Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers, This is the first candidate for release of Apache Kafka 4.1.2.
This is the second bug fix release for Apache Kafka 4.1 with fixes as described in the release notes. Release notes for the 4.1.2 release: https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.2-rc1/RELEASE_NOTES.html *** Please download, test and vote by Wednesday, March 4 2026, 9am UTC. Kafka's KEYS file containing PGP keys we use to sign the release: https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/kafka/KEYS * Release artifacts to be voted upon (source and binary): https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.2-rc1/ * Docker release artifacts to be voted upon: apache/kafka:4.1.2-rc1 apache/kafka-native:4.1.2-rc1 * 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/4.1.2-rc1/javadoc/ * Tag to be voted upon (off 4.1 branch) is the 4.1.2 tag: https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.1.2-rc1 * Documentation: https://kafka.apache.org/41/documentation.html * Protocol: https://kafka.apache.org/41/protocol.html * Successful CI builds for the 4.1 branch: Unit/integration tests: https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/22355871722 System tests: https://confluent-open-source-kafka-branch-builder-system-test-results.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/trunk/2026-02-24--002.59fb52a4-4668-45ab-9ffa-bd60aad81cd4--1771979898--confluentinc--4.1--631c2c8761/report.html One failure which has been present across several releases: - tests/kafkatest/tests/tools/replica_verification_test.py::ReplicaVerificationToolTest.test_replica_lags@ {"metadata_quorum":"ISOLATED_KRAFT"} * Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.1 branch: Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/22391397131 Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/22392649516 Thanks, Andrew Schofield
