Blog post for v1.2.1 and tags update (#981)

* Blog post for v1.2.1 and tags update

* Update release day to May 6 (v1.2.1)

* Update website/blog/releases/v1.2.1.md

---------

Co-authored-by: Sergei Grebnov <sergei.grebnov@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Luke Kim <80174+lukekim@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: 3 people

website/blog/releases/v1.2.1.md

@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+---
+date: 2025-05-06
+title: 'Spice v1.2.1 (May 6, 2025)'
+type: blog
+authors: [sgrebnov]
+tags: [release,databricks,data-connector,parameterized queries]
+---
+
+Announcing the release of Spice v1.2.1! 🔥
+
+Spice v1.2.1 includes several data connector fixes and improves query performance for accelerated views. This release also introduces Databricks Service Principal (M2M OAuth) authentication and expands parameterized queries.
+
+## Highlights in v1.2.1
+
+- **Databricks Service Principal Support**: Databricks datasets and catalogs now support Machine-to-Machine (M2M) OAuth authentication via Service Principals, enabling secure machine connections to Databricks.
+
+Example `spicepod.yaml`:
+
+```yaml
+datasets:
+  - from: databricks:spiceai.datasets.my_awesome_table # A reference to a table in the Databricks unity catalog
+    name: my_delta_lake_table
+    params:
+      mode: delta_lake
+      databricks_endpoint: dbc-a1b2345c-d6e7.cloud.databricks.com
+      databricks_client_id: ${secrets:DATABRICKS_CLIENT_ID}
+      databricks_client_secret: ${secrets:DATABRICKS_CLIENT_SECRET}
+```
+
+For details, see documentation for:
+
+- [Databricks Data Connector](https://spiceai.org/docs/components/data-connectors/databricks)
+- [Databricks Unity Catalog Connector](https://spiceai.org/docs/components/catalogs/databricks)
+
+- **Iceberg Data Connector**: Now supports cross-account table access via the AWS Glue Catalog Connector and fixes an issue when querying data from append mode datasets.
+
+- **Iceberg Catalog API**: Full compatibility with the Iceberg HTTP REST Catalog API to consume Spice datasets from Iceberg Catalog clients.
+
+For details, see documentation for:
+
+- [Iceberg Data Connector](https://spiceai.org/docs/components/data-connectors/iceberg)
+- [S3 Data Connector](https://spiceai.org/docs/components/data-connectors/s3)
+
+- **Improved Parameterized Query Support**: Expanded type inference for placeholders in:
+  - `IN` list expressions
+  - `LIKE` patterns
+  - `SIMILAR TO` patterns
+  - `LIMIT` clauses
+  - Subqueries
+
+## New Contributors 🎉
+
+- [@nuvic](https://github.com/nuvic) made their first contribution in [#5673](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5673)
+
+## Contributors
+
+- [@peasee](https://github.com/peasee)
+- [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius)
+- [@karifabri](https://github.com/karifabri)
+- [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc)
+- [@kczimm](https://github.com/kczimm)
+- [@Jeadie](https://github.com/Jeadie)
+- [@sgrebnov](https://github.com/sgrebnov)
+- [@Sevenannn](https://github.com/Sevenannn)
+- [@nuvic](https://github.com/nuvic)
+
+## Breaking Changes
+
+No breaking changes.
+
+## Cookbook Updates
+
+New recipes for:
+
+- [Language Model Evaluations](https://github.com/spiceai/cookbook/tree/trunk/evals/README.md): Use Spice.ai OSS to evaluate language models.
+- [LLM as a Judge](https://github.com/spiceai/cookbook/tree/trunk/llm-judge/README.md): Use LLM judge models to evaluate the performance of other language models.
+
+The [Spice Cookbook](https://spiceai.org/cookbook) now includes 68 recipes to help you get started with Spice quickly and easily.
+
+## Upgrading
+
+To upgrade to v1.2.1, use one of the following methods:
+
+**CLI**:
+
+```console
+spice upgrade
+```
+
+**Homebrew**:
+
+```console
+brew upgrade spiceai/spiceai/spice
+```
+
+**Docker**:
+
+Pull the `spiceai/spiceai:1.2.1` image:
+
+```console
+docker pull spiceai/spiceai:1.2.1
+```
+
+For available tags, see [DockerHub](https://hub.docker.com/r/spiceai/spiceai/tags).
+
+**Helm**:
+
+```console
+helm repo update
+helm upgrade spiceai spiceai/spiceai
+```
+
+## What's Changed
+
+### Dependencies
+
+- No major dependency changes.
+
+### Changelog
+
+```text
+- Fix: Specify metric type as a dimension for testoperator by [@peasee](https://github.com/peasee) in [#5630](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5630)
+- Fix: Add option to run dispatch schedule by [@peasee](https://github.com/peasee) in [#5631](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5631)
+- Infer placeholder datatype for InList, Like, and SimilarTo by [@kczimm](https://github.com/kczimm) in [#5626](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5626)
+- Add QA analytics for 1.2.0 by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5640](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5640)
+- Fix: Use SPICED_COMMIT for spiced_commit_sha by [@peasee](https://github.com/peasee) in [#5632](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5632)
+- New crates/tools by [@Jeadie](https://github.com/Jeadie) in [#5121](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5121)
+- Update openapi.json by [@github-actions](https://github.com/github-actions) in [#5643](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5643)
+- Enable metrics reporting for models benchmarks (evals) by [@sgrebnov](https://github.com/sgrebnov) in [#5639](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5639)
