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backport: automate archival of expired .backports.yml entries #19264

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Closed as not planned
backport: automate archival of expired .backports.yml entries#19264
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mrodm
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Team:EcosystemPackages Ecosystem team [elastic/ecosystem]

Description

@mrodm
mrodm
opened on May 28, 2026

Summary

Issue #19210 defines the `maintained_until` field and the active-branch logic in `backport_check_active.sh`, but provides no mechanism to act on expired entries. Without this, entries whose `maintained_until` date has passed remain `archived: false` indefinitely and continue to be targeted by `auto-backport.yml` until someone edits the file by hand.

Background

The active-branch logic in `backport_check_active.sh` already treats an entry as inactive when `maintained_until < today`. The missing piece is surfacing that state proactively: today the only way to know an entry has expired is to run the script manually or notice a spurious backport attempt against a dead branch.

As the number of tracked packages and branches grows, silent drift in `.backports.yml` will compound — stale entries accumulate, and the automation silently targets branches that are no longer maintained.

Deliverables

`backports-housekeeping.yml`

A GitHub Actions workflow running on a weekly schedule:

Trigger: `schedule` (weekly, e.g. Monday 09:00 UTC)

Permissions: `contents: write`, `pull-requests: write`

Flow:

  1. Reads `.backports.yml`
  2. Calls `backport_check_active.sh` for each entry with `archived: false`
  3. Collects entries that are inactive solely due to `maintained_until < today` (not already `archived: true`)
  4. If none found: exit silently
  5. Opens a PR setting `archived: true` on each expired entry; PR body lists every affected branch with its `maintained_until` date so the reviewer can confirm the dates are correct before merging
  6. Deduplication: checks for an open PR with head branch `backports/housekeeping` before opening a new one; skips if one exists

The PR is a review gate — a human on `@elastic/ecosystem` confirms before any branch is marked archived, in case a `maintained_until` date was set incorrectly or a support window was extended.

Considerations

  • Dependency on backport: introduce .backports.yml inventory and active-branch check script #19210: requires `backport_check_active.sh` and a populated `.backports.yml` to exist first.
  • Manual archival is still valid: `archived: true` can be set directly in a regular PR at any time (e.g. a package is fully dropped). This workflow only handles the date-driven case.
  • Auto-merge option: if the review gate turns out to be unnecessary friction in practice, a follow-up can enable auto-merge on these PRs. Leaving it as a human-reviewed PR is the safer default.

Acceptance criteria

  • Workflow opens a PR when any `.backports.yml` entry has `maintained_until < today` and `archived: false`
  • PR body identifies each affected branch and its expiry date
  • No duplicate PR is opened on subsequent runs while a housekeeping PR is still open
  • Workflow is a no-op when no entries have expired

Activity

  1. mrodm
    added a parent issue on May 28, 2026
  2. mrodm
    marked this as blocked on May 28, 2026
  3. mrodm
    added
    Team:EcosystemPackages Ecosystem team [elastic/ecosystem]
    on May 28, 2026

  4. github-actions commented on May 28, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsbot
    on May 28, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    TL;DR: this should move forward as the next slice after #19210 lands; the repo currently has no .backports.yml/backport_check_active.sh, so the housekeeping workflow in this issue is currently blocked on that dependency.

    Recommendation

    Implement this as a follow-up to #19210 (not a duplicate), and wire it to the same automation style already used in repo workflows: add .github/workflows/backports-housekeeping.yml with weekly schedule + workflow_dispatch, detect expired non-archived entries, and open/update a single PR from head branch backports/housekeeping.

    Findings

    Evidence from current codebase and issue history

    1. Dependency is explicit in issue set:

      • #19264 states dependency on #19210.
      • #19016 is the parent effort and has related open sub-issues (#19210, #19214, #19215, #19262, #19264).

    2. The required artifacts do not exist yet:

      • glob **/.backports.yml → no matches
      • glob **/backport_check_active.sh → no matches
      • rg -n "maintained_until" (repo) → no matches

    3. Backport process is still manual/Buildkite-driven today:

      • docs/extend/developer-workflow-support-old-package.md:12-15 (manual workflow overview)
      • docs/extend/developer-workflow-support-old-package.md:119 (manual main changelog update)
      • .buildkite/pipeline.backport.yml:20-54 (UI input + branch creation script)
      • .buildkite/scripts/backport_branch.sh:292-297 (checks only if branch exists, no active/expiry logic)

    4. Existing workflow patterns to reuse for this issue:

      • Scheduled workflow shape: .github/workflows/sweep-httpjson-pagination.yml:2-5
      • Job-level write permissions for PR automation: .github/workflows/bump-elastic-stack-version.yml:19-21
      • gh CLI usage pattern in workflows: .github/workflows/docs-edit-automation.yml:29-37, 151-152

    5. There is no existing housekeeping PR/workflow for this:

      • GitHub search is:pr backports-housekeeping → total_count: 0
      • glob .github/workflows/*backport*.yml → no matches

