Clean out useless tags?

FYI: I’ve retroactively created tag 2.38.0 since that’s a release which seems to contain most executables also for Windows which the current builds does not. See this issue.

I would like to remove a lot of useless tags names in the repo that disturbs me when listing tags:

~/graphviz$ git tag -l untagged* | head -1
untagged-026b538d0dba6682fde7
~/graphviz$ git tag -l untagged* | wc
     65      65    1950

My guess is that these tags were made by the Travis builds that once existed.

Any opinions about this?

If you can’t see any usages of them, sure, let’s remove them. Can always roll back if it causes issues?

Nope. Tags are gone forever. At least after GC.

What’s the downside?

I’m not sure about the capability any more to get old versions of graphviz source code. We used to archive a lot of old source.tgz files in our server in AT&T. John Ellson would be the only person that could still have copies.

My 2c: I would leave them, as tags are more or less free. And we can’t easily see who/what is relying on them. Are they causing problems?

Note, there are a few outstanding open issues requesting missing tags for past versions. I have not attempted to resolve these because I couldn’t figure out which untagged commits older versions were created from.

Edit: having said that, a tag that begins with “untagged” is a little peculiar.

John found the Historical Documents on a USB drive, and will upload to www2.graphviz.org

I’m all in favor of removing tags we don’t need, particularly ones with the prefix “untagged”

Please peruse at your leisure:

https://www2.graphviz.org/Archive/

I’m aware of that. No problems except that they annoy me when I list tags since they obscure the actually useful tags and I very often do tag -l | grep -v untagged.

I’m pretty sure they are useless because:

  1. This Travis article says:

    If the build commit does not match any tag at deployment time, GitHub creates one when the release is created. The GitHub-generated tags are of the form untagged-* , where * is a random hex string.

    I think this happened for every build on Travis since:

  2. The tags were all created in the second half of 2016 and sometimes many on the same day:

    ~/graphviz$ git log --no-walk --decorate=short `git tag -l | grep untagged`
    commit 75f84028871115997f46711872a8740f6e3f4b88 (tag: untagged-d41a2ad534044c12cb35, tag: Nightly)
    Merge: b0545a075 438b2612e
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Dec 4 22:07:00 2016 -0500
    
        Merge pull request #1178 from ErwinJanssen/travis-nightly
    
        Enhanced Travis Nightly Release
    
    commit 03c2f00d51b0f227697457aa0c54d243dcbafaa9 (tag: untagged-febac5463c9a6f3cfc7b)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Dec 4 17:46:23 2016 -0500
    
        fix pangocairo breakage from last commit
    
    commit 78ea3dca240680322e25b4cacb542b7622398684 (tag: untagged-21ff5f4411678e44e72c)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Dec 4 17:03:38 2016 -0500
    
        prep for php7 support in swig-3.0.11
    
    commit 7a96c15964845a8edf5e8d9da39f91d2cbe6ca9e (tag: untagged-f51b8e00e323a78e8270)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Dec 4 14:48:09 2016 -0500
    
        try are more direct approach to the missing XRENDER_CFLAGS
    
    commit 806b8a2f36ea20560f136f246d21824e62073b84 (tag: untagged-46a47981af1ad6c7830d)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Dec 4 14:29:23 2016 -0500
    
        improve fix for #1175
    
    commit d23d0f6983ba4db0096ab23f42ddc987d479a0b8 (tag: untagged-bb1d11353d7e8ae2f2a4)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Dec 4 10:38:19 2016 -0500
    
        add explicit check to cairo lib dependencies
    
    commit 2f4f80e00b23b257ef30070fd66dfc36e7cf46fa (tag: untagged-46da481a5543e7a1bf8e)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Wed Nov 30 22:08:08 2016 -0500
    
        partial fix for #1175
    
    commit 7b199c524e9e92e0885f202555db86eb9f34824d (tag: untagged-44fc22e3a508c2958a81)
    Author: Emden R. Gansner <erg@emdenrg.net>
    Date:   Tue Nov 29 16:23:36 2016 -0500
    
