Release v4.1.0 (#6076)

.appveyor.yml

-version: 4.0.0.99.{build}
+version: 4.1.0.{build}
 
 image: Visual Studio 2015
 platform: x64

R-package/configure

 #! /bin/sh
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
-# Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.71 for lightgbm 4.0.0.99.
+# Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.71 for lightgbm 4.1.0.
 #
 #
 # Copyright (C) 1992-1996, 1998-2017, 2020-2021 Free Software Foundation,
@@ -607,8 +607,8 @@ MAKEFLAGS=
 # Identity of this package.
 PACKAGE_NAME='lightgbm'
 PACKAGE_TARNAME='lightgbm'
-PACKAGE_VERSION='4.0.0.99'
-PACKAGE_STRING='lightgbm 4.0.0.99'
+PACKAGE_VERSION='4.1.0'
+PACKAGE_STRING='lightgbm 4.1.0'
 PACKAGE_BUGREPORT=''
 PACKAGE_URL=''
 
@@ -1211,7 +1211,7 @@ if test "$ac_init_help" = "long"; then
   # Omit some internal or obsolete options to make the list less imposing.
   # This message is too long to be a string in the A/UX 3.1 sh.
   cat <<_ACEOF
-\`configure' configures lightgbm 4.0.0.99 to adapt to many kinds of systems.
+\`configure' configures lightgbm 4.1.0 to adapt to many kinds of systems.
 
 Usage: $0 [OPTION]... [VAR=VALUE]...
 
@@ -1273,7 +1273,7 @@ fi
 
 if test -n "$ac_init_help"; then
   case $ac_init_help in
-     short | recursive ) echo "Configuration of lightgbm 4.0.0.99:";;
+     short | recursive ) echo "Configuration of lightgbm 4.1.0:";;
    esac
   cat <<\_ACEOF
 
@@ -1341,7 +1341,7 @@ fi
 test -n "$ac_init_help" && exit $ac_status
 if $ac_init_version; then
   cat <<\_ACEOF
-lightgbm configure 4.0.0.99
+lightgbm configure 4.1.0
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.71
 
 Copyright (C) 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@@ -1378,7 +1378,7 @@ cat >config.log <<_ACEOF
 This file contains any messages produced by compilers while
 running configure, to aid debugging if configure makes a mistake.
 
-It was created by lightgbm $as_me 4.0.0.99, which was
+It was created by lightgbm $as_me 4.1.0, which was
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.71.  Invocation command line was
 
   $ $0$ac_configure_args_raw
@@ -2454,7 +2454,7 @@ cat >>$CONFIG_STATUS <<\_ACEOF || ac_write_fail=1
 # report actual input values of CONFIG_FILES etc. instead of their
 # values after options handling.
 ac_log="
-This file was extended by lightgbm $as_me 4.0.0.99, which was
+This file was extended by lightgbm $as_me 4.1.0, which was
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.71.  Invocation command line was
 
   CONFIG_FILES    = $CONFIG_FILES
@@ -2509,7 +2509,7 @@ ac_cs_config_escaped=`printf "%s\n" "$ac_cs_config" | sed "s/^ //; s/'/'\\\\\\\\
 cat >>$CONFIG_STATUS <<_ACEOF || ac_write_fail=1
 ac_cs_config='$ac_cs_config_escaped'
 ac_cs_version="\\
-lightgbm config.status 4.0.0.99
+lightgbm config.status 4.1.0
 configured by $0, generated by GNU Autoconf 2.71,
   with options \\"\$ac_cs_config\\"
 

R-package/cran-comments.md

 # CRAN Submission History
 
+## v4.1.0 - not submitted
+
+v4.1.0 was not submitted to CRAN, because https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM/issues/5987 had not been resolved.
+
+## v4.0.0 - Submission 2 - (July 19, 2023)
+
+### CRAN response
+
+> Dear maintainer,
+> package lightgbm_4.0.0.tar.gz does not pass the incoming checks automatically.
+
+The logs linked from those messagges showed one issue remaining on Debian (0 on Windows).
+
+```text
+* checking examples ... [7s/4s] NOTE
+Examples with CPU time > 2.5 times elapsed time
+                    user system elapsed  ratio
+lgb.restore_handle 1.206  0.085   0.128 10.08
+```
+
+### Maintainer Notes
+
+Chose to document the issue and need for a fix in https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM/issues/5987, but not resubmit,
+to avoid annoying CRAN maintainers.
+
+## v4.0.0 - Submission 1 - (July 16, 2023)
+
+### CRAN response
+
+> Dear maintainer,
+> package lightgbm_4.0.0.tar.gz does not pass the incoming checks automatically.
+
+The logs linked from those messages showed the following issues from `R CMD check`.
+
+```text
+* checking S3 generic/method consistency ... NOTE
+Mismatches for apparent methods not registered:
+merge:
+  function(x, y, ...)
+merge.eval.string:
+  function(env)
+
+format:
+  function(x, ...)
+format.eval.string:
+  function(eval_res, eval_err)
+See section 'Registering S3 methods' in the 'Writing R Extensions'
+manual.
+```
+
+```text
+* checking examples ... [8s/4s] NOTE
+Examples with CPU time > 2.5 times elapsed time
+                    user system elapsed ratio
+lgb.restore_handle 1.819  0.128   0.165  11.8
+```
+
+### Maintainer Notes
+
+Attempted to fix these with https://github.com/microsoft/LightGBM/pull/5988 and resubmitted.
+
 ## v3.3.5 - Submission 2 - (January 16, 2023)
 
 ### CRAN response

R-package/pkgdown/_pkgdown.yml

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ repo:
     user: https://github.com/
 
 development:
-  mode: unreleased
+  mode: release
 
 authors:
   Yu Shi:

VERSION.txt

-4.0.0.99
+4.1.0

docs/Parameters.rst

@@ -1141,6 +1141,8 @@ Objective Parameters
 
    -  used only in ``lambdarank`` application when positional information is provided and position bias is modeled. Larger values reduce the inferred position bias factors.
 
+   -  *New in version 4.1.0*
+
 Metric Parameters
 -----------------
 

include/LightGBM/config.h

@@ -967,6 +967,7 @@ struct Config {
 
   // check = >=0.0
   // desc = used only in ``lambdarank`` application when positional information is provided and position bias is modeled. Larger values reduce the inferred position bias factors.
+  // desc = *New in version 4.1.0*
   double lambdarank_position_bias_regularization = 0.0;
 
   #ifndef __NVCC__

python-package/pyproject.toml

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ maintainers = [
 name = "lightgbm"
 readme = "README.rst"
 requires-python = ">=3.6"
-version = "4.0.0.99"
+version = "4.1.0"
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 dask = [