Automation for setting milestones on PRs and issues is broken

[nickboldt]

Is your task related to a problem? Please describe

The GH action https://github.com/benoitf/che-sync-remote/actions/workflows/sync.yml used to set milestones on PRs and issues has broken.

We need to look at WHY and then resurrect it; or we could consider moving to a simpler python script that uses the GH API to manipulate issues and pull requests.

Describe the solution you'd like

Fix the existing TS app or move to python script.

Move the script to a centalized place, like https://github.com/eclipse-che/che-release/

Describe alternatives you've considered

No response

Additional context

No response

[nickboldt]

This might be P1 for the next sprint, depending on opinions from @ibuziuk and @l0rd about how it impacts data workflows for documentation & the Thursday PR/issue triage calls. cc: @max-cx as well.

[l0rd]

The repo has been moved in che-incubator.

[nickboldt]

Does this need its own repo? Isn't this sort of tooling exactly what che-release is for? Are we not trying to simplify the overhead incurred in having SO many places to put/update tokens, dependabot PRs, etc. ?

Also wondering who will be the codeowners for this, since it's a TS app.

[nickboldt]

Related issue: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/CRW-4349

[ibuziuk]

@nickboldt can we prio this issue for the next sprint?

[nickboldt]

PR: che-incubator/che-sync-remote#26

Update milestone with params {
  owner: 'eclipse-che',
  repo: 'che-theia',
  milestone_number: 71,
  title: '7.64',
  state: 'closed'
}
RequestError [HttpError]: Repository was archived so is read-only.

Looks like we need to remove archived products from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eclipse/che/master/.repositories.yaml ...

#22500

[nickboldt]

milestones added to these repos:

eclipse/che
7.74
7.75

eclipse-che/che-server
8.x
7.75
7.74

che-incubator/chectl
8.x
7.x (Later, Future, Never)
7.75
7.74

che-incubator/che-code
8.x
7.75
7.74

eclipse-che/che-dashboard
8.x
7.x (Later, Future, Never)
7.75
7.74

eclipse-che/che-devfile-registry
8.x
7.x (Later, Future, Never)
7.75
7.74

eclipse-che/che-docs
8.x
7.x (Later, Future, Never)
7.75
7.74

eclipse-che/che-machine-exec
8.x
7.x (Later, Future, Never)
7.75
7.74

eclipse-che/che-operator
8.x
7.x (Later, Future, Never)
7.75
7.74

eclipse-che/che-plugin-registry
8.x
7.x (Later, Future, Never)
7.75
7.74

Repos without milestones:

eclipse-che/che-website
eclipse-che/che-workspace-client
che-incubator/configbump
che-incubator/workspace-data-sync
che-incubator/che-workspace-telemetry-client
che-incubator/kubernetes-image-puller
eclipse-che/blog
eclipse-che/che-docs-vale-style
eclipse-che/che-release
che-incubator/che-deploy-action
che-incubator/devfile-converter
che-incubator/happy-path-tests-action
che-incubator/header-rewrite-traefik-plugin
che-incubator/jetbrains-editor-images
che-incubator/kubernetes-image-puller-operator
devfile/registry
devfile/developer-images
devfile/devworkspace-operator-docs
che-incubator/check-license-header
che-incubator/devworkspace-telemetry-woopra-plugin
che-incubator/setup-minikube-action
che-incubator/dependencies-license-action
che-incubator/dash-licenses
che-incubator/devfile-api

Also:

devfile/devworkspace-operator
v0.19.x
v0.20.x
v0.21.x
v0.23.x
v0.22.x

[nickboldt]

Query String = repo:eclipse/che repo:eclipse-che/che-server/ repo:che-incubator/chectl repo:che-incubator/che-code repo:eclipse-che/che-dashboard repo:eclipse-che/che-devfile-registry repo:eclipse-che/che-docs repo:eclipse-che/che-machine-exec repo:eclipse-che/che-operator repo:eclipse-che/che-plugin-registry is:pr merged:>=2023-09-11T14:05:03.485Z is:merged no:milestone

-- https://github.com/che-incubator/che-sync-remote/actions/runs/6148220844/job/16681458520

Not sure yet if we need to add more repos to the list.

If so, can set useCheReleaseLifecycle: true in https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eclipse/che/main/.repositories.yaml for additional projects.

[l0rd]

Do we really need to maintain a bot that sets milestones of merged PRs?

When a merged PR belongs to a git tag then GitHub already shows the label:

(link)

(link)

[nickboldt]

I thought the point of this was to set milestones (before a release), not tags (after a release) ... but if we no longer need this to facilitate triage and creation of N&N (after a release), then I'm happy to sunset this tool.

@ibuziuk WDYT? I thought we wanted this back after 5 months of it being broken... but if not, then it's one more repo we can archive.

[l0rd]

I thought the point of this was to set milestones (before a release), not tags (after a release)

The reasoning is: if there is no tag, then the PR will be included in next release. And if the tag is there, then it matches the release that includes the PR.

[nickboldt]

Good point. So we don't need milestones for che project anymore?

[ibuziuk]

During the retrospective we had a discussion about this issue, and identified it as an action item for the Dev Tools week.
Basically, the problem is that it is very hard at the moment to identify which issues were closed in particular Eclipse Che version. Previously we used milestones [1] for that, which are not accurate e.g. 7.72.0 and 7.73.0 have only 3 issues. My understanding is that we should either set milestones manually on each issue before closing, or bring back the automation.

[1] https://github.com/eclipse/che/milestones?state=closed

[ibuziuk]

Closing this issue since there is a plan to remove milestones from eclipse/che repository in general.
@l0rd I believe this was discussed on the community call, but not sure if there is a plan to also communicate it via email