This sounds like we start with opening Github issues for reports only. That
works for me as it's in line with my proposal for phased changes. You can
wait for a bit to hear about the opinions and open a VOTE thread for
procedural change if there is consensus.

On Thu, Feb 5, 2026 at 4:55 AM Tian Gao via dev <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Thank you for all the discussions on this matter. I think we can all agree
> that people are interested in this matter, no matter what their positions
> are.
>
> Like I said above, what I want is to make progress for a more involved
> community, not figuring out the "best solution" and shooting for the moon.
> So I have a new proposal that might make more people happy.
>
> 1. Open github issues.
> 2. Make an issue template where similar fields are required as current
> JIRA tickets (issue type, component?, affected versions). I added a
> question mark here because a reporter might not know how we categorize
> "components". I don't know how this is used in our process. If it only
> helps triaging, we can add the label later (by committers).
> 3. Create labels to categorize issues. For example, "component-xx" for
> different components. We can also have labels for different spark versions.
> 4. Still require a JIRA ticket for all PRs (for now, let's discuss if we
> can relax the restriction in a separate thread).
> 5. Build a github bot that can pick up a special label in github issues
> ("create-jira" for example), and duplicate that github issue in the JIRA
> system. So for all github issues, if we believe it's valid and should be
> worked on, all we need to do is to add a label to it, and the same JIRA
> issue will be created for all our existing infra.
>
> I know people have different opinions about how to avoid duplicating
> information between JIRA/PR and how to improve merging experience. They are
> all kind of relevant to how we use github as a platform, but let's find our
> common ground and do it first. We'll have more stat once we move one step
> forward.
>
> Also if we decide to do this, I don't believe it requires an SPIP. It's a
> procedural change (and a rather easy one). What should be the process to
> land this?
>
> Tian Gao
>
> On Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 5:41 PM vaquar khan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've been auditing our dev automation to see how the SPIP  impacts the
>> release pipeline. We have some heavy JIRA coupling in
>> *dev/merge_spark_pr.py *that will break our workflow if we don't handle
>> the transition surgically.
>>
>> Right now, the script is locked into the jira python lib and explicitly
>> calls asf_jira.project_versions("SPARK") to fetch unreleased versions. It
>> uses specific logic to map branch names like branch-3.5 to JIRA versions
>> and filters invalid combinations to keep history clean. This metadata is
>> the source of truth for our release notes. If we cut over to GitHub
>> milestones without a dual-write setup, we risk "metadata drift" where fixes
>> merged to master won't show up in the 3.5.x JIRA reports, making our
>> enterprise documentation incomplete.
>>
>> To address the concerns raised about fragmented releases, I’m proposing a
>> "dual-rail" period where we refactor the merge script to update both
>> trackers simultaneously. This protects the integrity of the 3.5/4.0
>> maintenance split while we validate the new workflow.
>>
>> We also need to avoid the data corruption Maven hit during their
>> migration. Their script hit a race condition with GitHub's async import API
>> returning 404s for "pending" issues, which resulted in thousands of
>> duplicate tickets and the accidental deletion of valid PRs during cleanup.
>> I’m prototyping a state-aware import tool with a local SQLite cache to
>> handle the idempotency so we don't corrupt our historical metadata.
>>
>> The upside is worth the effort—the Apache Arrow project reported a 39%
>> jump in mailing list traffic and hit 2,297 commits in a single quarter
>> (approaching their historical highs) after they moved to GitHub Issues. You
>> can see the metrics in the official board minutes here:
>> https://whimsy.apache.org/board/minutes/Arrow.html.
>>
>> If the community is interested, I'm happy to help build out this
>> migration infra and the hybrid release note generator. I'll wait for
>> feedback before I share any design docs on the GraphQL implementation.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Viquar Khan
>> https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaquar-khan-b695577/
>>
>> On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 at 18:45, Jungtaek Lim <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Maybe then we could also revisit the purpose of SPIP.
>>>
>>> https://spark.apache.org/improvement-proposals.html
>>>
>>> The purpose of an SPIP is to inform and involve the user community in
>>>> major improvements to the Spark codebase throughout the development
>>>> process, to increase the likelihood that user needs are met.
>>>>
>>>> SPIPs should be used for significant user-facing or cross-cutting
>>>> changes, not small incremental improvements. When in doubt, if a committer
>>>> thinks a change needs an SPIP, it does.
>>>>
>>> IMHO this proposal does not warrant SPIP according to the above as the
>>> proposal is nothing to do with Spark "codebase". The first sentence
>>> clarifies the purpose of SPIP to be scoped to code changes. It's just that
>>> we somehow have been using SPIP for a broader purpose, which I doubt the
>>> stricter voting rule considered the case beyond the purpose of SPIP. For me
>>> it sounds like an unintentional side effect. Once this proposal no longer
>>> couples with SPIP, this will go back to the procedural voting process and
>>> veto does not apply.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 2, 2026 at 6:03 AM Mark Hamstra <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ok, perhaps that page should read "...follows the Apache code-change
>>>> vote process..." or "...follows the typical Apache code-change
>>>> process...", because the clear intent is that the vote is more
>>>> restrictive than a procedural vote and that the SPIP cannot pass with
>>>> any -1 votes from PMC members: "(at least 3 +1 votes from PMC members
>>>> and no -1 votes from PMC members)".
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 12:47 PM Jungtaek Lim
>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> > It says “typical” but the voting rule which enables veto is only for
>>>> “code change”. “Typically”, non code change does not come “veto” into play.
