Monthly Dev List Discussion Summary - Q1 2026

[Jindal, Himanshu]

Here’s a roundup of the key discussions and developments from the Cassandra 
community over the past quarter. Since this covers the entire quarter rather 
than a month, it is a bit long. Lots of releases, CEPs, discussions, and 
community updates. 😊

Also, this is entirely AI generated, using kiro-cli - so let me know if there 
are inaccuracies. I will start a separate thread to discuss how we can automate 
this.


Cassandra Community Update – Q1 2026 (Jan–Mar)
Releases

  *   Cassandra 4.0.20, 4.1.11, 5.0.7 – Maintenance releases. 
(4.0.20<https://lists.apache.org/thread/j8lt0wgxrm6yrxp1o3krhtf6pr6jozxs>, 
4.1.11<https://lists.apache.org/thread/dsb2s4kqjc7yfmd0zctf0p4gjoz6n05p>, 
5.0.7<https://lists.apache.org/thread/cp4bnkhm3rrn65m7dtsq5q4hbxno7kdo>)
  *   Cassandra 6.0-alpha1 – First quarterly alpha (dev/testing only, branch 
not yet created). 
(announce<https://lists.apache.org/thread/pk3ttdky0xfolsx79jc8cn7bynbbgx22>, 
vote<https://lists.apache.org/thread/vjob235s1sf402263w3flzdx8gpy49gr>)
  *   Analytics 0.3.0 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/18z9nwmhxdlk4jb60lrkfogh4f0bzosq>), 
Sidecar 0.3.0 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/277ylnz06otl0lyvnsgo23s2ljvvr18b>)
  *   Python Driver 3.30.0 (vote in progress, first ASF-branded release) 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/d1vtcyykbp7mcqk0005hzcbytlnoh01o>), 
GoCQL Driver 2.1.0 (vote in progress) 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/fkxw3dthkvfsmbcbf3vptj83gqw4h93o>)

CEPs Accepted

  *   CEP-59: Graceful Disconnect – New in-band GRACEFUL_DISCONNECT event for 
clean node shutdown, reducing client timeouts during rolling restarts. Two GSoC 
proposals submitted. 
(discuss<https://lists.apache.org/thread/wyswxql0zhj10nthn8pmjz40v03qfd5v>, 
vote<https://lists.apache.org/thread/rbvwqh2ftfd8fbm1vfvp5kh85m8sx87r>)
  *   CEP-60: Flexible Placements – Builds on CEP-21 (TCM) for incremental 
ownership changes, improved cluster density, and zero-copy streaming. 
(discuss<https://lists.apache.org/thread/lsdot3sj9wjqhqlmxs072pwchqfppx73>, 
vote<https://lists.apache.org/thread/4hlovyspz00lpowoorg15two6nhlgjpf>)

CEPs In Discussion

  *   CEP-62: Configuration Management via Sidecar – Programmatic 
cassandra.yaml/JVM option management. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/x295q2l3ncqvfnr5rkt7wy6qxj3j9jd1>)
  *   CEP-49: Hardware-accelerated compression – Intel shared PoC plugin. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/8gz94247v3q3w5zq8whqdsdrd9s27b7r>)
  *   CEP-48: Strict MV Consistency – Patch ready for review. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/fzj2srof22dhbhd9fn17ff37romxcf97>)
  *   CEP-50: Authenticator Negotiation – Initial refactoring PR posted. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/n3zdonbtdnz0hq44g6tglr5cbsnzs8r9>)

Key Discussions

  *   Cassandra 6.0 coordination – April target discussed; Java 21 inclusion, 
scope questions. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/32bo4z5pjg6oxfry5p2zmrn7jsxncxh7>)
  *   CEP-37 backport to 4.1+ – Jaydeep Chovatia volunteered. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/snss0l76bxmg09vs1wdrcvt37nckh0vw>)
  *   Python driver: deprecating eventlet/gevent/Twisted in favor of 
asyncore/asyncio. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/49w0wbobzttpnqg05hqlnjpd1tvnd0v9>)
  *   Python driver: replacing C/Cython with Rust – Planned for 3.31.0. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/dns2x49r9pyln63x7bsm8zh066ssmy0q>)
  *   AI in development – Debate on in-tree AI review prompts 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/0gv97dsctvlx16wxp8ngb3kdlxcxdfbd>) and 
negatives of AI PRs 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/lrn3p6zs7lzklbn48x9hp2bvot61hhqz>).
  *   HashiCorp Vault SSL integration – No new dependencies needed. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/5fomn67j493f0c2hzvyhm0tc5rkfxml3>)
  *   CEPs and "user experience" – Proposal to add operator-focused sections to 
CEPs. (thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/2wk9n132bpr99htkds7z8sgg3f86lmwl>)
  *   check_data_resurrection default – Proposed enabling by default in 6.0. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/z3mdvw78f5cqovq781tvjm537w66cpsm>)
  *   Quota management for multi-tenant (CASSANDRA-21158) – Needs a CEP. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/1vzf9g0grg31871cltvgb5024sxfvddr>)
  *   Python 3.12/3.13 cqlsh support – asyncore removal requires workaround. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/rprrrx3gdyokjscbwrlrk2284f7m8ldy>)

Community

  *   Francisco Guerrero – New PMC Member. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/tzk3slvgvkns03pgkqqlw5b7jsl4o6bg>)
  *   NodeJS Driver accepted via IP Clearance (donated by DataStax). 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/7f4pm2mm1gqzc5mno3xdh4p5gl4ctxl9>)
  *   2025 Survey draft results shared. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/z02bwzhvjfw038mf2drhnz7pgztkpl7l>)
  *   Community over Code Glasgow (Oct 2026) – CfP open. 
(thread<https://lists.apache.org/thread/f8q5s12993fb0t3zghkpvpbxhb2rt2sz>)
  *   GSoC 2026 – Two proposals for CEP-59. 
(1<https://lists.apache.org/thread/wdgmjrxj4oyv4syctqh48059thq3vrp9>, 
2<https://lists.apache.org/thread/qm800jdx8m6tkkcl915k2gkd8gzfnfhm>)