Flags can be used across many products. There will be times when a product no longer wishes to use a particular flag. Disabling this flag isn't an option, as the other products will wish to use it. This means the only option is to remove the flag inclusion for that product. The problem with this is that when the flag inclusion is removed, the existing flag state is destroyed. What would be better in this case is to disable the inclusion so that the existing flag data is preserved. Also, the usage of this state should be logged, see bug 1315542
Why do we want to retain state that is no longer being used?
(In reply to Jeff Fearn from comment #1) > Why do we want to retain state that is no longer being used? To preserve bug history. If the flag inclusion is removed then the flag is removed from all bugs and bug history, as if it never existed.
(In reply to Matt Tyson 🤬 from comment #2) > (In reply to Jeff Fearn from comment #1) > > Why do we want to retain state that is no longer being used? > > To preserve bug history. > > If the flag inclusion is removed then the flag is removed from all bugs and > bug history, as if it never existed. This is incorrect, if you remove an inclusion for a flag the history is left alone and is visible to users who can see the flag. Note if a flag is deleted the history is also left in place, but the flag's history on bugs becomes open.