Flink community blog February 2026

[davidradl]

No description provided.

[rmoff]

thanks for writing this @davidradl! I've left a few nits and suggestions.

[featzhang]

Since this is a "February 2026" update covering "January 2026," consider adding the publication date more prominently in the introduction to avoid confusion for future readers.
Additional Recommendations 📝

1. Add Metrics: Consider adding quantitative data (e.g., "X PRs merged," "Y contributors active") to make the update more concrete.
2. Call to Action: The closing section is good, but consider adding specific ways newcomers can contribute (e.g., "Good First Issues").
3. Image/Visual: Consider adding a banner image or diagram to make the post more engaging.
4. Consistency Check: Ensure all FLIP links are working and point to the correct Confluence pages.

[featzhang]

⦁Which AI tool was used?
⦁Was this content reviewed by humans?
⦁Consider adding a note like: "The following section was generated with AI assistance and reviewed by the community."

[davidradl]

@rmoff I have not added hyperlinks for these - if you would like them I can add.

[davidradl]

@rmoff @rmetzger @snuyanzin I have addressed all concerns that have been raised. @featzhang has approved, I have not changed anything relating to his last comment.

Thank you all for your thorough reviews - I really appreciate it. I hope we can wrap this up soon, any further changes you want, before we publish?

[davidradl]

@rmoff @rmetzger @snuyanzin up for review again. I have been burnt using some AI with this - every single piece it produced has been corrected / changed, so I have removed the reference to AI. It is all manual now - lesson learned :-)
Let me know if you see anything else I need to change .

[davidradl]

@rmoff @rmetzger @snuyanzin I propose that if there is no more feedback until 4PM UK Friday (13th feb) I will merge.

[rmoff]

Suggested change

	* [Flink Community update for February 2026](#flink-community-update-for-february-2026)
	* [Bringing us up to date - a brief summary of what has happened in Flink since 2020 up to end of 2025.](#bringing-us-up-to-date---a-brief-summary-of-what-has-happened-in-flink-since-2020-up-to-end-of-2025)
	* [January 2026 overview](#january-2026-overview)
	* [Flink related Blogs](#flink-related-blogs)
	* [Summary of Apache Flink Dev List (covering January 2026)](#summary-of-apache-flink-dev-list-covering-january-2026)
	* [Key Themes](#key-themes)
	* [Community Announcements](#community-announcements)
	* [New Committers](#new-committers)
	* [New PMC Member](#new-pmc-member)
	* [FLIP Activity](#flip-activity)
	* [Accepted - being implemented](#accepted---being-implemented)
	* [Being discussed](#being-discussed)
	* [Kubernetes Operator 1.14.0 Release](#kubernetes-operator-1140-release)
	* [For more information](#for-more-information)
	* [Bringing us up to date - a brief summary of what has happened in Flink since 2020 up to end of 2025.](#bringing-us-up-to-date---a-brief-summary-of-what-has-happened-in-flink-since-2020-up-to-end-of-2025)
	* [January 2026 overview](#january-2026-overview)
	* [Flink related Blogs](#flink-related-blogs)
	* [Summary of Apache Flink Dev List (covering January 2026)](#summary-of-apache-flink-dev-list-covering-january-2026)
	* [Key Themes](#key-themes)
	* [Community Announcements](#community-announcements)
	* [New Committers](#new-committers)
	* [New PMC Member](#new-pmc-member)
	* [FLIP Activity](#flip-activity)
	* [Accepted - being implemented](#accepted---being-implemented)
	* [Being discussed](#being-discussed)
	* [Kubernetes Operator 1.14.0 Release](#kubernetes-operator-1140-release)
	* [For more information](#for-more-information)

[rmoff]

no point including the title in the ToC

[rmoff]

Suggested change

	* Flink kubernetes operator
	* Flink Kubernetes operator

[rmoff]

Suggested change

	2. Technical debt - more Scala to JAVA rule conversions in the table planner including:
	2. Technical debt - more Scala to Java rule conversions in the table planner including:

[rmoff]

add link to connector parent (hyperlink the text)

[rmoff]

add link to AWS connectors (hyperlink the text)

[rmetzger]

I'm wondering if we should revisit the cadence of this from monthly to quarterly going forward, as it seems difficult to find enough material for a monthly post?
also, I am still not super excited about the "summary of the last 5 years" section. It doesn't do justice to all the hard work the community has put.

