Hello Kafka users, developers, and client-developers, This is the second 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-rc1/RELEASE_NOTES.html *** Please download, test, and vote by Wednesday, Oct 29th, 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-rc1/ * Docker release artifacts to be voted upon: apache/kafka:4.1.1-rc1 https://hub.docker.com/layers/apache/kafka/4.1.1-rc1/images/sha256-262d880caa26f510bdbc890b9a2d03a7c4f24f22194e6e19fe35637a3073663b apache/kafka-native:4.1.1-rc1 https://hub.docker.com/layers/apache/kafka-native/4.1.1-rc1/images/sha256-3a094cb1f462c23ee56e887ba410441956537ab2a6c7d4ae1372908bd99f6a52 * 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-rc1/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-rc1 * 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/18754263081 System tests: Running, I will share the report when ready. Previous run without the last minor commit was green 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/18754480931 Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/18754738145 Thanks! Lianet
