[VOTE] 4.1.1 RC2

Hello Kafka users, developers, and client-developers,

This is the third candidate for the release of Apache Kafka 4.1.1.

This is a bug-fix release, including several critical ones. All listed
in the release notes.

Release notes for the 4.1.1 release:
https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.1-rc2/RELEASE_NOTES.html

*** Please download, test, and vote by Friday, Oct 31th, 9:00 AM EDT

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/4.1.1-rc2/

* Docker release artifacts to be voted upon:
apache/kafka:4.1.1-rc2
https://hub.docker.com/layers/apache/kafka/4.1.1-rc2/images/sha256-7240ff4534bd23dac2f215ba03a2d0aa9d041b45b830804bbdec3b81c2bdf479

apache/kafka-native:4.1.1-rc2
https://hub.docker.com/layers/apache/kafka-native/4.1.1-rc2/images/sha256-017871b0ef2ad665030fc66596b4b9ce583c7faee530829d17d02d16c141d43c


* Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline:
Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/18842310556
Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/18842435768

* 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/4.1.1-rc2/javadoc/

* Tag to be voted upon (off 4.1 branch):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.1.1-rc2

* Documentation:
https://kafka.apache.org/41/documentation.html

* Protocol:
https://kafka.apache.org/41/protocol.html

*CI builds for the 4.1 branch:
Unit/integration tests (all pass):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/18841931048/job/53756117583

System tests: (Running, I will share the report when ready)

Thanks!
Lianet