+1 (binding) Verified: - signatures and sha512 of the src, binary and site-docs tarballs - signatures of the maven staging artifacts (16 files across kafka-clients, kafka-streams, kafka_2.13, kafka-server, kafka-metadata, kafka-raft, connect-runtime, kafka-group-coordinator). All signed by the primary key, so the RC3 issue is fixed - tag 4.4.0-rc4 matches the 4.4 branch head and the CI run - unit and integration tests from the source tarball - binary tarball: KRaft format/start, metadata.version 4.4-IV2, produce/consume with classic, consumer and share protocols, verifiable producer/consumer with acks=all
non-blocking note: - kafka-site #905 was generated on 9/22, so it is missing the later docs changes on 4.4 (#23565, #23479) and the KAFKA-21134 fix (#23671, trunk only). It should be regenerated from the final tag before the release Thanks for running the release, Omnia. On 2026-10-07 09:09 UTC Omnia Ibrahim 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://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.4.0-rc4/RELEASE_NOTES.html > > *** Please download, test and vote by Monday, Oct 12, 9am 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-rc4/ > > Docker release artifacts to be voted upon: > apache/kafka:4.4.0-rc4 > apache/kafka-native:4.4.0-rc4 > > 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-rc4/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-rc4 > 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/37496670106 > System tests: <PENDING> > > Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.4 branch: > Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM): > https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/37591376291 > Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native): > https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/37591376291 > > Thanks > Omnia
