Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers, This is the latest 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-rc3/RELEASE_NOTES.html Please download, test and vote by Monday, October 5, 2026 9:00am PT (5:00pm BST) 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-rc3/ Docker release artifacts to be voted upon: apache/kafka:4.4.0-rc3 apache/kafka-native:4.4.0-rc3 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-rc3/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-rc3 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: Unit/integration tests: https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/35717651111 System tests: https://confluent-open-source-kafka-branch-builder-system-test-results.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/trunk/2026-09-29--001.848a9baa-1456-4d89-9687-767d6e3d7b68--1790727085--apache--4.4--eb64514482/report.html Lianet Magrans is helping with running system tests on confluent servers — there is a new failed test from connect, there is a believe that this might have been happening before in previous releases too (so Lianet triggered it now in isolation to check if it passes) Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.4 branch: Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/36611597689 Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native): https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/36611597689 Thanks, Omnia