        Update ChangeLog
    
    commit 254f6fd7eb579159132c06e10c2957a628421399 (tag: untagged-14e7b24955d481c7b36a)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Mon Nov 28 15:49:10 2016 -0500
    
        Add regression test for urls appearing in svg output.
    
    commit f8ed3ac5a94537be9631ccad0d8e077fe29bec79 (tag: untagged-941905a04b09702a353c)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Mon Nov 28 14:24:50 2016 -0500
    
        Print out depth of graph in verbose mode.
    
    commit 24988602d046b1529d55f7d6a2edcd5406d3313d (tag: untagged-0a3057e980c64a11875a)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Mon Nov 28 11:57:41 2016 -0500
    
        Add minus sign dropped in the conversion added in
        0258d60cbde273e99abd015da7cb510b195724c3.
    
    commit ba314a6d41abe6c77af923783cbd0eb4fcb99450 (tag: untagged-257982c92c56d4315606)
    Author: Emden R. Gansner <erg@emdenrg.net>
    Date:   Sun Nov 27 16:43:37 2016 -0500
    
        Update man page to include additional widely-used formats.
    
    commit cc33ac0239c6fde284847d7d45a84f15dec8c08a (tag: untagged-09292206f9ec6d0f25d8)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sat Nov 26 13:03:18 2016 -0500
    
        preparing Changelog for 2.40.0 release
    
    commit 2afa5038ddbae925fe6a20b2b960271fe18a1ae5 (tag: untagged-5efd1411540d5300c05d)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Thu Nov 24 17:14:04 2016 -0500
    
        update svg and xdot regression reference cases
    
    commit 3fbdc665aa8e30c6b701c9f5d19778cd8a12e821 (tag: untagged-167219c230abbb068c64)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Thu Nov 24 14:13:11 2016 -0500
    
        change winbuild.html to a relative URL so that it doesn't break wgen relocated
    
    commit 245c66135c5e1ca9b4f42061707f80634f84bce8 (tag: untagged-4a0354222931f4cf012e)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Tue Nov 22 13:33:28 2016 -0500
    
        Update man page, and fix number of nodes in the 2D Sierpinski graph;
        fix edge count for 3D Sierpinski in graph_generator.c;
        modify CLI to use -S for Sierpinski in any dimension.
    
    commit e4ad5748bc7732b2731baa246a926ba9abc17f81 (tag: untagged-0a8cda69d4cba78f2e68)
    Merge: 1ef4d5112 265eeb66e
    Author: emden <emden@users.noreply.github.com>
    Date:   Tue Nov 22 11:17:45 2016 -0500
    
        Merge pull request #1171 from HanKruiger/master
    
        Added generation of tetrix (3d sierpinski) graphs.
    
    commit 1ef4d51121ba26e3e30ef7609249045952a481fa (tag: untagged-348619a7ff77176f7492)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Thu Nov 3 16:57:52 2016 -0400
    
        Revert version ffb894f27874ebd510a8555c28083d6e01eb80b6. The fix broke other input (rtest/graphs/url.gv).
        Plus it didn't fix the problem of repeated ids. We need to rethink how to handle anchors.
    
    commit 684e8547a1492e0c17dde990b329b18855dfec2c (tag: untagged-c673d4de5b49bfc3ca91)
    Merge: 737585d8c c8298e899
    Author: Emden R. Gansner <erg@emdenrg.net>
    Date:   Sun Oct 30 17:27:47 2016 -0400
    
        Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/ellson/graphviz
    
    commit c8298e899f0167d34bc9892a4d146e6428906ea5 (tag: untagged-0abbc2b30eaa01ee0686)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Fri Oct 28 11:04:06 2016 -0400
    
        Allow user to specify clustering algorithm in gvmap.
    
    commit a2d1632e7040f7c6bc997592c471297040bb0190 (tag: untagged-1520451ef19a8815aefb)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Fri Oct 14 15:28:34 2016 -0400
    
        simplify ksh buildrequire for SuSE builds
    
    commit ed4e9ae080b0034a9e3af568e58e01a0254d760c (tag: untagged-be0b53127acfad7b5de6)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Wed Oct 12 10:37:02 2016 -0400
    
        Complete backbone algorithm; add testing scaffolding.
    
