[VOTE] 4.3.0 RC1

[Mickael Maison]

Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers,

This is the 2nd candidate for release of Apache Kafka 4.3.0.

This release includes 25 KIPs bringing improvements to all components.

Release notes for the 4.3.0 release:
https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.3.0-rc1/RELEASE_NOTES.html

*** Please download, test and vote by May 11, 5pm CEST

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/4.3.0-rc1/

* Docker release artifacts to be voted upon:
apache/kafka:4.3.0-rc1
apache/kafka-native:4.3.0-rc1

* 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/4.3.0-rc1/javadoc/index.html

* Tag to be voted upon (off 4.3 branch) is the 4.3.0 tag:
https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.3.0-rc1

* Documentation:
PR: https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/853

* Protocol:
PR: https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/pull/853

* Successful CI builds for the 4.3 branch:
Unit/integration tests: https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/25372903952
System tests: Tests are currently running

* Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.3 branch:
Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/25367577186
Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/25367591295

Thanks,
Mickael