Legacy Retirement Clean History

Legacy Retirement Clean History

Purpose

Create a clean codebase that starts from the current intended architecture, not from the migration path that produced it.

Retirement Workflow

1. Define the supported present.

   • Current default binaries.
   • Current package entrypoints.
   • Current public contracts.
   • Current supported platforms/backends.
   • Current test and smoke commands.

2. Search for transition language.

   • legacy, fallback, old, thin, new, staging, phase, temporary, for reference, compat, deprecated.
   • Treat matches as leads, not proof.

3. Classify each path.

   • Keep: still default, tested, documented as supported, or unique capability.
   • Rename: concept is current but name reveals migration history.
   • Delete: duplicate implementation, unused reference copy, old fallback, staging package, dead test harness, old generated/native extension.
   • Defer: unclear ownership or untested deletion risk.

4. Remove in dependency order.

   • Remove docs and scripts that advertise dead paths.
   • Remove build targets and fallback dispatch.
   • Remove source files and assets only used by removed targets.
   • Remove tests/tools that validate old architecture.
   • Clean names so current paths do not carry transition labels.

5. Prove absence.

   • Clean build at least once.
   • Search for deleted target names and transition terms.
   • Run current smoke paths.
   • Inspect produced binaries/packages to ensure old outputs are gone.

Deletion Evidence

A deletion is usually safe when all are true:

• No current build target references it.
• No current runtime path imports or executes it.
• Its behavior is owned elsewhere.
• The replacement path has passed smoke verification.
• Docs can describe the system without mentioning it.

Be cautious when:

• It is a public API surface.
• It supports a deployed version range.
• It contains test fixtures still useful for the new path.
• It encodes platform-specific knowledge not yet moved elsewhere.

Clean-History Rules

• Prefer deleting migration scaffolding before creating the first clean commit.
• Prefer current names over transitional names: viewer, not viewer_thin; renderer, not renderer_new.
• Keep compatibility aliases only when external users need them.
• Move useful fixtures into the owning repo before deleting old harnesses.
• Update docs to steady-state architecture.

Git Discipline

• Inspect dirty state before deletion.
• Do not revert unrelated user changes.
• Stage and commit per repo/submodule when possible.
• For submodules, prepare each clean initial commit independently.
• If history will be rewritten remotely, coordinate branch replacement deliberately; local cleanup is separate from remote policy.

Post-Cleanup Report

Include:

• Deleted groups by purpose.
• Renamed current paths.
• Current build/run entrypoints.
• Verification commands.
• Remaining intentional compatibility or future-work placeholders.