Hi
Here are a few items to add to the list:
- #911 (Delta to Iceberg loses field ids of map and list children under
column mapping): This is currently on the 0.5.0 label but missing from the
list above. #912 fixed the part that applies to the current Delta 2.4
build, but the issue remains open for the rest.
- #908 (Spark 3.5.9, Delta 3.3.3): This has green CI and needs a
reviewer. If we want it in 0.5.0, it should land early in the week so the
other open PRs can rebase onto it before the cutoff. Otherwise, I am fine
moving
it to a future release or dropping it completely for the Spark 4 update.
It has been open for review for 40 days, so it may no longer be needed.
- #778 (Enable col-stats by default for 1.1.x hudi version) also moves
the build to Spark 3.5.2 and Delta 3.0.0, the same change as #908 with
older versions, and shares 9 of its 21 files. It has had no activity since
June 30. We should pick one: either #908 carries the version bump and the
col-stats change in #778 is rebased onto it, or the other way round. No
other open PR changes the Spark, Delta or Scala versions. #938 (Delta
deletion vectors) touches the same Delta classes as #908 and will need a
rebase after whichever lands first.
On release notes: 44 PRs have merged on main since 0.4.0 branched off at
#828, and there are no 0.5.0 release notes file yet.
- Labels on PRs: only the three Dependabot PRs have labels (#831, #846,
#924, labelled dependencies,github_actions). The 0.5.0 label is only used
on issues, never on merged PRs. The repo has no milestones either.
- Labels on linked issues: 17 issues are referenced as closed by these
PRs. Only 5 have a type label (bug or documentation). The 0.5.0-labelled
ones still open are #736, #911 and #901.
Regarding reviews, GitHub metrics show that the median time to merge a PR
has increased annually: 0.5 days in 2023, 1.3 in 2024, 2.0 in 2025, and 4.0
in 2026. Currently, 29 of the 69 open PRs were opened before 2026, with
the oldest (#250) open since November 2023. I suggest closing these stale
PRs with a note before the cutoff so the 0.5.0 work is clearly visible in
the queue.
Going forward, reviewing and merging PRs on a daily or weekly
basis—rather than just before a release cut—would give us adequate time to
respond to feedback and test the release properly.
Thanks,
Sylweste
On Sat, Oct 3, 2026 at 12:58 AM Vinish Reddy <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Here is a status update on the 0.5.0-incubating release, following up on
> the scope and timeline thread from August [1]. Tim is the release manager
> for 0.5.0.
>
> The full list of tracked work is under the 0.5.0 label.
> https://github.com/apache/incubator-xtable/issues?q=is%3Aopen+label%3A0.5.0
>
> MOMENTUM SINCE 0.4.0
>
> Since August 1, 31 PRs have merged on main from 9 contributors. Some
> highlights:
>
> - The xtable-utilities bundled jar shrank from 1.1 GB to 423 MB (#897), and
> the duplicate AWS SDK v2 modules were removed (#923).
> - Delta nested field ids now carry into the converted schema (#912), and
> Delta log listing handles absolute paths (#932).
> - Incremental sync is skipped when a Delta source has no new commits
> (#930), and the Delta snapshot is reused across an incremental backlog
> (#861).
> - Hudi partitions are batch-loaded before the parallel file listing (#950).
> - Glue Catalog Federation works with Delta tables (#940).
> - The parquet source now populates record_count (#929), and its limitations
> are documented (#937).
> - The build moved to ASF parent POM 39 and compiles on JDK 21+ (#881,
> #900), with the Maven build cache persisted in CI (#882).
> - The 0.4.0 release notes, blog post and Spark runtime quickstart are live
> (#913, #915).
>
> Thanks to Sylwester Lachiewicz, Ranga Reddy, Arvin, Abdul Megoon, Akash
> Reddy Jammula, Tim Brown, Vamsi Karnika and AadhiKat for their
> contributions, and to everyone who reviewed and tested.
