Adding both users and Kafka-clients
> On 23 Sep 2026, at 11:11, Omnia Ibrahim <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Here is the report for system testing
>
> https://confluent-open-source-kafka-branch-builder-system-test-results.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/trunk/2026-09-22--001.1442301f-18b4-4a90-a790-4f8550f93d20--1790111851--apache--4.4--812f9108eb/report.html
> The two failed test cases are same as the one mentioned in 4.3.1 RC2 so not
> new issue
>
>> On 22 Sep 2026, at 15:09, Omnia Ibrahim <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers,
>>
>> This is the 2nd 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-rc1/RELEASE_NOTES.html
>>
>> Please download, test and vote by Friday, September 25, 2026, 12:30pm BST
>> (4:30am 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-rc1/
>>
>> * Docker release artifacts to be voted upon:
>> apache/kafka:4.4.0-rc1
>> apache/kafka-native:4.4.0-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/4.4.0-rc1/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-rc1
>>
>> * Documentation:
>> https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905
>> * Protocol:
>> https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905
>>
>> * Successful CI builds for the 4.4 branch:
>> Unit/integration tests:
>> https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/35717651111
>>
>> System tests: [will provide it soon]
>> * Documentation:
>> PR: https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905
>>
>> * Protocol:
>> PR: https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905
>>
>> * Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.4 branch:
>> Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM):
>> https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/35720261595
>> Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native):
>> https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/35720261595
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Omnia
>
