Re: [Openembedded-architecture] Yocto Project Release Tagging Changes

On Mar 29, 2026, at 08:05, Richard Purdie via lists.openembedded.org 
>>> Branch-Specific Tags: Tags that include the branch name (e.g.,
>>> kirkstone-4.0.34) that duplicate the official yocto-* tags will be
>>> removed from all repositories.
>> 
>> NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! Removing official release tags is a way, way
>> worse  idea than, e.g., removing the master branch when starting to
>> use main.
> 
> We have too much legacy around in general and we're effectively
> drowning in it. If you already have checkouts the tags will remain,
> this will just remove them from the repos and give people a good hint
> which ones to use going forward. Only duplicate and hence confusing
> tags will be removed where a given commit is referenced by multiple
> tags. I think we want clear repos rather than trying to keep
> archaeology at this point.
> 
> If we did switch from master to main, we would need to remove the older
> one otherwise people would get confused.

Since global deletion is physically impossible from decentralized git, upstream-only history deletion could _increase_ conflict and confusion in the global historical record. This has been one motivation for immutable (e.g. blockchain) supply chain records.

If decentralized git history is append-only, ambiguous history could be addressed by appending docs to guide developers who are reviewing global history, where confusion and discrepancy may arise from historical quirk, data loss, adversary or error.

Rich