# How to remove a git branch in a dist-git repository?

Historically we did not allow to remove git branches in dist-git repository, but
FESCo recently approved their removal **if and only if** all the commits in the
branch to be deleted can be reached from another branch.
This is a requirement to ensure that if any of the commits were used in a build,
we still have the commit accessible and thus we are able to reproduce the build
if needed.

There is a script in the releng repository to use to check if a branch can
safely be deleted.

So here are the steps to follow to remove the branch `<branch>` from the package
`<foo>`.

- Clone the releng repo if you do not already have it:

```
git clone https://pagure.io/releng.git
```


- If you already have it, pull the latest changes:

```
pushd releng && git pull --rebase && popd
```

- Clone the `<foo>` package locally:

```
fedpkg clone <foo>
```

- Checkout the <branch> branch:

```
cd clone && git checkout <branch>
```

- Run the script:

```
python ../releng/scripts/distgit-branch-unused.py <branch>
```

(If needed, see the ``--help`` of the script for more information)


If the script returns that the branch is safe to delete:

- Go to pkgs01 as root

```
ssh pkgs01.iad2.fedoraproject.org
```

- Go to the git repository:

```
cd /srv/git/repositories/<namespace>/<foo>.git
```

- Move the head of the branch (this allows to recover it later if needed):

```
mv refs/heads/<branch> heads_<branch>
```

- Sometimes the ref is in the `packed-refs` file, in that case:

```
grep <branch> packed-refs > heads_<branch>
Then remove the line from `packed-refs` file
```

- On your local clone of <foo>, check that the branch was deleted upstream:
 
```
git fetch -p
```

This should show something like:

    $ git fetch -p
    From ssh://pkgs.fedoraproject.org/<namespace>/<foo>
     - [deleted]         (none)     -> origin/<branch>