[rmoff]

@davidradl I've left some more comments. You're right that AI sucks for writing copy—but it's excellent for reviewing it :) FWIW this is the prompt that I use. It identified the following on your current draft which would be worth at least checking through before shipping:

Typos and Grammar

1. "a inflight shard rotation" — should be "an in-flight shard rotation". Wrong article ("a" before a vowel sound), and "in-flight" is conventionally hyphenated.
2. "JAVA" — should be "Java". Java is not an acronym.
3. "as usual this update will summarise" — this is the first community update in six years. "As usual" is factually wrong. Remove it or rewrite, e.g. "This update summarises what happened in January."
4. "Flink HTTP connector, addressed all outstanding raised PRs." — comma splice. The comma separates the subject from its verb. Should be: "The Flink HTTP connector addressed all outstanding PRs." ("raised" is also redundant alongside "outstanding".)
5. "commits, improvements to the blue-green deployment stood out." — this is a sentence fragment. It reads like rough notes. Something like: "There were N commits; improvements to blue-green deployment stood out."
6. "long awaited" — should be hyphenated: "long-awaited" (compound adjective before a noun).
7. "connector specific repository" + "their own" — two issues: "connector-specific" needs a hyphen, and "the rest of the connector code is in their own" should be "its own" (singular antecedent).
8. "Preparing for releasing it." — awkward phrasing. Simply: "Preparing for release."
9. "Enterprise ready." — should be hyphenated: "Enterprise-ready" (compound adjective).
10. "slack" — should be capitalised: "Slack" (proper noun).
11. "Previous Blog :" — spurious space before the colon.
12. "a monthly blog, that will highlight" — unnecessary comma. The clause is restrictive, so no comma: "a monthly blog that will highlight".

Formatting Issues

13. Bare <p> HTML tags appear in the markdown. These are unnecessary and render as empty paragraph breaks. Use a blank line instead.
14. Double space in heading: # Flink Community update has two spaces after #.
15. Title inconsistency: the YAML frontmatter says Flink Community Update - February'26 (capitalised "Update", abbreviated year) but the H1 heading says Flink Community update for February 2026 (lowercase "update", full year). Pick one and be consistent.
16. Inconsistent FLIP link formatting: FLIP-339, FLIP-487, FLIP-558 have a colon : after the link, but FLIP-560, FLIP-557, FLIP-563 do not. Should be consistent.

Content / Logic Issues

17. "k8s experience." (under "Bringing us up to date") — this bullet point is too vague to be useful. What improved about the Kubernetes experience?
18. "SUM" acronym — the FLIP-558 description uses "SUM" as an acronym for "Sink Upsert Materializer". This is confusing because SUM universally means summation. Either introduce it more carefully or just spell it out without abbreviating.
19. "Deprecation of older APIs, leaving the strategic ones." — "the strategic ones" is vague. Which APIs?
20. The post is trying to do too much: it bridges a 6-year gap and does a monthly recap.

[davidradl]

I'm wondering if we should revisit the cadence of this from monthly to quarterly going forward, as it seems difficult to find enough material for a monthly post? also, I am still not super excited about the "summary of the last 5 years" section. It doesn't do justice to all the hard work the community has put.

For me I would like to do the monthly blog, this seems consistent with what we did in the past and the Kafka digest. It is easier to consume for the reader if there is less there. This is the big first blog which was always going to take a little longer.

On the "summary of the last 5 years" I see your point. I added this in response to @snuyanzin s suggestion. I guess the options are:
1- leave as is - slightly underwhelming but does connect this blog to the last one 5 years ago
2- remove the 5 year gap, and potentially do a separate piece to cover the 5 years in more detail - to the level where it really showcases the value and work the community has done
3- add more to the summary section.

I am leaning to option 2, but do not have strong views so will go with the consensus, as I want this published soon - or we will be doing Februaries and Januaries is not out!

[davidradl]

@rmoff I appreciate your detailed feedback and sharing the prompt you use to review. Very useful thank you.

[rmoff]

On the "summary of the last 5 years" I see your point. I added this in response to @snuyanzin s suggestion. I guess the options are:
1- leave as is - slightly underwhelming but does connect this blog to the last one 5 years ago
2- remove the 5 year gap, and potentially do a separate piece to cover the 5 years in more detail - to the level where it really showcases the value and work the community has done
3- add more to the summary section.

I would also go for option 2 - make this just a January recap, and then in parallel do a separate piece on Flink's progress over the larger timeframe