3 July 2026

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OpenRiak Monthly Meeting Minutes

Date: July 8th, 2026
Next Meeting: August 5th, 2026

Attendees

• Martin S.
• Robert C.
• Peter C.
• Nicholas A.
• Frank E.
• Adrian
• George AG.
• Churchill
• Noel G.

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Agenda Overview

1. Performance Testing
2. Observability & Tooling
3. Security Interconnection
4. Interoperability & Integration
5. Awareness & Outreach
6. Features & Development
7. Documentation & Training
8. Cadence & Concordance
9. Other Business

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1. Performance Testing

• Martin reported that additional basho_bench testing on the Raspberry Pi cluster has been completed and shows significant performance improvements, though these results are currently limited to localised testing and have not yet been validated against full Riak cluster testing.
• The recent performance work improved reconciliation (object comparison for updates/discrepancies) rather than replication mechanisms such as range REPL, so it does not directly affect syncing to systems like OpenSearch.
• OpenRiak 3.4.1 was released (approx. one week prior), incorporating fixes and improvements for a user with a 100-billion-object Riak cluster.
• basho_bench tests were completed across OpenRiak 3.0.14, 3.2, and 3.4, with 3.4 showing the most significant improvements.
• Martin plans further consistency tests at 3.4 and at least one at 3.6 before publishing a comparative blog post.
• Investigation into the LevelEd BEAM benchmark tool is underway to isolate the source of performance improvements.

Action Items:

• Martin: Complete additional basho_bench consistency tests at OpenRiak 3.4 and at least one test at 3.6; publish a comparative performance blog post.
• Martin: Investigate and utilise the LevelEd BEAM benchmark tool to identify the source of performance improvements in LevelEd versus LevelDB.

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2. Observability & Tooling

• Churchill (via Robert C.) has been working on additions and changes to the Phoenix side of the EEF website.
• The primary focus is the development of a Live View dashboard for OpenRiak observability.
• Churchill is also reviewing open pull requests in observability and tooling.

Action Items:

• Churchill: Continue development of the Live View dashboard and progress outstanding pull request reviews in the observability area.

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3. Security Interconnection

• George has been working on OTP security hardening, including TLS 1.3 integration.
• Adrian is merging upstream Erlang changes required for OTP security compliance into OpenRiak; this work is ongoing.

Action Items:

• Adrian: Complete the merge of upstream Erlang security changes (OTP hardening / TLS 1.3) into the OpenRiak project.
• Churchill: Continue OTP security hardening and TLS 1.3 integration work.

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4. Interoperability & Integration

• Nicholas A. reported progress on a proof of concept (POC) for Valkey integration with OpenRiak, currently in the testing stage.
• Frank is working on multi-language client integrations using the Smithy API generator; basic Python reads/writes via HTTP API are functional, with further work planned for complex operations (e.g., map-reduce) and possible Rust support.

Action Items:

• Nicholas A.: Continue Valkey–OpenRiak POC testing and share a progress update with the group once the testing phase is complete.
• Frank: Continue multi-language client integration work using the Smithy generator; explore more complex operations (e.g., map-reduce) and continue resolving outstanding issues.

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5. Awareness & Outreach

• The OpenRiak GitHub repository has reached 192 stars, up from the high 180s at the previous check, reflecting steady organic growth.
• No further awareness or outreach updates were reported.

Action Items:

• Awareness & Outreach group: Continue monitoring GitHub star growth and community engagement metrics.

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6. Features & Development

• Steady focus on debugging and improving the release process; many fixes apply across multiple OpenRiak projects.
• Investigation is ongoing into a cluster failure-mode bug where the cluster does not recover properly after certain failures.
• OTP 28 compatibility is a priority; George AG. confirmed some test failures, with a summary pending.
• Discussion on a possible 3.6 compatibility release (current 3.x features on OTP 28) versus waiting for 4.0, which is still in progress.
• Current use of an informal AI-assisted ticket triage process was discussed, with interest in formalising this via GitHub workflow integration).

Action Items:

• George AG.: Complete the OTP 28 test run, compile a summary of all test failures, and share findings with the group.
• Robert C.: Investigate available AI-assisted ticket triage tooling for integration into the OpenRiak GitHub workflow.
• Martin: Assess OTP 28 compatibility requirements and advise on the feasibility and scope of a version 3.6 compatibility release.

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7. Documentation & Training

• Peter C. is experimenting with AI-assisted documentation automation, including generating documentation from code and converting tickets/issues into formal documentation.
• There is significant potential in these approaches, and further exploration of automation tooling is planned.

Action Items:

• Peter C.: Continue evaluating AI-assisted documentation automation tools and approaches; report findings and any recommended workflow to the group at the next meeting.

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8. Cadence & Concordance

• The community is maintaining a steady cadence with regular monthly meetings and ongoing ad hoc discussions.
• Community activity may be lower over the summer (still the most active working group in EEF), but the intention is to maintain the monthly meeting schedule.

Action Items:

• Robert C.: Continue to monitor community activity levels over the summer and ensure that the monthly meeting schedule is maintained.

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9. Other Business

• Peter C. raised a potential collaboration with the Tokyo Rust group, discussed in the Discord channel. More information is needed before any action can be taken.

-3.6 vs. 4.0 release decision: The discussion on the "3.6 vs. 4.0 release decision" revolved around balancing the need for OTP 28 compliance, managing feature readiness, and ensuring sustained support for the OpenRiak community. There was consensus that OpenRiak 4.0 should represent a significant step change, incorporating major new features like merge strategy behavior. However, concerns were raised about the lack of a partner customer to test these features in production, which might risk releasing unproven functionalities.To address this, a proposal was made to focus on a 3.6 release as an interim measure. This release would prioritize compatibility with OTP 28, addressing immediate needs without introducing higher-risk changes. This approach would provide more time for polishing and testing the 4.0 features, ensuring they are production-ready and community-vetted. The group agreed to circulate a discussion paper outlining the implications of each option before proceeding to a formal vote.

Action Items:

• Peter C.: Research the details of the potential collaboration with the Tokyo Rust group and present a summary to the group at the next meeting.

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Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for August 5th, 2026.