps): bump github.com/gorilla/websocket from 1.5.0 to 1.5.3 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/utils (build(deps): bump github.com/gorilla/websocket from 1.5.0 to 1.5.3 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/utils #1691)
• fix: correct minimal ingestion profile keep-list for recommended alerts and docs (fix: correct minimal ingestion profile keep-list for recommended alerts and docs #1659)
• build(deps): Upgrade kube-state-metrics from v2.19.1-2 to v2.20.0-4 (build(deps): Upgrade kube-state-metrics from v2.19.1-2 to v2.20.0-4 #1706)
• build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.82.1 to 1.83.1 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/prometheusui (build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.82.1 to 1.83.1 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/prometheusui #1702)
• build(deps): bump k8s.io/client-go from 0.36.3 to 0.37.0 in /otelcollector/fluent-bit/src (build(deps): bump k8s.io/client-go from 0.36.3 to 0.37.0 in /otelcollector/fluent-bit/src #1709)
• build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.1 to 1.83.2 in /internal/referenceapp/golang (build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.1 to 1.83.2 in /internal/referenceapp/golang #1708)
• build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.82.1 to 1.83.1 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/configprocessing (build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.82.1 to 1.83.1 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/configprocessing #1712)
• build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.1 to 1.83.2 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/configprocessing (build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.1 to 1.83.2 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/configprocessing #1724)
• build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.1 to 1.83.2 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/prometheusui (build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.1 to 1.83.2 in /otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/prometheusui #1723)
• build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.0 to 1.83.2 in /otelcollector/prom-config-validator-builder (build(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.83.0 to 1.83.2 in /otelcollector/prom-config-validator-builder #1722)
• build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlpmetric/otlpmetrichttp from 1.40.0 to 1.46.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang (build(deps): bump go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlpmetric/otlpmetrichttp from 1.40.0 to 1.46.0 in /internal/referenceapp/golang #1715)
• build(deps): bump github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4 from 4.26.7 to 4.26.8 in /otelcollector/fluent-bit/src (build(deps): bump github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4 from 4.26.7 to 4.26.8 in /otelcollector/fluent-bit/src #1714)
• [Generated by SRE Agent] fix: restrict unauthenticated Target Allocator port 80 exposure (MSRC 122861) ([Generated by SRE Agent] fix: restrict unauthenticated Target Allocator port 80 exposure (MSRC 122861) #1687)
• Set environment variables directly instead of via a shell (Set environment variables directly instead of via a shell #1690)

Pipeline/Docs/Templates Updates

• Update azure-pipeline-arc-extension-managed-ev2-sdp.yml for Azure Pipelines (Update azure-pipeline-arc-extension-managed-ev2-sdp.yml for Azure Pipelines #1669)
• Add all couds to the ev2 pipelines (Add all couds to the ev2 pipelines #1676)
• Update remote write release notes for prom-remotewrite-20260813.1 (Update remote write release notes for prom-remotewrite-20260813.1 #1679)
• test: Send TestKube notifications via Azure Logic App webhook (test: Send TestKube notifications via Azure Logic App webhook #1641)
• Add USNat and USSec to ev2 rollout (Add USNat and USSec to ev2 rollout #1689)
• Update remote write release notes for prom-remotewrite-20260825.2 (Update remote write release notes for prom-remotewrite-20260825.2 #1695)

Skill update

Also updates .github/skills/create-release-version-pr/SKILL.md so Phase 4 classifies all dependency updates (build(deps): / build(deps-dev):) under AKS and Arc Container Images, regardless of which module or directory they touch — including otelcollector/test/ginkgo-e2e/*, internal/referenceapp/*, and tools/az-prom-rules-converter. Previously these were split across both sections based on whether the module shipped in an image.

Follow-up

Image tags intentionally use <TBD>. After this PR merges and the build produces 7.4.0-main-09-11-2026-<hash>, update the release notes with the actual hash.

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[rashmichandrashekar (rashmichandrashekar)]

/azp run

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