Note: I will replace PMC with organizations like … with community with organizations like
Le ven. 6 mars 2026 à 14:49, Jean-Baptiste Onofré <[email protected]> a écrit : > Hi folks, > > Here's the board report draft for this month. > > " > ## Description: > The mission of Apache Polaris is the creation and maintenance of software > related to a catalog for data lakes. It provides new levels of choice, > flexibility and control over data, with full enterprise security and > Apache > Iceberg interoperability across a multitude of engines and infrastructure > > ## Project Status: > Current project status: Ongoing (recently graduated) > Issues for the board: None > > ## Membership Data: > Apache Polaris was founded 2026-02-18 (17 days ago) > There are currently 28 committers and 18 PMC members in this project. > The Committer-to-PMC ratio is roughly 7:5. > > Community changes, past quarter: > - No new PMC members (project graduated recently). > - Danica Fine was added as committer on 2026-02-27 > > ## Project Activity: > * Releases: > - Work began on Apache Polaris 1.4.0, the first release under the new TLP > status. This release prep is a bit longer, as it needs updates on > LICENSE/NOTICE, including new artifacts (like Python CLI). > - Catalog Migrator 1.0.0 (RC2): A critical tool for migrating tables from > Glue/Hive to Polaris entered its final voting stage in early March. > - We will also consider releases for new tools soon (Polaris Console, > Polaris MCP server, ...) > > * Technical Roadmap & Feature Development: > Following the successful 1.3.0 release in mid-January, the development > team shifted focus toward enterprise hardening and interoperability. > - Scan Metrics Persistence: A major architectural effort is underway to > integrate query scan metrics into the catalog, enabling better > observability for downstream engines like Spark and Trino. > - Credential Vending Enhancements: Significant PR activity has focused on > refining AWS IAM AssumeRole flows and expanding support for storage-scoped > credentials, reducing security overhead for multi-tenant data lakes. > - Generic Table Stability: The "Generic Table" feature officially > graduated from beta. This allows Polaris to manage metadata for Delta Lake > and Apache Hudi tables alongside Iceberg, positioning it as a universal > catalog. > > * Governance & Graduation Infrastructure > The transition to a TLP required significant "Project Hygiene" to ensure > compliance with the Apache Way: > - Release Process Modernization: The community moved to a unified CI/CD > pipeline, merging six disparate workflows into one. This has stabilized the > build process and automated the generation of convenience binaries and > Docker images. > - Legal & Licensing: Conducted a comprehensive audit of all dependencies. > Resolved a key legal blocker regarding third-party library nesting to > ensure the upcoming 1.4.0 release (the first as a TLP) is fully compliant. > > * Ecosystem Integration > - Engine Support: Verified compatibility and performance benchmarks for > the latest versions of Apache Doris and StarRocks, which now use Polaris as > their default external Iceberg catalog. > - Community Engagement: Recorded high attendance at the February 19th > community sync, where the transition to TLP was celebrated and the 2026 > roadmap—including AI/ML metadata extensions—was first socialized. > > ## Community Health: > * Governance Independence > The project has achieved a high level of organizational maturity and is no > longer reliant on its founding contributors. > - Diverse PMC: The Project Management Committee (PMC) now includes 13 > members representing eight different organizations, including Dremio, > Snowflake, Google, Microsoft, Confluent, Bloomberg, Starburst, and LanceDB. > - Organic Leadership: Of the current PMC, 46% (6 members) were elected > during the incubation period based on their merit and contributions, rather > than being part of the initial donation. Similarly, 5 out of 8 current > committers were promoted from within the community during incubation. > * Engagement & Outreach Metrics (Feb – March 2026) > The "graduation window" saw a spike in community engagement, particularly > from new enterprise adopters. > - Contributor Growth: The project surpassed the 100-contributor milestone > in February. Since the end of January, 13 new individual contributors have > had their first pull requests merged. > - Mailing List Activity: The dev@ mailing list saw a 25% increase in > traffic during February, focused on TLP transition logistics, the 1.4.0 > roadmap, and the resolution of legal hygiene tasks. > - Meetups: > * Warsaw (Feb 18): A community-led meetup focused on Iceberg V4 and > Polaris performance. > * Redmond (Feb 26): Hosted by Microsoft, focusing on Polaris integration > within the Azure/Fabric ecosystem. > * Participation Quality > Unlike many projects that see "drive-by" contributions, Polaris has seen a > rise in "deep" technical participation: > - Feature Design: Significant community-led design discussions occurred in > February regarding Scan Metrics Persistence and ExternalCatalogFactory > refactoring. > - Integration Support: Third-party projects like Apache Doris, StarRocks, > and Fivetran have integrated Polaris as their default Iceberg REST catalog, > contributing back stability fixes and performance optimizations. > * Documentation & Onboarding > To ensure continued health, the community has prioritized "contributor > experience": > - Unified CI/CD: A major effort in February consolidated several disparate > CI pipelines, reducing PR feedback loops and making it easier for new > developers to verify their work. > - Blog & Roadmap: The project launched several technical blogs in early > 2026, including guides on policy-driven table maintenance and AI-native > storage integration with LanceDB. > " > > I would like to submit the board report early next week. > Please share your comments or questions with me. > > Thanks, > Regards > JB >
