[p4] Is there an argument for deleting old releases?

[Jay Glanville]

This is an opinion question, so I'm sure I'm going to get many different
answers! ;-)

In our P4 depot, we have a product with multiple releases, structured in
a somewhat 'standard' directory structure:
  .../application/branches/rel_01.00
                          /rel_01.01
                          /rel_02.00
                          /rel_02.01
                          /mainline
Along with the directory structure, we've labeled every major milestone
within each release.

Some of these releases are no longer in the field, and are therefore
considered 'obsolete'.  Eg: all releases prior to 2.0 are no longer of
interest.

The thought I had the other day was to delete (not obliterate) all
obsolete branches.  Why?  To help differentiate all active and
non-active branches (the active ones are the ones that you see by
default).  In other words, to help reduce the amount of 'visible noise'
when a developer looks at the depot.

I can't think of there being any 'harm' with doing this, for if a
developer needs to look at historical information, they can still browse
the old code by either using the milestone labels or by 'showing deleted
depot files'.

So, is there an argument for doing this?  Is there a good argument for
NOT doing this?  What do you think?

JDG
---
Jay Dickon Glanville