From 99282c029a8e5fd7d39d46060821c71e098eba65 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:46:58 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 1/9] Add a note about the 3.5 eLTS period. --- versioning-policy.md | 5 ++++- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/versioning-policy.md b/versioning-policy.md index 6bc11796eb..bb4203a530 100644 --- a/versioning-policy.md +++ b/versioning-policy.md @@ -115,4 +115,7 @@ For example, branch 2.3.x is no longer considered maintained as of September 201 of 2.3.0 in February 2018. No more 2.3.x releases should be expected after that point, even for bug fixes. The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for longer as an "LTS" release. -For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and will be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026. +For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026. + + +As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.X has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed, as 4.0 was released relatively late into the 3.5 cycle. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027*. 3.5.X extended LTS period will include only security fixes. Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. From c76f512f487b57f92ce3d80bcbd9542f15c4c8bb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:03:54 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 2/9] Clarify the seperate sub projects. --- versioning-policy.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/versioning-policy.md b/versioning-policy.md index bb4203a530..800a8ca1ed 100644 --- a/versioning-policy.md +++ b/versioning-policy.md @@ -118,4 +118,4 @@ The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for l For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026. -As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.X has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed, as 4.0 was released relatively late into the 3.5 cycle. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027*. 3.5.X extended LTS period will include only security fixes. Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. +As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed, as 4.0 was released relatively late into the 3.5 cycle. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027* . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. From 5cccaf15b1db9a12df33cede53f3246d1add674e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2026 15:52:54 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 3/9] Regenerate the site --- site/versioning-policy.html | 4 +++- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/site/versioning-policy.html b/site/versioning-policy.html index 6488d30832..2c39a0325d 100644 --- a/site/versioning-policy.html +++ b/site/versioning-policy.html @@ -310,7 +310,9 @@

Maintenance releases and EOL

of 2.3.0 in February 2018. No more 2.3.x releases should be expected after that point, even for bug fixes.

The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for longer as an “LTS” release. -For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and will be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026.

+For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026.

+ +

As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an “extended” LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed, as 4.0 was released relatively late into the 3.5 cycle. This extended LTS period will end November 2027 . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period.

From 8a8a3a64e5a307407f624e576306ec52f14600ca Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:13:28 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 4/9] Update the note for versioning policy to not mention 4.0 in the context of 3.5 --- versioning-policy.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/versioning-policy.md b/versioning-policy.md index 800a8ca1ed..a12f11fd8c 100644 --- a/versioning-policy.md +++ b/versioning-policy.md @@ -118,4 +118,4 @@ The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for l For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026. -As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed, as 4.0 was released relatively late into the 3.5 cycle. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027* . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. +As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027* . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. From ed9804c48858988d0871122b055690466ddc693f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:16:54 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 5/9] Drop the 4.0 ref per CR feedback. --- site/versioning-policy.html | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/site/versioning-policy.html b/site/versioning-policy.html index 2c39a0325d..17ba6a06a5 100644 --- a/site/versioning-policy.html +++ b/site/versioning-policy.html @@ -312,7 +312,7 @@

Maintenance releases and EOL

The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for longer as an “LTS” release. For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026.

-

As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an “extended” LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed, as 4.0 was released relatively late into the 3.5 cycle. This extended LTS period will end November 2027 . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period.

+

As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an “extended” LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end November 2027 . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period.

From 4a1630bddd55d5b43689b1d8eae66cea68c0fa01 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:53:52 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 6/9] Fix extra space --- versioning-policy.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/versioning-policy.md b/versioning-policy.md index a12f11fd8c..740a3354f2 100644 --- a/versioning-policy.md +++ b/versioning-policy.md @@ -118,4 +118,4 @@ The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for l For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026. -As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027* . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. +As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027*. During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. From 092128088dd155fe3aab4027257704ea6b5f736a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:54:25 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 7/9] Rebuild dropping space --- site/versioning-policy.html | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/site/versioning-policy.html b/site/versioning-policy.html index 17ba6a06a5..c674d4741b 100644 --- a/site/versioning-policy.html +++ b/site/versioning-policy.html @@ -312,7 +312,7 @@

Maintenance releases and EOL

The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for longer as an “LTS” release. For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026.

-

As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an “extended” LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end November 2027 . During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period.

+

As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an “extended” LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end November 2027. During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period.

From 725ac7bab273ae8831050c470a0cbf5c7ecf9de9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:59:27 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 8/9] Update the note to say we may decide won't fix too as a possibility. --- versioning-policy.md | 3 +-- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/versioning-policy.md b/versioning-policy.md index 740a3354f2..cce0805b08 100644 --- a/versioning-policy.md +++ b/versioning-policy.md @@ -117,5 +117,4 @@ of 2.3.0 in February 2018. No more 2.3.x releases should be expected after that The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for longer as an "LTS" release. For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026. - -As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027*. During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period. +As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an "extended" LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end *November 2027*. During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support may be removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we may decide to mark that vulnerability as a won't fix or release the new version without Java 8 support. From b8ffeb354ca6a67c054c98253bbc48a87b36cea2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Karau Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:01:06 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 9/9] Update versioning policy HTML. --- site/versioning-policy.html | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/site/versioning-policy.html b/site/versioning-policy.html index c674d4741b..ca734f6ca0 100644 --- a/site/versioning-policy.html +++ b/site/versioning-policy.html @@ -312,7 +312,7 @@

Maintenance releases and EOL

The last minor release within a major release will typically be maintained for longer as an “LTS” release. For example, 3.5.0 was released on September 13th 2023 and would normally be maintained for 31 months until April 12th 2026.

-

As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an “extended” LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end November 2027. During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support is being removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we will drop Java 8 from the remainder of the extended LTS period.

+

As an exception from the normal versioning policy, version 3.5.x has an “extended” LTS period to allow for migrations to be completed. This extended LTS period will end November 2027. During the 3.5.x extended LTS period, we will only include security fixes. This extend LTS only applies to the primary Apache Spark project/repo and does not apply to sub projects with separate repos/releases (namely: Spark Connect for Swift/Rust/Go and Spark Kubernetes operator). Additionally, as Java 8 support may be removed from other projects (including Hadoop), should a dependency have a security fix that is not backported to a Java 8 compatible version we may decide to mark that vulnerability as a won’t fix or release the new version without Java 8 support.