Prepare release notes for v2.1.0-beta.n

Signed-off-by: Derek McGowan <derek@mcg.dev>

.mailmap

@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ Jun Lin Chen <webmaster@mc256.com> <1913688+mc256@users.noreply.github.com>
 Justin Cormack <justin.cormack@docker.com> <justin@specialbusservice.com>
 Justin Terry <juterry@microsoft.com>
 Justin Terry <juterry@microsoft.com> <jterry75@users.noreply.github.com>
+Kaita Nakamura <kaita.nakamura0830@gmail.com>
 Kante <kerthcet@gmail.com>
 Kazuyoshi Kato <kato.kazuyoshi@gmail.com>
 Kazuyoshi Kato <kato.kazuyoshi@gmail.com> <kaz@fly.io>
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ Kevin Parsons <kevpar@microsoft.com> <kevpar@users.noreply.github.com>
 Kevin Xu <cming.xu@gmail.com>
 Kirtana Ashok <kiashok@microsoft.com>
 Kirtana Ashok <kiashok@microsoft.com> <Kirtana.Ashok@microsoft.com>
+Kirtana Ashok <kiashok@microsoft.com> <99994218+kiashok@users.noreply.github.com>
 Kitt Hsu <kitt.hsu@gmail.com>
 Kohei Tokunaga <ktokunaga.mail@gmail.com>
 Krasi Georgiev <krasi.root@gmail.com> <krasi@vip-consult.solutions>
@@ -116,6 +118,7 @@ Mathis Michel <mathis.michel@outlook.de>
 Michael Crosby <crosbymichael@gmail.com> <michael@thepasture.io>
 Michael Katsoulis <michaelkatsoulis88@gmail.com>
 Michael Zappa <michael.zappa@gmail.com> <michaelzappa@microsoft.com>
+Michael Zappa <michael.zappa@gmail.com> <michaelzappa@Michaels-MacBook-Pro-8.local>
 Mike Brown <brownwm@us.ibm.com> <mikebrow@users.noreply.github.com>
 Mohammad Asif Siddiqui <mohammad.asif.siddiqui1@huawei.com>
 Nabeel Rana <nabeelnrana@gmail.com>

releases/v2.1.0-beta.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# commit to be tagged for new release
+commit = "HEAD"
+
+project_name = "containerd"
+github_repo = "containerd/containerd"
+match_deps = "^github.com/(containerd/[a-zA-Z0-9-]+)$"
+ignore_deps = [ "github.com/containerd/containerd" ]
+
+# previous release
+previous = "v2.0.0"
+
+pre_release = true
+
+preface = """\
+The 2.1 beta series is here, see the [2.1 milestone](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/milestone/48) to track
+ongoing efforts. Please try out the beta and report any issues!
+
+The first minor release of containerd 2.x focuses on continued stability alongside
+new features and improvements. This is the first time-based released for containerd.
+Most the feature set and core functionality has long been stable and harderened in production
+environments, so now we transition to a balance of timely delivery of new functionality
+with the same high confidence in stability and performance.
+"""
+
+postface = """\
+### Which file should I download?
+* `containerd-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz`:         ✅Recommended. Dynamically linked with glibc 2.31 (Ubuntu 20.04).
+* `containerd-static-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz`:  Statically linked. Expected to be used on non-glibc Linux distributions. Not position-independent.
+
+In addition to containerd, typically you will have to install [runc](https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/releases)
+and [CNI plugins](https://github.com/containernetworking/plugins/releases) from their official sites too.
+
+See also the [Getting Started](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/getting-started.md) documentation.
+"""

version/version.go

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ var (
 	Package = "github.com/containerd/containerd/v2"
 
 	// Version holds the complete version number. Filled in at linking time.
-	Version = "2.0.0+unknown"
+	Version = "2.1.0-beta+unknown"
 
 	// Revision is filled with the VCS (e.g. git) revision being used to build
 	// the program at linking time.