To be clear, it means `branch-4.0` will be created on January 15th as a soft feature freeze.
After cutting branch-4.0, we still allow the feature backport decision of PMC members for a while. In addition, although the first RC will arrive in the mid of February as documented in both SPARK-44111 and the Apache Spark website, please expect multiple RCs until the final Apache Spark 4.0.0. https://spark.apache.org/versioning-policy.html # Spark 4.0 release window Date Event January 15th 2025 Code freeze. Release branch cut. February 1st 2025 QA period. Focus on bug fixes, tests, stability and docs. Generally, no new features merged. February 15th 2025 Release candidates (RC), voting, etc. until final release passes Thanks, Dongjoon
