Hello Kafka users, developers, and client-developers, This is the first candidate for the release of Apache Kafka 4.1.1.
This is a bug-fix release, including several critical ones. All listed in the release notes. Release notes for the 4.1.1 release: https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.1-rc0/RELEASE_NOTES.html *** Please download, test, and vote by Tuesday, Oct 28th, 9:00 AM EDT Kafka's KEYS file containing PGP keys we use to sign the release: https://kafka.apache.org/KEYS * Release artifacts to be voted upon (source and binary): https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.1-rc0/ * Docker release artifacts to be voted upon: apache/kafka:4.1.1-rc0 https://hub.docker.com/layers/apache/kafka/4.1.1-rc0/images/sha256-f6c7291be9e6942713ba47a51d8201d60dcd315d2db8063e8f807f21f1184d16 apache/kafka-native:4.1.1-rc0 https://hub.docker.com/layers/apache/kafka-native/4.1.1-rc0/images/sha256-2a9866a9eb1845c399e6e6344abe1bf3114b030e05de7a9f1760c5f3f013a260 * Maven artifacts to be voted upon: https://repository.apache.org/content/groups/staging/org/apache/kafka/ * Javadoc: https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.1-rc0/javadoc/ * Tag to be voted upon (off 4.1 branch) is the 4.1.1 tag: https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.1.1-rc0 * Documentation: https://kafka.apache.org/41/documentation.html * Protocol: https://kafka.apache.org/41/protocol.html *CI builds for the 4.1 branch: Unit/integration tests (all pass): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/18693701449 System tests (all pass, some flaky): https://confluent-open-source-kafka-branch-builder-system-test-results.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/trunk/2025-10-21--002.2038c96e-7e71-4e0c-b768-fdc424396968--1761094892--confluentinc--4.1--3a3ed502e3/report.html * Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.1 branch: Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/18719878125 Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/18719331137 Thanks! Lianet
