Record the three unresolved branches instead of guessing - #42
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Three remote branches are neither merged into main nor known to be obsolete, so git branch --merged will never retire them and the question comes back to whoever next tidies the repository. They belong to the af8fb02 line, whose four pull requests were absorbed by a separate reconciliation rather than merged directly. main is BELIEVED to contain their substance. Nobody has proven it, and this note says so plainly rather than implying the matter is settled. Deleting a remote branch that is not an ancestor of main is not reversible for anyone else, and keeping one costs nothing, so the trade favours leaving them. Proving equivalence is archaeology that needs judgement per branch, and nobody needs these branches today. The next person now meets a recorded fact instead of a puzzle, and knows what would have to be true before deleting is safe.
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Docs only. cos asked for this after I declined to delete three branches on a guess.
What this records
Three
originbranches are neither merged intomainnor known to be obsolete:mainagent/production-sync-scan-countersagent/reliable-shell-sync-noopagent/suppress-sync-self-eventsNone is an ancestor of
main, sogit branch --mergedwill never list them and the question returns to whoever next tidies the repo.They belong to the
af8fb02line (#25, #26, #28, #29), which was absorbed by a separate reconciliation rather than merged directly.mainis believed to contain their substance.Nobody has proven that, and the note says so plainly rather than implying the matter is settled. A three-dot diff answers nothing here — it shows divergence from a shared ancestor, not missing behaviour.
Why not just delete them
Deleting a remote branch that is not an ancestor of
mainis not reversible for anyone but whoever still holds it locally. Keeping a branch costs nothing. Tidiness is not worth an irreversible action on evidence that is only probably right.Verifying equivalence is archaeology needing judgement per branch, and nobody needs these branches today, so that cost has not been paid.
Where it lives
docs/unresolved-branches.md, linked from the README's development section — so the pointer sits where someone tidying branches would actually look, not only in a file they would have to already know about.