Feature freeze: delete unnecessary files from new 3.x branch #441
Description
Short version: automate python/cpython#158399.
Longer version:
There's a number of files that are only needed in the main branch, for example:
.github/CONTRIBUTING.rst .github/dependabot.yml .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md .github/SECURITY.md .github/workflows/add-issue-header.yml .github/workflows/new-bugs-announce-notifier.yml .github/workflows/project-updater.yml .github/workflows/stale.yml .well-known/funding-manifest-urls
At the feature freeze, when we branch off main as part of the first beta release and create a new branch (for example, this will next happen when we create 3.16 in May 2027), let's have the script delete these files from the new 3.x branch.
The script shouldn't fail if a file isn't found -- we may have removed it from main. If so, we could print a warning something like "filename.ext not found. If no longer in main, remove from this script".
Activity
webknjaz commented on Oct 5, 2026
@hugovk could you remind me — is there a process in CPython to merge stable branches back into main? I know that some projects with backports (cherry-picks) combine it with what the Git reference calls "upwards merging": https://git-scm.com/docs/gitworkflows/2.35.0#_merging_upwards.
And so I wanted to check in to see if this removal strategy would mess with main.
hugovk commented on Oct 5, 2026
Usually not, but we sometimes forward-port "Notable changes in 3.x.y" from What's New docs to newer branches:
https://docs.python.org/3.12/whatsnew/3.12.html#notable-changes-in-3-12-4
But more often, we forget to do that:
python/cpython#100734
Generally, it's better to always start in main and backport.
In any case, these particular files aren't affected and are essentially dead, or worse, wasted maintenance work to backport them.
webknjaz commented on Oct 5, 2026
Ack. Just wanted to make sure there's no unintended side effects. Because in projects where I do that, it's something like git switch main && git merge --no-ff maint/6.6.6 post-release, which would bubble such removals and stable-branch customizations back to where they aren't supposed to happen. One of the things this brings back to the latest branch is the release notes updates.