    Verification

    Commands and output 
    $ git ls-remote --heads origin 'backport-*' | head -n 10
ed21ff84b14f166f75524f5196c933cc4069b99a	refs/heads/backport-apm-8.15
275902537f94d8347bf4c4faf3cea0a5da88a4f5	refs/heads/backport-aws-1.51
4e8c8f5f466e9115162c1f74c057647ab965d79f	refs/heads/backport-aws-2.24
8a88b2c60a29542a9943c525948cd0045d2e7435	refs/heads/backport-aws-2.25
383ea812539d5242a60f8b9ed06762588c348aea	refs/heads/backport-aws-2.30
50adf104817cf6e6b142e4aaa1999e22fef65d1a	refs/heads/backport-aws-3.13
efa3658aa5e01e232318d090469a0dcc9a1e97ba	refs/heads/backport-aws-3.17
2fee549a71fea6ad3428478016e0afdb67a4dcf4	refs/heads/backport-aws-7.15.0
04c340f4c500a6fd32c30e2c04e3bb8fecbdb1ee	refs/heads/backport-cloud_asset_inventory-1.1
e73e648943872f464a8a99368542f74617ce2e12	refs/heads/backport-cloud_asset_inventory-1.3

$ glob **/.backports.yml
No files matched the pattern.

$ glob **/backport_check_active.sh
No files matched the pattern.

$ rg -n "backport|\.backports\.yml|maintained_until" .github/workflows
No matches found.

$ github-search_pull_requests "is:pr backports-housekeeping" (elastic/integrations)
{"total_count":0,"incomplete_results":false}

    Detailed Action Plan

    Implementation steps

    1. Gate on #19210 completion

      • Require .backports.yml and dev/scripts/backport_check_active.sh from #19210 before implementing this issue.

    2. Add workflow file

      • Create .github/workflows/backports-housekeeping.yml with:
        • on.schedule (weekly) + workflow_dispatch (pattern from .github/workflows/sweep-httpjson-pagination.yml:2-5)
        • job permissions contents: write and pull-requests: write (pattern from .github/workflows/bump-elastic-stack-version.yml:19-21)

    3. Detect expired entries

      • Iterate .backports.yml entries where archived: false.
      • For each branch, call dev/scripts/backport_check_active.sh --branch <name> --json.
      • Select only entries inactive because maintained_until < today.

    4. Apply archival edits

      • Update only matching entries to archived: true in .backports.yml.
      • Build PR body table with branch + maintained_until for reviewer verification.

    5. Deduplicate PR creation

      • Before creating PR, check for existing open PR from head backports/housekeeping.
      • If open PR exists: exit successfully with no new PR.
      • If none exists: push branch + open PR (reuse gh workflow usage style seen in .github/workflows/docs-edit-automation.yml:29-37, 151-152).

    6. No-op behavior

      • If no expired entries are found, exit with success and no PR.

    7. Integration sanity check with sibling backport automation

      • Confirm compatibility with #19214/#19215/#19262 assumptions (especially around automation labels and branch naming), so the housekeeping PR does not interfere with auto-backport flows.

    Related Items

    Issues, files, and references
    Type Link Relevance
    Issue #19264 Current triage target
    Issue #19210 Hard dependency: inventory + active check script
    Issue #19016 Parent backport tooling initiative
    Issue #19214 Auto-backport flow that will consume active/inactive logic
    Issue #19215 Backport changelog sync automation
    Issue #19262 Migration of sync workflow to active backport branches
    File docs/extend/developer-workflow-support-old-package.md:12-15 Current manual process
    File docs/extend/developer-workflow-support-old-package.md:119 Manual main-branch changelog update step
    File .buildkite/pipeline.backport.yml:20-54 Current backport branch creation entrypoint
    File .buildkite/scripts/backport_branch.sh:292-297 Existing branch-exists check only
    File .github/workflows/sweep-httpjson-pagination.yml:2-5 Schedule/workflow_dispatch example
    File .github/workflows/bump-elastic-stack-version.yml:19-21 Permissions example for PR automation
    File .github/workflows/docs-edit-automation.yml:29-37 gh CLI usage in CI
    File .github/workflows/docs-edit-automation.yml:151-152 PR comment/interaction pattern

    Note

    🔒 Integrity filter blocked 2 items

    The following items were blocked because they don't meet the GitHub integrity level.

    • #12046 search_issues: has lower integrity than agent requires. The agent cannot read data with integrity below "approved".
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  5. mrodm
    self-assigned this
    on Aug 6, 2026

  6. mrodm commented on Aug 6, 2026

    @mrodm
    mrodm
    on Aug 6, 2026
    CollaboratorAuthor

    After tracing the implementation with all the latest changes introduced for backport automation: the maintained_until field is fully integrated into the active-branch logic shared by all backport workflows. Entries with a past maintained_until date are already silently skipped — the original risk of automation targeting stale branches does not exist.

    The remaining deliverable (a weekly (or daily) job to create PRs to set archived: true) adds cosmetic tidiness but no functional value. Not worth the maintenance overhead. Closing as won't do.

  7. mrodm
    closed this as not plannedon Aug 6, 2026
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