ASF Plus One Newsletter: May 2026

Published on May 28, 2026
By The ASF

From the rise of Apache Iceberg and the modernization of Apache Geode, to a behind-the-scenes look at the rebuild of Apache STeVe v3, this month’s Plus One highlights how open collaboration continues driving innovation across the ASF ecosystem. We’re also gearing up for Community Over Code Glasgow 2026; sharing important ecosystem updates; celebrating ASF project anniversaries; and welcoming the Foundation’s new Executive Vice President.

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Community

Apache Iceberg has quickly become a foundational technology in modern data architectures, but its impact goes far beyond performance and scale. We had a conversation with Dipankar Mazumdar, Director of Developer Relations at Cloudera, to explore how Iceberg redefined the data lake, and how community, education, and open collaboration fueled its adoption. Read the full blog here.

The ASF is one of the few open source organizations governed entirely by its community, not by vendors or corporate stakeholders. Every year, roughly 800 members of The ASF cast votes to elect a Board of Directors, admit new members, and decide the direction of the Foundation. This year, those elections ran on Apache® STeVe v3, a complete rebuild of the system we’ve relied on for many years. Read more on the Apache.org blog about why the rebuild mattered, what went into it, and how you can get involved.

Registration for Community Over Code Glasgow 2026 is still open, and the full schedule is now live – featuring 168 sessions across 18 tracks covering AI, cloud infrastructure, data engineering, open source governance, security, and more. Bringing together contributors, maintainers, and open source leaders from across the Apache ecosystem, the event offers opportunities for cross-project collaboration, technical learning, and community building both inside and outside the session rooms.

Attendees can also take advantage of discounted room rates at the Hilton Glasgow, this year’s venue hotel. Early-bird registration is available through July 28, 2026, at USD$500, with committers from ASF projects eligible to register for USD$250 at any time using a valid apache.org email address.

Also, The ASF’s Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) is still accepting applications for both Community Over Code Glasgow 2026 and Community Over Code Beijing 2026. TAC support may help cover travel, accommodations, and conference registration costs for contributors attending either event.

View the schedule, register, or apply for TAC support:

Project Updates

Apache Geode 2.0 continues its modernization effort with major upgrades across its Java ecosystem, including upgrades to Java 17, Jakarta EE 10, Spring 6, and other core dependencies.

In the past month, 29 projects elected a total of 43 committers and 12 projects elected a total of 14 PMC members.

We’re also proud to celebrate 20 ASF Top-Level Project anniversaries:

1-5 Years
Apache Gravitino
Apache StormCrawler
Apache SeaTunnel
Apache AGE

5-10 Years
Apache Hudi
Apache Iceberg
Apache Dubbo
Apache SystemDS
Apache TinkerPop
Apache Zeppelin

10-15 Years
Apache Whimsy
Apache Phoenix
Apache ManifoldCF
Apache Libcloud

15-20 Years
Apache OpenJPA
Apache POI
Apache TomEE
Apache Turbine

20-25 Years
Apache Tomcat
Apache Geronimo

Foundation News

We are excited to welcome Daniel Ruggeri as the new Executive Vice President of The ASF. A longtime contributor and member of The ASF, Daniel has played an active role in the Foundation’s growth and governance.

Learn more about his appointment and contributions here.

Ecosystem News

As a final reminder, major public Certificate Authorities will stop including the clientAuth Extended Key Usage (EKU) in public TLS certificates beginning May 2026. This change may impact mutual TLS (mTLS) deployments during routine certificate renewals, and organizations relying on public certificates for client authentication should review affected systems and begin planning migration paths now.

Log4Shell revealed just how fragile modern software supply chains can be, prompting the Log4j community to rethink everything from documentation and release workflows to long-term security practices. While the project emerged stronger and more transparent, the experience also underscored a broader issue facing open source: how to sustainably support maintainers amid growing regulatory and security demands.

ICYMI Read: Lessons from Log4Shell: Building a CRA-Ready Log4j

Events

Community Over Code Asia
August 7-9, 2026
Beijing, China

Lakehouse Day
October 10, 2026
Glasgow, Scotland

Community Over Code Glasgow
October 11-14, 2026
Glasgow, Scotland

President’s Letter

The success of open source software is proof that distributed collaboration works without the humans ever being in the same room. We’ve shown it through decades of work across time zones (and languages and cultures!), but we still hold events like Community Over Code. Why?

The reality is that while we have accomplished so, so much without anyone ever getting on a plane, there’s also quite a bit that has been built and refined through in-person encounters. Talks and panels are important, of course, but the “hallway track,” those unscheduled moments of serendipity, are where the magic really happens. Maybe it’s a conversation you have waiting for the keynotes to begin, or the relationships you forged at your table during lightning talks, trivia games, or karaoke. Or maybe it’s a TAC recipient who learns about a project while volunteering and becomes a long-term contributor. All of these things provide real impact on the Foundation.

Those of us who have experienced the value of these connections learned during the canceled events of the pandemic just how important they are…and how difficult they are to truly recreate in virtual settings. I struggle with that, because I know there are many folks who simply can’t travel to events. If that’s you, and it’s a financial concern, please apply for TAC assistance. If it’s other reasons, the conference planners are always open to suggestions that help you attend.

Community Over Code Glasgow and Beijing are both approaching, and I hope you’ll have the opportunity to join us. While the schedules are being finalized, I know that some of the most important things that will happen will never be spelled out on an agenda.

Sincerely,
Ruth Suehle