    commit 0ec14c85a79f21050e79cfe825d297002b9916ff (tag: untagged-8d75101f9a003883956c)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Sat Oct 8 14:27:48 2016 -0400
    
        missing TCL_EXEC_PREFIX substitution
    
    commit 10abca6914caddcabdb2af5ed856fa663e45d7d6 (tag: untagged-5fc0363bc76319758ff6)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sat Oct 8 12:24:37 2016 -0400
    
        add spinehdr.h to source dstribution
    
    commit 2dc424680466fc6ed2365c2d80cb4393635cf835 (tag: untagged-a81020c0c01db3e23629)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sat Oct 8 11:53:26 2016 -0400
    
        #include<spinehdr.h> => #include "spinehdr.h"
    
    commit caf65438ea717abb0fed3463ec21a0a25680f784 (tag: untagged-20d8043c3b4489073df9)
    Author: Emden R. Gansner <erg@emdenrg.net>
    Date:   Sun Oct 2 17:49:01 2016 -0400
    
        Add library for computing Simmelian backbones of graphs.
    
    commit 582976380f1f75795d2b7eddf38a575b8ab5b279 (tag: untagged-1db191c2a75651a2a553)
    Merge: e746dac6b 31a02bfeb
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Tue Sep 27 09:34:24 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1164 from ErwinJanssen/update-appveyor-dependencies
    
        Appveyor: update libgd dependencies and build dir
    
    commit e746dac6b40a6911db36d6243a0c9624abc7d0d7 (tag: untagged-026b538d0dba6682fde7)
    Merge: 985e7736b ec8a18123
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Mon Sep 19 14:21:06 2016 -0400
    
        Merge branch 'ErwinJanssen-remove-unused'
    
        (resolved conflict from reinstalled features/common)
    
    commit 985e7736b11dbd577658f7538070f3a85129dd53 (tag: untagged-bc9e6eee63f1f0bce98f, tag: untagged-4431b9bde391f1b69fe5)
    Merge: 59d5922b6 e9c3f6237
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Mon Sep 19 13:13:24 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1163 from ErwinJanssen/less-conditional-build
    
        Less conditional build
    
    commit ee4cdc97ef3f9f9107c0d90c58c4afd64f8f8236 (tag: untagged-a22228c7bd6ed4c2a8f9)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Thu Sep 8 00:13:48 2016 -0400
    
        revert change - not right
    
    commit f5ae75970c48184c2621e61f40cdfc4879825838 (tag: untagged-88f8affbb29485590ece)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Wed Sep 7 19:44:14 2016 -0400
    
        drop some strange casts to cllean up some warnings
    
    commit 102a8ca3fa7629aac03c4de815681f401b5ec718 (tag: untagged-897b348e31e4e52e8698)
    Merge: 2d0c2c03c 3b48e9575
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Wed Sep 7 19:19:26 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1155 from ErwinJanssen/windows-release
    
        Various improvements to Windows build
    
    commit bc6488018f3f55ace6b4046645578508643db08b (tag: untagged-d1db4ad9a9fa8595330a)
    Author: Emden R. Gansner <erg@emdenrg.net>
    Date:   Mon Sep 5 16:35:47 2016 -0400
    
        Add documentation on json output.
    
    commit 3c0d713cf7b49231f845cc9b38c800feea1552ab (tag: untagged-153418532a1b01559b57)
    Merge: 6be338ffd d1244c800
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Sat Sep 3 13:19:09 2016 -0400
    
        Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/ellson/graphviz
    
    commit d1244c8001e8c681def4c0ff25a91136845c2a75 (tag: untagged-4bd8dcccfa75989e4d17)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Tue Aug 23 10:45:02 2016 -0400
    
        convert 'unsigned long' to 'uint64_t' for Windows portability
    
    commit 5f026ed122a2e1525dab7a6bc192ba7c40a1a7d0 (tag: untagged-5b049c6cdfd083f5dbf2)
    Merge: cd3b556ca 29de28fd4
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Mon Aug 22 19:49:46 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1151 from arjamizo/master
    
        fix typo TB->BT in docs:shapes
    
    commit cd3b556caf39f78c82208b217e78a4d70c1684e0 (tag: untagged-f6bbc5576feb1e03c4b8)
    Author: Emden R. Gansner <erg@emdenrg.net>
    Date:   Fri Aug 19 07:04:25 2016 -0400
    
