Hi Omnia, Thanks for driving the release. I will continue testing, but I'm afraid there's a trivial problem which is going to require a new RC. The metadata.version should be 4.4-IV2, not 4.3-IV0. All of the KIPs which bumped the MetadataVersion in 4.4 (1312, 1276 and 1191) were completed as far as I know, so MetadataVersion.LATEST_PRODUCTION can be bumped to IBP_4_4_IV2. As it stands, these KIPs are not enabled in 4.4.0.
Thanks, Andrew On 2026/08/21 17:09:56 Omnia Ibrahim wrote: > Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers, > > This is the 1st candidate for release of Apache Kafka 4.4.0. > Apache Kafka 4.4.0 is a minor release that includes 26 KIPs spanning > improvements to all components. > > Release notes for the 4.4.0 release: > https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.4.0-rc0/RELEASE_NOTES.html > > Please download, test and vote by Monday, August 24, 2026 at 3:00pm BST > (7:00am PT) > > Kafka's KEYS file containing PGP keys we use to sign the release: > https://downloads.apache.org/kafka/KEYS > > * Release artifacts to be voted upon (source and binary): > https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.4.0-rc0/ > > * Docker release artifacts to be voted upon: > apache/kafka:4.4.0-rc0 > apache/kafka-native:4.4.0-rc0 > > * 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/4.4.0-rc0/javadoc/index.html > > * Tag to be voted upon (off 4.4 branch) is the 4.4.0 tag: > https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.4.0-rc0 > > * Documentation: > PR: https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905 > > * Protocol: > PR: https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905 > > * Successful CI builds for the 4.4 branch: > https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/32487577786 > > * Docker Build Test Pipeline: > Blocked by a GitHub Actions allowlist issue (fix pending: > https://github.com/apache/kafka/pull/23229). The RC Docker images > were built and pushed successfully. > > Thanks, > Omnia
