[Doc] Add release notes for StarRocks v4.1.2 and v4.1.3

[EsoragotoSpirit]

Why I'm doing:

StarRocks v4.1.2 (June 18, 2026) and v4.1.3 (July 14, 2026) were released without English release notes. This PR adds both sections.

What I'm doing:

• Adds ## 4.1.3 section (Release Date: July 14, 2026) with Behavior Changes, Improvements, Security, and Bug Fixes
• Adds ## 4.1.2 section (Release Date: June 18, 2026) with Behavior Changes, Improvements, Security, and Bug Fixes

Both sections were drafted from the backported PR sets collected via collect-prs.sh, categorized per references/categorization.md, and linted with Vale (0 errors) and markdownlint (0 errors).

What type of PR is this:

• BugFix
• Feature
• Enhancement
• Refactor
• UT
• Doc
• Tool

Does this PR entail a change in behavior?

• Yes, this PR will result in a change in behavior.
• No, this PR will not result in a change in behavior.

Checklist:

• I have added test cases for my bug fix or my new feature
• This pr needs user documentation (for new or modified features or behaviors)
  • I have added documentation for my new feature or new function
  • This pr needs auto generate documentation
• This is a backport pr

Bugfix cherry-pick branch check:

• I have checked the version labels which the pr will be auto-backported to the target branch
  • 4.1
  • 4.0
  • 3.5

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Needs reviewer confirmation

4.1.3

• [BugFix] Preserve declared VARCHAR length in CTAS #73498 — Behavior Changes — behavior_changed label; CTAS VARCHAR length preservation. May also need a note in the upgrade/downgrade warning block if users have existing CTAS-created tables with widened VARCHAR.
• [BugFix] FILES()/LOAD respect Parquet isAdjustedToUTC=false for INT64 timestamps #73674 — Behavior Changes — behavior_changed label; changes how isAdjustedToUTC=false INT64 Parquet timestamps are loaded. Potential upgrade warning for users who relied on the old timezone-shifted values.
• [BugFix] Fix LIKE escaping mismatch with MySQL in constant folding #74814 — Behavior Changes — behavior_changed label; changes LIKE constant-folding backslash-escape results to match MySQL 8. Possible upgrade warning for users relying on old behavior.
• [Enhancement] Support property.kafka_partition_discovery for routine load #74729 — Behavior Changes — behavior_changed label; new property.kafka_partition_discovery property. Confirm whether this is a new feature (Improvements) instead of a behavior change.
• [Enhancement] Push down non-group-by aggregate through union all #73930 — Behavior Changes — behavior_changed label; aggregate pushdown through UNION ALL. Confirm whether this could affect query results for any existing workloads.
• [Enhancement] IVM: re-derive the maintenance query at refresh instead of freezing it #74881 — Behavior Changes — behavior_changed label; IVM MVs re-derive maintenance query at refresh. Confirm whether this needs a migration note for users with existing IVM MVs.
• [Enhancement] Store union-aggregate state once in IVM materialized views #75760 — Behavior Changes — behavior_changed label; IVM schema change (hidden __AGG_STATE_ column eliminated). Confirm whether existing IVM MVs need recreation or migrate transparently.
• [Enhancement] Raise lake_vacuum_min_batch_delete_size default from 100 to 200 #74304 — Behavior Changes — no behavior_changed label but default config value changes (lake_vacuum_min_batch_delete_size 100→200). Confirm whether this belongs in Improvements instead.
• [BugFix] Fix unexpected backend process restarts #74424 — Bug Fixes — title "Fix unexpected backend process restarts" is terse; no root-cause detail in body_excerpt. Confirm whether the description is sufficient.
• [BugFix] upgrade staros to v4.1.1 #75204 — Improvements (staros upgrade); this PR has a dequeued label. Confirm whether dequeued means it did not land in 4.1.3 and should be excluded.

4.1.2

• [BugFix] carry load times as UTC epoch ms across BE/FE thrift #73365 — Behavior Changes — potential rolling-upgrade concern: on mixed FE/BE versions, information_schema.loads filtering may differ between nodes. Confirm if a downgrade/upgrade note is needed.
• [BugFix] Detect iceberg/external MV schema drift on refresh #73770 — Behavior Changes — users with MVs on Iceberg tables with schema drift will see those MVs deactivated instead of silently returning wrong data. Consider adding an upgrade warning block entry.
• [BugFix] IVM MV refresh: surface strict-load errors instead of silently dropping rows #73938 — Behavior Changes — IVM refresh now errors on filtered rows. Users with IVM MVs on Iceberg tables with decimal overflow should review whether refresh jobs will now fail instead of silently dropping rows.
• [Enhancement] Enable Avro JNI reader by default and document CHAR compatibility #73569 — already listed in 4.1.1 Behavior Changes (Avro JNI reader default). Confirm it should not appear again in 4.1.2.

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🌎 Translation Required?

Thanks for your doc contribution! The following languages are missing or outdated for your changes.

🤖 Automated Translations

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Maintainer: Check the ones you wish to generate:

docs/en/release_notes/release-4.1.md

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• ja for docs/en/release_notes/release-4.1.md (New)

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🕒 Last updated: Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:29:41 GMT

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