>>>> >
>>>> > https://www.apache.org/foundation/voting.html
>>>> >
>>>> > So either SPIP overwrites the voting rule to stricter one, or SPIP
>>>> does not aim to handle proposal for non code change. Specifically, this
>>>> discussion is “procedural” one IMO.
>>>> >
>>>> > Does it make sense? Which one we were intending to?
>>>> >
>>>> > 2026년 2월 2일 (월) 오전 12:44, Mark Hamstra <[email protected]>님이 작성:
>>>> >>
>>>> >> The voting requirements are enumerated in
>>>> >> https://spark.apache.org/improvement-proposals.html
>>>> >> Is there something unclear there?
>>>> >>
>>>> >> On Fri, Jan 30, 2026 at 2:51 PM Jungtaek Lim
>>>> >> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > I'm not sure the voting process for SPIP is intentionally enabling
>>>> the veto. It follows the voting process of "code change", but we have non
>>>> code change being scoped as SPIP.
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > To PMC members - is it intentional for any SPIP including non-code
>>>> change to follow the voting process of "code change", or did we imply SPIP
>>>> only applies to eventual code change and this topic doesn't warrant SPIP?
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 7:03 AM Tian Gao <[email protected]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> A difference between what Dongjoon proposed and my proposal is -
>>>> during this "test phase", is it allowed to submit PRs that are linked to
>>>> github issues, instead of JIRA? If it's a yes, then I'm totally fine if we
>>>> want to extend this to 3-6 months. If it's a no, I still believe it's a
>>>> significant improvement, but we may miss some data about if people feel
>>>> more comfortable using github vs JIRA.
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> If we only allow github issues to be a discussion forum, then I
>>>> don't think it deserves an SPIP - let's just open it.
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> If we want to have both work at the same time (at least start
>>>> building infra around github issues), we need to sort out some details -
>>>> majorly the procedural differences. What information in JIRA tickets do we
>>>> really need so we have to require an equivalent component in github issues.
>>>> Can we still do release notes properly. Maybe enforce (highly encourage)
>>>> committers to use JIRA during that phase so we still have all the major
>>>> pieces the same?
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> I believe PMC members have the right to veto any SPIP, so I want
>>>> to find a common ground here to make some progress.
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> Tian Gao
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> On Fri, Jan 30, 2026 at 1:35 PM Jungtaek Lim <
>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>> >> >>>
>>>> >> >>> > Speaking as an occasional contributor, I would expect this to
>>>> be more effort than it’s worth. A phased migration is appealing because it
>>>> feels safer and more gradual, but I think everyone will be better off in
>>>> the long run with a speedy and clear cutover from Jira to GitHub.
>>>> >> >>>
>>>> >> >>> My main proposal is to construct a way to prove the proposal by
>>>> ourselves instead of just arguing around which one is better from
>>>> experience with other projects', individual's preference of UI/UX, etc.
>>>> Everyone talks from their experience and no one can be on behalf of
>>>> artificial potential contributors and other existing contributors
>>>> (including committers and PMC members). I'm not sure we don't have good
>>>> evidence about changing it as a whole - if all of us had the same
>>>> preference, this discussion thread should have just simply been filled with
>>>> a wave of +1. That didn't happen. The first phase would give data, at least
>>>> for how many issues will be filed from non-code-contributors, which we
>>>> collect the accounts and consider these accounts to have been something we
>>>> should have handled ASF account creation, or even aggressively, consider
>>>> these issues to be non-existed if we didn't migrate.
>>>> >> >>>
>>>> >> >>> Also if you look at SPIP doc, the plan is already phased. It's
>>>> just that 2 weeks is incredibly short for many PMC members, which has a
>>>> high chance for them to work nothing about Apache Spark during the time,
>>>> and they have a binding vote to make a decision. IMHO it should be much
>>>> longer than that, a quarter or a half year.
>>>> >> >>>
>>>> >> >>> On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 3:27 AM Nicholas Chammas <
>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>> > On Jan 30, 2026, at 9:27 AM, Szehon Ho <
>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>> >> >>>> >
>>>> >> >>>> > In my experience, because I see few committers discussing
>>>> anything technical on Spark JIRA for years as you mentioned (and other
>>>> Hadoop project JIRAs too), I feel like nobody will reply if I do, so I will
>>>> make a Github PR directly and ping for feedback there.  So in addition to
>>>> the UX problem Tian mentioned, it's worsened by cause and effect.  So it's
>>>> become a procedure, and we still don't have a good place to discuss without
>>>> jumping to code.
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>> This has often been my experience as well. The eyes are mainly
>>>> on GitHub and not Jira.
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>> > On Jan 30, 2026, at 12:12 AM, Jungtaek Lim <
>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>> >> >>>> >
>>>> >> >>>> > Why can't we do this in two phases instead of trying to build
>>>> Rome in a day?
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>> Speaking as an occasional contributor, I would expect this to
>>>> be more effort than it’s worth. A phased migration is appealing because it
>>>> feels safer and more gradual, but I think everyone will be better off in
>>>> the long run with a speedy and clear cutover from Jira to GitHub. The
>>>> longer the transitional phase lasts, the more confusing it will be to new
>>>> and occasional contributors who are not following the dev process’s
>>>> evolution closely.
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>> Nick
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >> >>>>
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>>>> >> >>>>
>>>> >>
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>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Vaquar Khan
>>
>>

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