20. Source Retention

Date: 2023-04-04

Status

Accepted

Relates to ADR 7. Change Management

Context

Red Hat’s SSML requirements “SSML.PS.1.1.1 Securely Store All Forms of Code” requires that “The revision and its change history are preserved indefinitely and cannot be deleted, except when subject to an established and transparent policy for obliteration, such as a legal or policy requirement.”

We intend for the Konflux pipeline to support this requirement in RHTAP-107. Since we Use our own pipelines (ADR .17), this would satisfy the control for us, if it were implemented.

So long as it is not yet implemented, we need a policy (an “administrative control” rather than a “technical control”) that precribes how our own source repositories must be managed.

Decision

The source history of branches used to build Konflux components (usually the main branch), must not be overwritten or deleted.

This practice can be supported by enabling branch protection rules on a repo by repo basis that prohibit force pushing and branch deletion for protected branches.

Consequences

• So long as RHTAP-107 is not implemented, we will need to abide by this administrative control, increasing the number of rules that team members need to remember.
• Github branch protection rules can help reduce that cognitive load, but could be accidentally disabled if this ADR is not frequently discussed or referenced.