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 Deprecated: an engine version is no longer actively maintained.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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