>
> STATUS BY THEME
>
> 1. Hudi table version 9 (Hudi 1.x) support (#834)
> - #835 adds v9 to the Hudi target and source. It now builds on the released
> Hudi 1.2.1, CI is green, and it is ready for review.
>
> 2. Iceberg pluggable table format managed by Hudi (#722), led by Ethan
> - #894 implements the Iceberg versions of TableFormat and
> HoodieTableMetadata. CI is green and review is in progress.
> - #954 (Iceberg V3 deletion vectors and table services for MOR tables) and
> #955 (a Spark plugin that routes Iceberg writes through Hudi) are early
> drafts that build on #894.
>
> 3. Cross-format indexing (#887)
> - #933 is RFC-4 for index support.
> - #935 adds a Hudi-backed secondary index for Iceberg tables. It has been
> validated on large tables on S3 and is close to ready.
> - The xtable-spark-extensions work (Spark SQL to build, drop and check the
> staleness of indexes) is pushed and stacks on #935. A PR will follow.
>
> 4. xtable-spark-runtime for Hudi 1.x (#836)
> - The runtime shipped for 0.4.x on branch-0.4 (#843).
> - #838 (thin drop-in bundle and resilient target discovery) and #839
> (XTableSyncListener for in-job sync) bring it to main.
> - #931 adds Parquet source partitioning to the spark runtime (#927).
> - #908 from Sylwester moves the build to Spark 3.5.9 and Delta 3.3.3, as
> the first step toward the Spark 4 upgrade (#902). Reviews are welcome there
> too.
>
> 5. Delta Kernel as the default Delta path (#886, #713)
> - #903 adds Delta Kernel source and target coverage to
> ITConversionController and is approved.
> - #947 (local paths, #943) and #942 (commit tag mapping, #819) fix Kernel
> gaps found along the way.
>
> 6. Correctness and robustness fixes.
> - #951 falls back to parquet-footer stats when the Hudi metadata table
> returns degenerate values. It is approved and ready to merge.
> - #621 adds a custom Iceberg metadata cleaner.
> - #956 resolves the parquet source file system from the base path, and #957
> keeps absolute paths for data files outside the table base path in Delta
> targets.
> - #938 adds fail-safe handling for Delta deletion vectors (#657).
> - #952 bundles Iceberg's GlueCatalog and S3FileIO in xtable-utilities
> (#944).
> - #814 filters metadata directories out of Hudi partitions (#813).
> - Open bugs without a PR yet are #958, #959, #941, #936, #901 and #736.
> Help on any of these is welcome.
>
> 7. License and packaging (#701, #717, #865)
> - #876 keeps exactly one LICENSE and NOTICE in every published jar, and
> #895 makes the bundled-jar license metadata correct and checks it in CI.
> - It would be good to land these in 0.5.0, since they address the footnotes
> from the 0.4.0 vote.
>
> 8. AI agent tooling (#888)
> - The issues for an agent-legible CLI, a datasetConfig JSON Schema and an
> MCP surface are filed (#889, #890, #891), and #829 adds an xtable-converter
> skill. These are open for contributors.
>
> 9. Docs
> - #922 addresses the open review comments on the 0.4.0 Spark runtime docs
> (#920), and #921 covers when Delta Kernel is selected.
>
> PROPOSED TIMELINE
>
> I propose Thursday, October 8 as the code cutoff for 0.5.0, with anything
> not merged by then moving to 0.6.0. Tim, does that work for you?
>
> Reviews this week would make the biggest difference. In particular, it
> would be good to get eyes on #835, #894, #933, #935, #838, #839, #876 and
> #895.
> If there is an item you think must be in 0.5.0 that is not on the label, or
> if the date does not work for your area, please reply on this thread.
>
> [1] [DISCUSS] Scope and timeline for Apache XTable (incubating) 0.5.0 and
> future releases
>
> Thanks,
> Vinish
>
