The supported versions are listed here:
https://cloud.google.com/container-engine/supported-versions
but I'm wondering if there is a way to programatically get this list (besides scraping that page, I guess) via gcloud or some similar tool?
I find that hard-coding a single version breaks often because Google keeps updating the supported versions. At the same time, I /would/ like to specify at least the large version (e.g., 1.7.x) because it appears that 1.8.x introduces some breaking changes, for example.
The gcloud "get-server-config" will get you the data you want. Specifying the "--format" option can also return it in a way that's easy to parse:
gcloud container get-server-config --zone=us-central1-f --format=json
If you wish to control when updates happen, the maintenance window option may also help you control when you want them to occur. https://cloud.google.com/container-engine/docs/maintenance-window
The projects.zones.getServerconfig method returns versions that you can use. This is not quite the same as the supported verisons page you link, which includes versions which may exist in legacy clusters but are no longer available. However for purposes of upgrading or creating new clusters, this list is the one you want.
