+1 On Wed, Jul 29, 2026 at 7:01 AM Jean-Baptiste Onofré <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi folks, > > We have to report this month. > > I drafted the following report: > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ## 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: Healthy and active. > This is Apache Polaris's first quarterly board report, following the > initial monthly > reports filed after the project graduated to a Top-Level Project on > 2026-02-18. > The transition out of incubation has been smooth: the project has > established > and sustained a monthly release cadence, the PMC is operating independently > and in the Apache Way, development activity remains high, and several > substantial feature proposals are under active discussion on the dev list. > > Compared with the previous report(s): the most notable change is the shift > from > monthly to quarterly reporting itself, marking the project's settling into > a > normal TLP rhythm. The release train established immediately > post-graduation has > continued without slippage (two feature releases plus a patch this > period). The > character of activity has also evolved (where the earlier reports centered > on > the graduation transition and post-graduation stabilization), this quarter > the > community has moved toward expanding the catalog's scope, with major design > proposals (Data Sharing, OpenLineage, Polaris Directory) now under active > discussion. Committer growth continued with one addition. > > Issues for the board: There are no issues requiring the board's attention > at > this time. > > ## Membership Data: > Apache Polaris was founded 2026-02-18 (5 months ago) > There are currently 32 committers and 19 PMC members in this project. > The Committer-to-PMC ratio is roughly 8:5. > > Community changes, past quarter: > - No new PMC members. Last addition was Sung Yun on 2026-04-27. > - Nándor Kollár was added as committer on 2026-06-30 > > ## Project Activity: > The project maintained its monthly release cadence throughout the quarter, > continuing the train established right after graduation: > - 1.6.0 released 2026-07-08 > - 1.5.0 released 2026-05-18 > - (1.4.1, a patch release, shipped 2026-05-01 at the start of the period) > > Development throughput on GitHub (apache/polaris) remained high over the > reporting window (May–July 2026): > - Pull requests: 761 opened, 651 merged > - Issues: 90 opened, 91 closed > - Currently open: 102 pull requests, 256 issues > The high merge count relative to issues reflects a fast-moving, PR-driven > workflow with a healthy review throughput. > > Recent release work has focused on hardening the project for production > use, > including running event listeners on a dedicated configurable executor, an > updated MaintenanceService API, and stricter REST-layer validation of > entity > names. Broader ongoing themes include catalog federation, credential > vending, > and governance/policy integration. > > Several notable feature proposals and design discussions are active on the > dev list this quarter, reflecting a shift from stabilization toward > expanding > the catalog's scope: > - Data Sharing / Catalog Sharing: a design for securely sharing catalog > namespaces and tables (metadata pointers) with external accounts and > partner > engines without copying data, including recipient credentials and > revocation. > - OpenLineage: a sustained proposal thread exploring how Polaris should > emit > and integrate lineage information, positioning the catalog as a lineage/ > observability plane. This pairs with related discussions on REST > endpoints > exposing table metrics and events. > - Polaris Directory: a proposal for a directory/volume-style abstraction to > organize files and unstructured data within the catalog, extending > Polaris > beyond Iceberg tables toward broader data-asset management. > > Release voting, discussion, and decision-making continue to take place on > the > public dev@ list in accordance with the Apache Way. > > ## Community Health: > Community health is good. Development is broadly distributed: 58 distinct > authors opened pull requests against apache/polaris during the quarter, a > strong contributor-diversity signal for a project only a few months past > graduation. The project added one new committer this quarter (Nándor > Kollár, > 2026-06-30), reflecting continued growth of the contributor base on merit. > The > committer and PMC rolls remain diverse, spanning multiple cloud providers, > engine and governance vendors, and independent contributors, which keeps > the > project vendor-neutral and resilient to any single contributor's departure. > > The volume and substance of design discussion on the dev list (spanning > data > sharing, lineage, and unstructured-data support) indicates an engaged > community debating the project's direction openly. There were no new PMC > members this quarter; the PMC will continue to watch for sustained > contributors > who are candidates for invitation. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Please let me know if you have any comments or changes. Since this is > the first quarterly report, we don't need to detail every single > change we did (it's impossible); we should provide overall insights > into community and project activity. > > I will send the report by the end of the week. > > Thanks! > > Regards > JB >
