June 2026: Delivered GCS Data Access Audit principal attribution for vended credentials via Workload Identity Federation, enabling per-principal traceability in GCS audit logs when configured. The work included new configuration flags (GCS_PRINCIPAL_ATTRIBUTION_WIF_AUDIENCE, GCS_PRINCIPAL_ATTRIBUTION_TOKEN_ISSUER, GCS_PRINCIPAL_ATTRIBUTION_SIGNING_KEY_FILE, GCS_PRINCIPAL_ATTRIBUTION_SIGNING_KEY_ID), new components (GcpAttributionSubjectBuilder, GcpFederatedCredentialsExchanger), and integration into the credential vending flow with RS256 JWT signing and IdentityPoolCredentials STS exchange. Additions ensure that each GCS Data Access entry carries the principal identity, preserve per-principal cache isolation, and enhance security posture. The effort also encompassed documentation updates, license reporting adjustments for java-jwt, and test coverage for claims, caching, and configuration. Polaris-core builds and tests pass; config/docs are up to date. No major bugs fixed this month.

May 2026 monthly summary for apache/polaris. Delivered a configurable AWS STS session naming feature flag that enables operators to construct structured, per-context STS session names used for S3 data event attribution. The change introduces an ordered list of context fields (realm, catalog, namespace, table, principal) joined with '-' and prefixed with 'p-', with a 64-character limit and a backward-compatible fallback when fields are empty. Implemented robust caching to ensure session-name context is reflected in credential cache keys, preventing cross-table misattribution. Refactored session name construction for determinism and maintainability (including visibility adjustments). Updated docs and CHANGELOG, and added regression tests for cache-key and field-handling scenarios. Co-authored by Anand Kumar Sankaran.

February 2026: Implemented backend-agnostic metrics persistence with a new SPI and data models, introduced a v4 schema and JDBC bootstrap support, added a JDBC persistence layer for Iceberg metrics, and rolled out per-field AWS STS session tags with updated docs. Also fixed critical schema versioning for v4 and refined documentation.

Month: 2026-01 – Monthly development impact focused on enabling robust end-to-end tracing, auditability, and telemetry, with performance-conscious changes to caching and metrics reporting across the Polaris stack.