Hey folks,

All (except 1) recent contributors to spark/v3.4 have responded on the
slack thread above and support removing spark 3.4. The last contributor has
not responded yet.

If there are no objections, I plan to merge this PR to change the status
for Spark 3.4 from "Maintained" -> "Deprecated" .
https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/14099
Thanks Eduard for the review.

Best,
Kevin Liu

On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 9:52 AM Kevin Liu <[email protected]> wrote:

> Started a slack thread,
> https://apache-iceberg.slack.com/archives/C03LG1D563F/p1759163920874249
> Based on the recently commit activities, I messaged (on slack and pr) 4
> contributors who are actively backporting Spark 3.4.
>
> Best,
> Kevin Liu
>
> On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 9:32 AM Kevin Liu <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Bumping this thread.
>> Since there's consensus to mark Spark 3.4 as deprecated, let's merge this
>> PR to change the status on the docs,
>> https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/14099
>> I'll start a new thread for the decision to mark Spark 3.4 as end-of-life
>> and for removal from the codebase.
>>
>> Best,
>> Kevin Liu
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 11:13 AM Steve Loughran
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> making hadoop 3.4.1 the base hadoop version has sort of made iceberg
>>> incompatible with spark 3.4, it just doesn't surface very much.
>>>
>>> My PR, https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/10233 , which uses a
>>> hadoop 3.4.1 BulkDelete call not in the spark 3.4 classpath flags this: the
>>> spark 3.4 tests fail with classpath errors.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, 19 Sept 2025 at 22:02, Kevin Liu <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks Anton and Eduard. I'm ok with being more aggressive with the
>>>> deprecation schedule.
>>>> Looking at the git history for `spark/v3.4/`
>>>> <https://github.com/apache/iceberg/commits/main/spark/v3.4>, there are
>>>> 5 new commits since the 1.10 release. Only 1 commit (3bbdee9
>>>> <https://github.com/apache/iceberg/commit/3bbdee97b0f33794df091c3292de8d54a05dcc1e>)
>>>> is to backport specifically for Spark 3.4.
>>>>
>>>> From Engine Version Lifecycle
>>>> <https://iceberg.apache.org/multi-engine-support/#engine-version-lifecycle>
>>>> ,
>>>> > Deprecated: an engine version is no longer actively maintained.
>>>> People who are still interested in the version can backport any necessary
>>>> feature or bug fix from newer versions, but the community will not spend
>>>> effort in achieving feature parity. Iceberg recommends users to move
>>>> towards a newer version. Contributions to a deprecated version is expected
>>>> to diminish over time, so that eventually no change is added to a
>>>> deprecated version.
>>>> and
>>>> > End-of-life: a vote can be initiated in the community to fully
>>>> remove a deprecated version out of the Iceberg repository to mark as its
>>>> end of life.
>>>>
>>>> Let's change the status for Spark 3.4 to "Deprecated". I have
>>>> prepared a PR already https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/14099
>>>>
>>>> I can start another vote thread for removal of Spark 3.4 in the
>>>> upcoming 1.11 release and mark it as "End-of-life". I already prepared a PR
>>>> to fully remove Spark 3.4 from the codebase,
>>>> https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/14122
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> Kevin Liu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 11:29 AM Eduard Tudenhöfner <
>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I agree with Anton and I would be in favor of just removing it in the
>>>>> next release. By updating the docs now we can already signal immediately
>>>>> that Spark 3.4 is deprecated and people can always use Iceberg 1.10 when
>>>>> needing Spark 3.4 support.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 7:06 PM Anton Okolnychyi <
>>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I know we followed this rule of deprecating a Spark version in one
>>>>>> release and then removing it in the next one. Shall we ask ourselves
>>>>>> whether it is still the model we want to follow?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My problem like before is that we release a new Iceberg jar that is
>>>>>> supposed to contain the latest and greatest features but the 
>>>>>> functionality
>>>>>> for older Spark versions is severely lagging.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We initially kept older Spark modules in main to give folks in the
>>>>>> community a place to maintain these older integrations and collaborate. I
>>>>>> don’t see a lot of interest in that, if I am being honest. Instead, it
>>>>>> became a liability for devs as all major format features now have to work
>>>>>> with those old Spark integrations. It is hurting the velocity of the
>>>>>> project and recent row ID work is an example of that.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - Anton
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 6:33 PM Kevin Liu <[email protected]>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> > why not just remove Spark 3.4 for the next 1.11 release? Or do we
>>>>>>> usually wait for one more release and remove it in the 1.12 release 
>>>>>>> after
>>>>>>> marking 3.4 as deprecated in the engine status doc page?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My preference is to mark as deprecated for one release and remove in
>>>>>>> the following.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> To quote JB:
>>>>>>>  "announce" the deprecation in 1.11 and remove 1.12, it gives time
>>>>>>> for users to "adapt".
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>>> Kevin Liu
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 9:26 AM Steven Wu <[email protected]>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Following up on Manu's question, why not just remove Spark 3.4 for
>>>>>>>> the next 1.11 release? Or do we usually wait for one more release and
>>>>>>>> remove it in the 1.12 release after marking 3.4 as deprecated in the 
>>>>>>>> engine
>>>>>>>> status doc page?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 9:12 AM Kevin Liu <[email protected]>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Given the many +1's here, I've moved the PR to deprecate 3.4 to
>>>>>>>>> "ready for review", https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/14099
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> > Does it mean we will stop back-porting PRs to Spark 3.4 for
>>>>>>>>> 1.11?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Not necessarily. There's a lot of Spark 3.4 backports already,
>>>>>>>>> https://github.com/apache/iceberg/commits/main/spark/v3.4
>>>>>>>>> I suggest we continue to backport for consistency and then stop
>>>>>>>>> right after the 1.11 release.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>>>>> Kevin Liu
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 6:18 AM Amogh Jahagirdar <[email protected]>
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> +1
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 2:03 AM Péter Váry <
>>>>>>>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> +1
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Eduard Tudenhöfner <[email protected]> ezt írta
>>>>>>>>>>> (időpont: 2025. szept. 19., P, 8:56):
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> +1 on deprecating Spark 3.4
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Thu, Sep 18, 2025 at 8:36 AM Steve <[email protected]>
>>>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> +1
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Sep 17, 2025 at 22:52 Jean-Baptiste Onofré <
>>>>>>>>>>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> +1
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I agree about the plan to "announce" the deprecation in 1.11
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> remove 1.12, it gives time for users to "adapt".
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Regards
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> JB
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Wed, Sep 17, 2025 at 10:31 PM Kevin Liu <
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Hi everyone,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > I’d like to bring up the topic of deprecating Spark 3.4 in
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> an upcoming release. Anton initially suggested this during our 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> previous dev
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> list discussion about maintaining feature parity across the 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Spark versions
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> we support for 1.10.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Currently, we support two different Spark 3.x versions, 3.4
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> and 3.5. Spark 3.4’s last maintenance release was in October 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 2024, and it
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> is now considered end-of-life.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > What are your thoughts on marking Spark 3.4 as deprecated
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> in 1.11 and removing it in 1.12?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > For reference, here's the previous discussion thread on
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> deprecating Spark 3.3.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Best,
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > Kevin Liu
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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