# Step 18: Remove the legacy `branches` section Prerequisites: none in code — v0.9.19 already made `builds` and `branches` either-or. Read `README.md` first. Scheduled for roughly **2026-09-05**, one week after v0.9.19 (2026-08-29), and only once the precondition below holds. Build definitions describe a build completely since v0.9.19, and `branches` is read only while a configuration defines no build at all. This step deletes the section, its deprecated `autoBuild` schedule, and the either-or branch in the loader, and turns a leftover `branches:` key into a named error instead of a silent loss of settings. ## Precondition Check (run first, do not skip) The removal adds a *rejection by name*: a configuration file that still carries a `branches:` key is refused, because a silently ignored section is exactly the failure this step exists to prevent — and the `gitTally.version` check cannot catch it, since it only bites files that declare a version, which none of the hs.hsadmin.ng configs do. So no configuration still in play may contain the section. On vm4006: ```bash ssh tallyman@vm4006.hostsharing.net 'cd ~/hs.hsadmin.ng && grep -n "^branches:" .git/gittally/.gittally.yml; for b in $(git for-each-ref --format="%(refname:short)" refs/remotes/origin | sed "s|origin/||"); do if git cat-file -e origin/$b:.gittally.yml 2>/dev/null && git show origin/$b:.gittally.yml | grep -qE "^branches:"; then echo "still legacy: $b"; fi; done' ``` Expected output: nothing at all. As of 2026-08-29 this listed `master` and five `mihoe/…` branches, plus the machine config. The plan was: merge `mihoe/reactivate-pi-test` (the first branch with the new shape) to master, rebase the other branches onto the new master, then run this step. Branches without a committed `.gittally.yml` are fine — they build from the machine config. Note that `branches:` also exists as the *selector* key **inside** a build definition (`builds..branches: ["master"]`). That one stays. Only the top-level section goes. The grep above anchors at the line start for exactly that reason. ## Code - `config/GitTallyConfig.kt`: drop the `branches` property and `AutoBuildConfig`, and `BranchConfig.autoBuild` with it. Rename `BranchConfig` to `BuildSettings` — with the section gone it is no longer a schema type but the resolved answer to "what does this build run", which is all it is used for. `buildSettings(branch, build)` then no longer needs the branch lookup: `effectiveBuildDefinitions()[build]?.applyTo(BuildSettings()) ?: BuildSettings()`. Keep the `branch` parameter — the callers pass it and a later per-branch concern would need it back. - `config/ConfigLoader.kt`: delete `mergeBranchDefaults`, the legacy arm of `resolveBuildSections` (it becomes just `mergeBuildDefaults`), the `"branches"` entry in the section loop of `stripPinned`, and `LEGACY_BRANCHES_WARNING`. Add the rejection: a `branches` key in a file throws, scoped like the version check — the machine and project config abort the start (`checkVersion`'s call sites in `loadRaw`), a branch's committed config fails only that branch's builds (`withBranchLayer`). Reuse `ConfigVersionException` or add a sibling; the message must name the file and say where the settings belong now. - `watcher/Watcher.kt`: delete `enqueueDeprecatedAutoBuilds`, its call in `enqueueDueBranches`, and the `warnedDeprecatedAutoBuild` flag. - `config/ConfigVersion.kt`: set `FORMAT_BROKE_IN` to this release's version and `FORMAT_BROKE_DESCRIPTION` to something like "the per-branch `branches` section was replaced by build definitions". This is the first real use of that mechanism: a file declaring `gitTally.version.since` below this release is then refused with a message naming the change. - `commands/InitCommand.kt`: nothing — the generated template has been `builds`-only since v0.9.19. Verify with `gittally init` in a scratch repo. ## Tests `branches:`-shaped YAML in tests must move to `builds:` (as of 2026-08-29): - `config/ConfigLoaderTest.kt` — most occurrences; also delete the test "branches is honored while no build is defined and ignored as soon as one is" and replace it with one asserting the rejection. - `build/BuildExecutorTest.kt` (the harness config and one inline config), `artifacts/BuildExecutorArtifactIntegrationTest.kt`, `artifacts/FileArtifactStoreTest.kt`, `build/DockerBuildRunnerTest.kt`, `build/DispatchingBuildRunnerTest.kt`, `server/UiControllerTest.kt`. - `watcher/WatcherTest.kt` — the `autoBuildConfig` helper and the deprecated-schedule tests go; the `atTimes` tests stay. Do not blind-replace: `branches: [...]` inside a build definition is the selector and must be left alone. Add a test that a build whose definition was removed from the config still resolves to usable defaults — that path used to fall back to the branch settings. ## Documentation - `docs/configuration.md`: delete the section "The legacy `branches` section"; drop the "only while nothing defines a build" qualifier from the branch-layer section. - `AGENTS.md`: the invariant bullet starting "`builds` or the legacy `branches`, never both" becomes the rejection rule. - `.claude/skills/architecture/SKILL.md`: `resolveBuildSections` no longer chooses between two sections. - `docs/migration-from-legacy.md`: already maps to `builds.`; re-check it reads correctly without the legacy section existing. ## Production The machine config on vm4006 was rewritten for v0.9.19 and still carries its legacy block as the rollback path to v0.9.18 (backup: `.git/gittally/.gittally.yml.20260829T085959Z.bak`). Delete the block — everything below the comment marking it as legacy — before deploying this release, with a fresh timestamped backup. The file keeps `git`, `server`, `builds.default`, and `builds.master`. It is 600 by design; a shell redirect creates 644, so check the mode afterwards. Deploy as usual (`docs/plan/15-runtime-bundle-distribution.md`), only while `/api/builds/current` is `[]`. ## Verification - `gittally config:print --full` on vm4006 before the restart: no `branches` in the output, `builds.default` and `builds.master` complete, `master` still inheriting `docker.enabled: true` and `network: host`. - After the restart: no warnings about a branches section, the watcher polls without errors, and a branch build starts in `hsadmin-ng-build-env:latest`. - Deliberately: point the running instance at a scratch repository whose config still has `branches:` and confirm the error names the file. ## Rollback Keep `~/opt/gittally..bak` and the config backup. A rollback needs both, because the previous version reads the machine config's `branches` block for its sandbox policy and this step deletes it.