Hello, Thanks Paolo for running Strimzi's tests!
As promised the system test results for RC4 can be found at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mFO6S1EvwMeTrM8w-ePTiRj6ko97Sv3A The two consistently failing tests in my environment are: * 'tests/kafkatest/tests/core/network_degrade_test.py::NetworkDegradeTest.test_rate@ {"task_name":"rate-1000-latency-50","device_name":"eth0","latency_ms":50,"rate_limit_kbit":1000000,"metadata_quorum":"COMBINED_KRAFT"}' * tests/kafkatest/tests/tools/replica_verification_test.py::ReplicaVerificationToolTest.test_replica_lags@ {"metadata_quorum":"ISOLATED_KRAFT"} Best, Christo On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 at 10:53, Paolo Patierno <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > I downloaded the binaries and check the signature. > I also ran all tests within the Strimzi project (Apache Kafka on > Kubernetes) by using such binaries to build the container images. > From regression to upgrade testing everything looks fine. > > +1 (non binding) > > Thanks, > Paolo. > > On Tue, 10 Feb 2026 at 16:28, Christo Lolov <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers, > > > > This is the RC4 candidate for release of Apache Kafka 4.2.0. > > > > This release has many exciting changes: > > * Kafka Queues (Share Groups) is now production-ready with new > > features like the RENEW acknowledgement type for extended processing > > times, adaptive batching for coordinators, and comprehensive lag > > metrics. > > * Kafka Streams brings the server-side rebalance protocol to GA with a > > limited feature set, adds dead letter queue support in exception > > handlers, introduces anchored wall-clock punctuation for deterministic > > scheduling, and gives users full control over whether to send a leave > > group request on closing. > > * This release also delivers significant improvements to consistency > > and observability: CLI tools now feature standardized arguments like > > --bootstrap-server across all tools, metric naming has been corrected > > to follow the kafka.COMPONENT convention, and new idle ratio metrics > > provide better visibility into controller and MetadataLoader > > performance. > > * Security is enhanced with a new allowlist connector client > > configuration override policy, while thread-safety improvements to > > RecordHeader eliminate concurrency risks. > > * Additional highlights include external schema support in > > JsonConverter for reduced message sizes, dynamic configuration for > > remote log manager thread pools, and rack ID exposure in the Admin API > > for consumer and share group members. > > > > Release notes for the 4.2.0 release: > > > https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.2.0-rc4/RELEASE_NOTES.html > > > > *** Please download, test and vote by Friday, February 13, 5pm UTC > > > > 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/4.2.0-rc4/ > > > > * Docker release artifacts to be voted upon: > > apache/kafka:4.2.0-rc4 > > apache/kafka-native:4.2.0-rc4 > > > > * 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/4.2.0-rc4/javadoc/index.html > > > > * Tag to be voted upon (off 4.2 branch) is the 4.2.0 tag: > > https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.2.0-rc4 > > > > * Documentation: > > * Protocol: > > https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/785 > > > > * Successful CI builds for the 4.2 branch: > > Unit/integration tests: > > https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/21860071096 > > System tests: I have started the tests in my environment and will share > > test results in the next ~24 hours. > > > > * Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.2 branch: > > Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM): > > https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/21861574007 > > Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native): > > https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/21861786570 > > > > Thanks, > > Christo > > > > > -- > Paolo Patierno > > *Senior Principal Software Engineer @ IBM**CNCF Ambassador* > > Twitter : @ppatierno <http://twitter.com/ppatierno> > Linkedin : paolopatierno <http://it.linkedin.com/in/paolopatierno> > GitHub : ppatierno <https://github.com/ppatierno> >
