Record the confirmed label-name case behaviour (GH-16) - #54
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The spike in #16 settled open question 1 against the live API. The answer is two-sided, and only recording half of it would be misleading: - A repository can never hold two labels differing only by case. POST rejects the variant with 422 already_exists, so matching remote labels case-insensitively is unambiguous and needs no tie-break. - Casing drift is still a real state. A repo holding `bug` while the config asks for `Bug` is repaired by PATCH new_name in one call, preserving the label id and its issue/PR associations. Also pins down the one place a rename can collide: PATCH rejects a new_name matching an existing label in any casing with the same 422, so step 1's `to does not exist` guard has to be case-insensitive. A case-only drift can never collide, since the only label its target matches is the one being renamed. Validation gains the matching note: ErrInvalidRename compares `from` case-insensitively too, which rejects `bug` -> `Bug` as a rename entry. That is deliberate — step 5 already converges casing without one.
This was referenced Aug 8, 2026
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Records the outcome of the #16 spike in
docs/design.md, and retires open question 1.The findings comment has
the full request/response log. The short version is that the answer is two-sided, and writing
down only the first half would have been actively misleading:
POSTrejects the variant with422 already_exists. So matching remote labels case-insensitively is unambiguous.bugwhile config asks forBugisentirely possible, and is repaired by a single
PATCH new_namethat preserves the labelidandevery issue/PR association. The two facts do not collapse into "casing never differs".
The design was already right about this — step 5 treats
m.name != d.nameas a genuine update, andActionalready carriesNewName. This change explains why those are correct rather thanleaving them as unexplained assumptions.
Changes
### Label names are case-insensitively uniquesubsection with thefour observed behaviours and their consequences, including the rule that requests address a label
by its observed name with the desired spelling in
new_name(keeps the ETag cache honest).ErrInvalidRenamecomparesfromcase-insensitively, sobug→Bugis rejected as a renameentry — deliberate, since step 5 converges casing without one.
PATCHrejects a
new_namematching an existing label in any casing. Step 1'sto does not existguardhas to be case-insensitive to keep that unreachable.
Notes for review
task checkallis green.gh repo createwasunavailable), using
zz-spike-16-prefixed labels that were deleted immediately afterwards. Thelabel set was snapshotted before and verified after.
its Output (the findings comment) is posted.
Closes #16