        Replace cluster with subgraph, as the output will also reflect non-cluster
        subgraphs.
    
    commit d7e8b8136aa22301ae3a448c38024f1d049f3d1a (tag: untagged-0dc7cf263f66ae1825bb)
    Author: Emden R. Gansner <erg@emdenrg.net>
    Date:   Wed Aug 17 20:36:28 2016 -0400
    
        Add schema for dot output in json format.
    
    commit 2c10dbea604a56c49918c8f153440f1919a0797f (tag: untagged-1bc5df88610db337fc67)
    Merge: 8123e7b0d 1d23dfe69
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Wed Aug 17 09:11:10 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1150 from ErwinJanssen/configure-ac
    
        Removed POSIX version flag from configure.ac
    
    commit 8123e7b0dfc348c8402516c1302e956dfacec161 (tag: untagged-383680da5ca9da9f5250)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Tue Aug 16 13:18:55 2016 -0400
    
        el5 breakage, need ,  in dist target, but not in install target
    
    commit 788583c2dde4d8eeff6afca9c23bde567f27473b (tag: untagged-d177ed11e0540b07902a)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Tue Aug 16 12:03:03 2016 -0400
    
        remove -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200112L as it breaks ./configure test for php.h
    
    commit 86525777eafc8621591e37e5e3feb15ebe9fbedf (tag: untagged-95487e465cf6bdb4c605)
    Merge: e2a23c828 c35619db4
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Mon Aug 15 16:21:54 2016 -0400
    
        Merge branch 'master' of github.com:/ellson/graphviz
    
    commit c35619db486c6a2453ef0a9de6f541e809037760 (tag: untagged-950e8f23afa87abe4973)
    Merge: 29ed3f986 7d4135876
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sat Aug 13 12:55:44 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1149 from ErwinJanssen/improve-travis
    
        Improve Travis + deploy make dist results
    
    commit 29ed3f9866af9051145f010cb13824b6c7f92866 (tag: untagged-0aac90e5c2817176609d)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Sat Aug 13 08:51:45 2016 -0400
    
        Small formatting change.
    
    commit 39180176da657656abc7f7f90adf894b85aeabee (tag: untagged-c6ce5b1f17878d776124)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Fri Aug 12 17:18:29 2016 -0400
    
        Edges attached to a cluster were not getting assigned an index number.
    
    commit 4b456b630eefb5425696cbb9831ca907d9dd75cb (tag: untagged-1aed90cbe517038de3a0)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Wed Aug 10 15:00:14 2016 -0400
    
        quote  as it contains spaces when No
    
    commit 3fb678e09a7e832531ca039446789d1f9b391079 (tag: untagged-27ff95768eb6958bcef7)
    Merge: 91a9749eb 4092b6dc3
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Tue Aug 9 11:52:33 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1148 from ErwinJanssen/unit-test
    
        Introduction unit test for current commnand line behavior
    
    commit 91a9749ebf5ae4490ecbdb59803bf79e971508fc (tag: untagged-cf3150dc2db96b5bb4d6)
    Merge: 8c3fc96b7 1240e4fbe
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Mon Aug 1 00:07:57 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1147 from GadgetSteve/master
    
        Changed README.md reference github for documentation.
    
    commit 8c3fc96b7a2763e077058edb16cf54c533ae962f (tag: untagged-749ecd6837d5c822253e)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Wed Jul 27 04:21:31 2016 -0400
    
        some -W flags not available on centos[56]
    
    commit 3bbc61ad12cfc0c15515a96113098e8605db89e5 (tag: untagged-282a92de118059697b67)
    Author: Emden Gansner <emdenrg@google.com>
    Date:   Tue Jul 26 12:23:16 2016 -0400
    
        Fix bug in printing error message about graphs with loops or multiedges; note port restriction in
        man page.
    