+- Implement CatalogBuilder, add app and runtime references to catalog component, add runtime reference to connector params by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5641](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5641)
+- Fix eventing bug in LLM progress; Add tool and worker progress by [@Jeadie](https://github.com/Jeadie) in [#5619](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5619)
+- Handle small precision differences in TPCH answer validation by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5642](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5642)
+- Add TokenProviderRegistry to the runtime by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5651](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5651)
+- Provide ModelContextLayer for evals by [@Jeadie](https://github.com/Jeadie) in [#5648](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5648)
+- Databricks data_components refactor. Databricks Spark connect - add set_token method and writable spark session by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5654](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5654)
+- Extract AWS Glue warehouse for cross-account Iceberg tables by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5656](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5656)
+- Refactor Dataset component by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5660](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5660)
+- Fix Iceberg API returning 404 when schema contains a Dictionary by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5665](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5665)
+- Fix dependencies: downgrade swagger-ui to v8; force zip to 2.3.0 by [@kczimm](https://github.com/kczimm) in [#5664](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5664)
+- Add DuckDB indexes spicepod, additional dispatches by [@peasee](https://github.com/peasee) in [#5633](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5633)
+- Update readme: update data federation link by [@nuvic](https://github.com/nuvic) in [#5673](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5673)
+- Support metadata columns for object-store based data connectors by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5661](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5661)
+- Add model name to LLM judges, and add model_graded_scoring task by [@Jeadie](https://github.com/Jeadie) in [#5655](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5655)
+- Add SF1000 TPCH test spicepods for delta lake by [@Sevenannn](https://github.com/Sevenannn) in [#5606](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5606)
+- Validate Github Connector resource existence before building the github connector graphql table by [@Sevenannn](https://github.com/Sevenannn) in [#5674](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5674)
+- Remove hard-coded embedding performance tests in CI by [@Sevenannn](https://github.com/Sevenannn) in [#5675](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5675)
+- Databricks M2M auth for spark connect data connector by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5659](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5659)
+- Enable federated data refresh support for accelerated views by [@sgrebnov](https://github.com/sgrebnov) in [#5677](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5677)
+- Add pods watcher integration test by [@Sevenannn](https://github.com/Sevenannn) in [#5681](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5681)
+- Add m2m support for databricks delta connector by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5680](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5680)
+- Update end_game.md by [@sgrebnov](https://github.com/sgrebnov) in [#5684](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5684)
+- Update StaticTokenProvider to use SecretString instead of raw str value by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5686](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5686)
+- Add M2M Auth support for Databricks catalog connector by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5687](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5687)
+- Update UX to disable acceleration federation by [@sgrebnov](https://github.com/sgrebnov) in [#5682](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5682)
+- Improve placeholder inference (LIMIT & Expr::InSubquery) by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5692](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5692)
+- Tweak default log to ignore aws_config::imds::region by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5693](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5693)
+- Make Spice properly Iceberg Catalog API compatible for load table API by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5695](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5695)
+- Use deterministic queries for Databricks m2m catalog tests by [@ewgenius](https://github.com/ewgenius) in [#5696](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5696)
+- Support retrieving the latest Iceberg table on table scan by [@phillipleblanc](https://github.com/phillipleblanc) in [#5704](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/pull/5704)
+```
+
+**Full Changelog**: [v1.2.0...v1.2.1](https://github.com/spiceai/spiceai/compare/v1.2.0...v1.2.1)