[KIP-1106] Feature Request: Implement Duration-Based Offset Reset for Consumers

[samssh]

Summary

I am requesting the implementation of KIP-1106: Add duration based offset reset option for consumer clients in librdkafka. This feature is crucial for consumer groups that utilize topics with long-term or infinite retention and require a time-bound offset management strategy.

Description

The standard auto.offset.reset configuration currently only supports earliest or latest. KIP-1106 proposes a vital enhancement: allowing a consumer to reset its offset to the earliest message within a specified duration (e.g., 30 days, 1w, 5h) if no committed offset is found.

This would involve updating the auto.offset.reset configuration property to properly parse and interpret a duration string (e.g., "30d" or "10h").

Rationale and Impact

Implementing KIP-1106 ensures that librdkafka and its language bindings (Python, Go, .NET, etc.) maintain feature parity with the official Java client. This is a critical operational feature, preventing new consumer deployments from unnecessarily processing years of historical data when running against high-retention topics.

Thank you for considering this feature request.