branch-4.3 will be cut out soon. On Mon, 3 Aug 2026 at 23:04, Anoopam Sharma via dev <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello Dev Community, > > > > I recently subscribed to the Spark developer mailing list and have been > going through the new versioning and release policy documentation. > > > > First of all, thank you to everyone involved in defining and maintaining > the new release cadence. > > > > While reviewing the versioning policy, I noticed that the Spark 4.3 > release schedule indicates: > > Aug 1, 2026 - Code freeze / Release branch cut > > However, I do not currently see a dedicated branch-4.3 in the GitHub > repository. I can see branches such as master, branch-4.x, branch-4.2, > branch-4.1, and others. > > > > I had a couple of questions: > > 1. Is Spark 4.3 expected to be released from the long-lived > branch-4.x, or is a dedicated branch-4.3 planned to be created later? > > > > 2. Could someone help clarify the branching strategy going forward, > especially with the new quarterly feature release model? > > > > 3. For contributors who would like to help address dependency-related > vulnerabilities (for example, upgrading libraries to patched versions to > resolve CVEs), what is the preferred contribution workflow? > - Should contributors first open a JIRA and then submit a PR? > - Is a discussion on the dev mailing list recommended before > proposing dependency upgrades? > - Are security-driven dependency upgrades generally considered > acceptable within feature-release branches under the current versioning > policy? > > > > I'm interested in contributing in this area and would appreciate guidance > on the expected process and best practices. > > > > Thank you for your time. > > > > Best regards, > > Anoopam Sharma > Architect > > >
