Heya Federico and Mickael, Thanks for reporting the issue and for the discussion in the ticket. I am not considering KAFKA-20183 as a blocker and as it currently stands it won't necessitate another RC.
Heya Manikumar, Good catch! The fix in templates.py is on trunk so the problem would disappear in future releases, apologies for the confusion. Best, Christo On Fri, 13 Feb 2026 at 14:52, Manikumar <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > > +1 (binding) > > - > > Verified the signatures > - > > Ran the tests on the source archive > - > > Verified the quickstart > - > > Verified the artifacts, Javadocs, and release notes > > It looks like we need to replace https://kafka.apache.org/KEYS with > https://downloads.apache.org/kafka/KEYS in the vote email text above. > > Thanks for running the release! > > Thanks, > Manikumar > > On Fri, Feb 13, 2026 at 2:23 PM Federico Valeri <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Hi Christo, I think I found a possible blocker: > > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-20183 > > > > I proposed a solution and I'll leave to you to confirm priority. > > > > Thanks for running the release. > > > > Cheers > > Fede > > > > > > On Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 2:13 PM Lucas Brutschy via dev < > > [email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > Hi Christo, > > > > > > * Verified signatures and checksums for source, binary, and site-docs > > > tarballs > > > * Verified LICENSE file exists and is correct > > > * Built from source with JDK 21 (built in ~20 min) > > > * Ran the quickstart (KRaft mode) - produce/consume working > > > * Tested Docker images (both JVM and native) > > > * Reviewed Javadoc and release notes > > > * Verified Maven staging artifacts with correct dates (Feb 10, 2026) > > > * Validated KIP-1071: > > > - Tested wordcount app using group.protocol=streams > > > - kafka-streams-groups.sh working with --verbose output > > > - Dynamic config for standby replicas working > > > > > > Issue found (non-blocking): > > > * Binary distribution NOTICE file has "Copyright 2021" instead of > > > "Copyright 2026" > > > (source tarball has the correct year) > > > > > > +1 (binding) > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Lucas > > > > > > On Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 12:55 PM Andrew Schofield < > [email protected] > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > Hi Christo, > > > > I did the following to validate the release. > > > > > > > > * Checked the readme > > > > * Downloaded the binary release > > > > * Created a cluster > > > > * Checked feature levels and supported broker APIs > > > > * Performed basic testing of share groups > > > > * Checked Javadoc for new 4.2 content > > > > * Tested the Docker image with Spring Boot > > > > > > > > +1 (non-binding) > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > Andrew > > > > > > > > On 2026/02/10 15:27:09 Christo Lolov 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 > > > > > > > > > > >
