Merge main to release/dev17.9#16486

Merged

vzarytovskii merged 9 commits intorelease/dev17.9from

merges/main-to-release/dev17.9

Jan 5, 2024

Commits on Dec 27, 2023

[main] Update dependencies from dotnet/source-build-reference-packages (#16449)

dotnet-maestro[bot]
and
vzarytovskii
authored

Commits on Dec 30, 2023

Update check_release_notes.yml
vzarytovskii
authored

Commits on Dec 31, 2023

[main] Update dependencies from dnceng/internal/dotnet-optimization (#16403)
dotnet-maestro[bot]
authored

Commits on Jan 2, 2024

Removing some dead benchmark material (#16458)
psfinaki
authored