Delete stale branches in gitlab-org/gitlab

ACTION REQUIRED: On 2024-10-21, we will delete non-protected branches in gitlab-org/gitlab that haven’t been committed to in 2024 and where no open MR is created. Please make an open MR for your branch or back up the changes if you still need the changes.

Overview

There are above 20,000 branches in the gitlab-org/gitlab repository, but only around 2,000 open merge requests. A lot of the branches were last committed to in and before 2023. We shouldn’t keep old branches around because they only clutter the repository and slow Git operations, such as git pull, git fetch, or local autocomplete. Unless, of course, they are e.g. stable branches.

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Timeline

  • On 2024-10-07, announce in #engineering-fyi and related channels.
  • On 2024-10-14,
    • repost the announcement,
    • finalize the list of branches to be deleted, and
    • finalize the script to delete the branches.
  • On 2024-10-21,
    • repost again and
    • start deleting branches.
  • When the deletion is finished,
    • post a summary and
    • maybe announce again.
Edited by Kev Kloss