[VOTE] 4.0.0 RC1

[David Jacot]

Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers,

This is the second candidate for release of Apache Kafka 4.0.0.

- This is the first release without Apache Zookeeper
- The Next Generation of the Consumer Rebalance Protocol is Generally Available
- The Transactions Server-Side Defense (Phase 2) is Generally Available
- Queues for Kafka is in Early Access
- Kafka uses log4j2
- Drop broker and tools support for Java 11
- Remove old client protocol API versions

Release notes for the 4.0.0 release:
https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.0.0-rc1/RELEASE_NOTES.html

*** Please download, test and vote by Monday, March 10, 9am PT

Kafka's KEYS file containing PGP keys we use to sign the release:
https://kafka.apache.org/KEYS

* Release artifacts to be voted upon (source and binary):
https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.0.0-rc1/

* Docker release artifacts to be voted upon:
apache/kafka:4.0.0-rc1
apache/kafka-native:4.0.0-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/4.0.0-rc1/javadoc/

* Tag to be voted upon (off 4.0 branch) is the 4.0.0 tag:
https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.0.0-rc1

* Documentation:
https://kafka.apache.org/40/documentation.html

* Protocol:
https://kafka.apache.org/40/protocol.html

* Successful CI builds for the 4.0 branch:
Unit/integration tests: https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/13672312235
System tests: https://confluent-open-source-kafka-branch-builder-system-test-results.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/trunk/2025-03-04--001.4b1e04f8-d24c-46e2-86ac-7d82d31cd335--1741139379--apache--4.0--9ef4d5ab86/report.html

* Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.0 branch:
Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/13677582256
Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/13677587424

/**************************************

Thanks,
David Jacot

[David Jacot]

We still have two documentation blockers:
* https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-18074
* https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-18422

They should be resolved by the end of the week. I will update the
documentation when they are merged.

Best,
David