docs: Create BREAKING_CHANGE_AND_DEPRECATION.md

BREAKING_CHANGE_AND_DEPRECATION.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Breaking changes and deprecations
+
+Breaking changes are defined as a change to any of the following that causes installation errors or 
+unexpected runtime behavior after upgrading to the next stable minor version of Ratify:
+- Verification API
+- Verification result and schema
+- Default configuration value
+- User facing plugin interfaces
+
+## Stability levels
+- Generally available features should not be removed from that version or have its behavior significantly changed to avoid breaking existing users.
+- Beta or pre-release versions may introduce breaking changes without deprecation notice.
+- Alpha or experimental API versions may change in runtime behaviour without prior change and deprecation notice.
+
+The following features are currently in experimental:
+- [Dynamic plugin](https://ratify.dev/docs/reference/dynamic-plugins)
+- [High Availability](https://ratify.dev/docs/quickstarts/ratify-high-availability)
+
+## Process for applying breaking changes
+- A deprecation notice must be posted as part of a release.
+- The PR containing the breaking changes should contain a "!" to indicate this is breaking change. E.g. feat! , fix!
+- Breaking changes should be listed before new features in the release notes
+- Create a issue to help customer to mitigate the change
+
+## Deprecations
+Deprecations can apply to:
+ - CRDs
+ - Experimental Features
+ - Plugins
+ - User facing Interfaces
+ - Configuration Values
+ - Cli Usage and Configuration
+ - Verification Schema
+
+## Process for deprecation
+
+ - A deprecation notice must be posted as part of the release notes.
+ - Documentation should mark the feature as deprecated and redirect user to the alternative implementation.
+
+## Attribution
+
+The specification release process was created using content and verbiage from the following specifications:
+- [Kubernetes Deprecation Policy](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/using-api/deprecation-policy/)
+- [Dapr reference](https://docs.dapr.io/operations/support/breaking-changes-and-deprecations/)
+