Files
werkator/docs/plan/18-remove-branches-section.md
T
mhoennig f0f996a53c A build definition says when it runs in a trigger block of its own
`onPush`, `atTimes`, `branches`, and `activeWithin` move into a nested
`trigger`. The split is structural on purpose: the inheritance from
`builds.default` now subtracts one key instead of a list of four, so a
selector added to `TriggerConfig` later is non-inheritable by
construction rather than because someone remembered to extend the list.

A definition still writing those keys flat is refused by name, per file
and scoped like the version check — the machine and project config abort
the start, a branch's committed config fails only that branch. Ignoring
them would leave the build with no trigger at all, which is a job that
quietly stops running: the failure this refusal exists to prevent.

Two more things a definition can now say:

- A `!` prefix in `trigger.branches` excludes, and an exclusion wins
  whatever the order. `["*", "!master"]` gives one branch a build of its
  own without the default build running over it as well — until now the
  only way out of that double build was to drop the second definition's
  push trigger.
- `statusContext` overrides the Gitea check this build reports as, empty
  keeping the repository-wide one. Two builds of a commit shared a
  context and overwrote each other's result, so a quick check beside a
  long build was not readable in Gitea. Pinned like `requirePullRequest`:
  a branch that could pick its context could take over the check a branch
  protection rule depends on.

Fixed on the way: a branch whose builds all belong to named definitions
rendered an empty row in the branches view, reading as "never built"
directly beside its real builds. That row was unreachable before the
exclusion patterns made such a branch possible.
2026-08-29 12:05:10 +02:00

7.9 KiB

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.

The trigger block, originally planned here, shipped earlier — see the section below for what that leaves.

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:

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.<name>.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. Note that it only bites files that declare a version — which is why the rejection by name above exists next to it, not instead of it.
  • commands/InitCommand.kt: nothing — the generated template has been builds-only with a trigger block since v0.9.20. Verify with gittally init in a scratch repo.

Already done: the trigger block

onPush, atTimes, branches, and activeWithin moved into a nested trigger block in the release that made a definition self-contained, and writing them flat is refused since then. Nothing is left to do for it here beyond not reintroducing the flat shape in examples. ConfigLoader.TRIGGER_KEYS is already the single key the inheritance subtracts, so the removal below does not touch it.

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.<name>; 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.

While rewriting it, shrink it to what is genuinely host-specific: git, server, and from builds.default only the pinned docker.enabled and docker.network. Everything else — the commands, the image, the env — belongs to the repository and is duplicated there today; the machine config wins over the committed one for every branch without its own .gittally.yml, which is exactly the shadowing that made master build with a stale command before v0.9.19. That move requires the repository's own config to be on master by then, which the precondition check above already establishes.

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 and the way out.

Rollback

Keep ~/opt/gittally.<previous>.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.