Hi Omnia, One thing I found (non-blocking) is all quickstart docs still reference 4.3.0 in links, text ect.
Thanks Bill On Thu, Oct 1, 2026 at 4:32 PM Bill Bejeck <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Omnia, > > Thanks for running the 4.4.0 release. > > I did the following to validate RC3: > > - Verified checksums (md5/sha1/sha512) and GPG signatures > - Artifacts: source, binary, site-docs, RELEASE_NOTES > - Signed by Omnia Ibrahim <[email protected]> > - Key 1817905E3B2708B11A24B88E9AFA6F66CC8C3534 > - Built from source with JDK 17 > - Ran the core, clients and streams unit tests > - Ran quickstarts from the bundled site-docs against the binary > distribution > - Broker quickstart > - Kafka Streams WordCount quickstart > - Used both the classic and streams (KIP-1071) group protocols > - Ran the same quickstarts against the Docker images > - apache/kafka:4.4.0-rc3 > - apache/kafka-native:4.4.0-rc3 > - Checked shipped jar versions for the dependency and CVE bumps > - jackson-databind 2.21.7 > - log4j 2.25.5 > - jetty 12.0.39 > - lz4-java 1.11.2 > - zstd-jni 1.5.7-17 > - Exercised these KIPs by hand against local clusters > - Streams: > - KIP-892 (WordCount with EOS and transactional state stores) > - KIP-1071 static membership > - KIP-1245, KIP-1283, KIP-1284, KIP-1321 > - KIP-1331, KIP-1340, KIP-1356, KIP-1357 > - Broker: > - KIP-1170, KIP-1191, KIP-1200, KIP-1220 > - KIP-1232, KIP-1241 (configs only), KIP-1276 > - KIP-1291, KIP-1301, KIP-1312, KIP-1323 > - Clients: > - KIP-909, KIP-1242, KIP-1299 > - KIP-1319 (smoke test) > > +1 (binding) > > On Wed, Sep 30, 2026 at 8:46 AM Omnia Ibrahim <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > 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://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.4.0-rc3/RELEASE_NOTES.html__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDmiJkF1Cg$ > > > > 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://urldefense.com/v3/__https://downloads.apache.org/kafka/KEYS__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDmGmTVuLg$ > > > > Release artifacts to be voted upon (source and binary): > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.4.0-rc3/__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDmeMScb9Q$ > > > > 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://urldefense.com/v3/__https://repository.apache.org/content/groups/staging/org/apache/kafka/__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDl2J_8d_g$ > > > > Javadoc: > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.4.0-rc3/javadoc/index.html__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDllMJmg0g$ > > > > Tag to be voted upon (off 4.4 branch) is the 4.4.0 tag: > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.4.0-rc3__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDl0UtXg6Q$ > > > > Documentation: > > PR: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDlPvc-naw$ > > > > Protocol: > > PR: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/905__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDlPvc-naw$ > > > > Successful CI builds for the 4.4 branch: > > Unit/integration tests: > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/35717651111__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDkkvsTcTg$ > > System tests: > > > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__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__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDk8C1HOQQ$ > > 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://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/36611597689__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDkSd9kvyg$ > > Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native): > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/36611597689__;!!Ayb5sqE7!oaYChnVoEBgh8mM9LpkOVWOcCs2eXAUyg2mNq2Pdd876KJaMVRIttjBw3BG_Fz3wa8dq9wZJqDkSd9kvyg$ > > > > Thanks, > > Omnia >
