[VOTE] 4.1.2 RC1

Hello Kafka users, developers and client-developers,

This is the first candidate for release of Apache Kafka 4.1.2.

This is the second bug fix release for Apache Kafka 4.1 with fixes as
described in the release notes.

Release notes for the 4.1.2 release:
https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.2-rc1/RELEASE_NOTES.html

*** Please download, test and vote by Wednesday, March 4 2026, 9am UTC.

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

* Release artifacts to be voted upon (source and binary):
https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/kafka/4.1.2-rc1/

* Docker release artifacts to be voted upon:
apache/kafka:4.1.2-rc1
apache/kafka-native:4.1.2-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/4.1.2-rc1/javadoc/

* Tag to be voted upon (off 4.1 branch) is the 4.1.2 tag:
https://github.com/apache/kafka/releases/tag/4.1.2-rc1

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

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

* Successful CI builds for the 4.1 branch:
Unit/integration tests: https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/22355871722

System tests: https://confluent-open-source-kafka-branch-builder-system-test-results.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/trunk/2026-02-24--002.59fb52a4-4668-45ab-9ffa-bd60aad81cd4--1771979898--confluentinc--4.1--631c2c8761/report.html
One failure which has been present across several releases:
- tests/kafkatest/tests/tools/replica_verification_test.py::ReplicaVerificationToolTest.test_replica_lags@
{"metadata_quorum":"ISOLATED_KRAFT"}

* Successful Docker Image Github Actions Pipeline for 4.1 branch:
Docker Build Test Pipeline (JVM):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/22391397131
Docker Build Test Pipeline (Native):
https://github.com/apache/kafka/actions/runs/22392649516

Thanks,
Andrew Schofield