    commit 541b872ead985143dae4de91e1c5e426dd0c4280 (tag: untagged-3443de97cd58035a8aea)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Mon Jul 25 20:39:50 2016 -0400
    
        cgraph is not a configure option these days
    
    commit dc35219a3d4a3d81943bc17f918afd8410ef85db (tag: untagged-f5823de05291db506275)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Mon Jul 25 17:15:06 2016 -0400
    
        more incompatible warning switches
    
    commit 9785bdb11f5023d9389cc27e453ccdb8cea1d92b (tag: untagged-9ee5934fa10f12b4043f)
    Merge: 315aa03eb 370eb57c6
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Fri Jul 22 14:54:51 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1145 from ErwinJanssen/refactor
    
        Enable C99, enable more warnings and solve some warnings.
    
    commit 315aa03eb8a5519aa71e3bb24f4c6d808dd48f77 (tag: untagged-1d58b621a7287e0b0a25)
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Fri Jul 22 10:47:02 2016 -0400
    
        add missing layers support in -Tsvgz device
    
    commit e20964332ea95fa8c23784007d3fca1ce960d6ef (tag: untagged-3324163453e4161833a0, tag: untagged-1843dff5ba962a1be63b)
    Merge: 54a3f9b35 858fe6db9
    Author: John Ellson <ellson@research.att.com>
    Date:   Thu Jul 21 17:01:01 2016 -0400
    
        Merge branch 'master' of github.com:/ellson/graphviz
    
    commit a4bf3c86a6c07d7413acb83627632ce38a473a39 (tag: untagged-dca5f3fa2a3476aaf8e3)
    Merge: f93c52239 15b694bba
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Thu Jul 14 10:16:48 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1137 from ErwinJanssen/replace-libgd
    
        Replace in-tree libgd with external build of recent code
    
    commit f93c5223930c8342045f465fb51667e57bf61e2b (tag: untagged-720ca8034db44a953d87)
    Merge: 985ea9352 7550186bc
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Jul 10 13:29:07 2016 -0400
    
        Merge branch 'master' of github.com:ellson/graphviz
    
    commit 7550186bc5ca46eb072f387a8bc583aa527713b3 (tag: untagged-3c169aaa6280ec506b08)
    Merge: 65cd40f10 fa7fd5b87
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Jul 10 12:12:16 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1135 from ErwinJanssen/fix-windows-build
    
        Fix windows build
    
    commit 65cd40f10c9b1fbdaaf4224a5b11a70e0e397446 (tag: untagged-7f41f60ca2025e3251ad)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Jul 10 07:56:58 2016 -0400
    
         add 'make dist' to travis builds
    
    commit 0aaaa3e8f849ec99afdee4957f389f32cb6aa112 (tag: untagged-64c3562a21c18efca077)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Jul 10 06:28:01 2016 -0400
    
        fix diffimg test code
    
    commit 751811a5c1631c29eef1ce9f7b7b7a3836e5dc78 (tag: untagged-3e86d2bf29bb52eaf3f6)
    Merge: 752f8a167 60643489c
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sun Jul 10 05:07:24 2016 -0400
    
        Merge pull request #1134 from GadgetSteve/master
    
        Address #95 by using f suffix on floats in color_palette.c
    
    commit 752f8a167a35a4ae9ff05e4a44c37f444d1c17f5 (tag: untagged-02d82c4c9d0263e3d595)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sat Jul 9 22:04:09 2016 -0400
    
        remove rxpencer (unused, unneeded)
    
    commit 770525ca41a85e3abedbc538e3f19280a946e402 (tag: untagged-fd4ca25a4ca4e4dc471c)
    Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
    Date:   Sat Jul 9 21:39:41 2016 -0400
    
        comment out empty "file:" statement
    
    

I can do if you like. Otherwise:

  1. Check the history of autogen.sh to find a suspect
  2. Check the full history in the vicinity of that commit to find out if it’s the one.

That’s how I created 2.38.0:

commit f54ac2c9313ae80ccf76ef4ac6aa9be820a23126 (tag: 2.38.0)
Author: John Ellson <john.ellson@comcast.net>
Date:   Sun Apr 13 16:40:25 2014 -0400

    2.38 stable release