Introducing Apache Kafka® 3.8

Apache Kafka 3.8.0 has been released, featuring several new features and improvements, including support for compression level configuration, deprecation of Log4J Appender, and enhancements to the Consumer Rebalance Protocol. The release also includes various bug fixes, new metrics, and improved state store iterator metrics. Additionally, Apache Kafka 3.8.0 introduces a mechanism to restrict files accessed by File and Directory ConfigProviders, allows producer and consumer clients to rebootstrap, and adds support for Docker images for GraalVM-based Native Kafka Broker. The release also includes several KIPs (Kafka Improvement Proposals) that introduce new features, such as Shareable State Stores, customizable task assignment for Streams, and improved state store iterator metrics.