Release DataFusion `55.1.0` (minor/patch) Release (Sep 2026)

[alamb]

Is your feature request related to a problem or challenge?

• Part of [EPIC] DataFusion Releases #19783
• Follow on to Release DataFusion 55.0.0 (Jul / Aug 2026) #22393

Plan a 55.0.1 or 55.1.0 patch release to fix any bugs / issues found in 55.0.0.

Steps:

• Update version and changelog
• Test with DataFusion Python
• Test with DataFusion Comet
• Test with delta.rs:
• Test vortex:
• Test with iceberg-rust:
• Test with LakeSail:
• Test with parquet viewer
• Test with datafusion-materialized-views
• Voting Thread:
• Publish to crates.io

Potential Content:

Bug Fixes

• fix: preserve MERGE target qualifier bindings #24429 (@wirybeaver)
• Parquet filter pushdown silently drops a get_field predicate when the file needs schema adaptation (wrong results) #24109 (@adriangb) — not a regression in 55 (was in 54 too)
• GroupedHashAggregateStream::emit throws ArrowError: column types must match schema types #24069 (@hsiang-c) — not a regression

Performance

• TBD

Other

• TBD

Minor Features:

• feat: add basic MemTable MERGE INTO support #24195 (@wirybeaver)