Standardize labels across camaraproject repositories

[hdamker]

Problem description

Labels across the 88 camaraproject repositories are inconsistent. An inventory (Feb 2026) found 129 unique label names, with significant issues:

• 24 labels have different colors across repos (e.g., subproject management has 2 colors, meta-release labels have almost all different colors)
• 12 labels have different descriptions for the same name
• 88 labels exist in only 1 repository
• Labels referenced by the issue templates (correction, tests, repository management) are missing in most repos:
  • correction: only in 13 of 66 API repos
  • tests: only in 4 repos
  • repository management: only in 32 repos
• Duplicate label names: backlog/Backlog, don't merge/Dont merge/Not To Be Merged/NotToBeMergedForNow

Full label inventory (Feb 2026)

#	Label	Repos	GH	Tpl	Comment
1	bug	85	x	x	Missing in 3 repos
2	documentation	88	x	x	Description differs in EdgeCloud
3	duplicate	88	x	x
4	enhancement	88	x	x	Description differs in EdgeCloud
5	good first issue	88	x	x
6	help wanted	88	x	x
7	invalid	88	x	x
8	question	88	x	x
9	wontfix	88	x	x
10	automated	57			Added by workflows when needed
11	subproject management	50			2 colors, 4 description variants
12	workinggroup	47
13	repository management	32		x	In template, 6 description variants
14	Fall25	29			21 different colors
15	Spring25	15			15 different colors
16	correction	13			In template, 7 colors, 8 descriptions
17	Fall24	10			10 different colors
18	backlog	7			5 colors
19	fall25	6			Case variant of Fall25
20	Fixed	6			6 colors
21	Spring26	6			6 colors
22	Fall 25	5			Spacing variant of Fall25
23	don't merge	4			3 colors, 3 descriptions
24	tests	4			In template, 4 colors, 4 descriptions
25-129	(104 more)	1-3 each			Mostly repo-specific

GH = GitHub default label, Tpl = defined in Template_API_Repository

Possible evolution

Define a canonical label set for all camaraproject repositories and synchronize with a script.

Mandatory labels for every repository (in addition to GitHub defaults):

• correction — referenced by issue template, for corrections of released API specs
• tests — referenced by issue template, for API test definition issues
• repository management — referenced by issue template, for repo/release management
• do not merge — consolidates 4 existing variants, for PRs that must not be merged yet
• backlog — consolidates backlog/Backlog, for deferred issues

Optional labels (where applicable):

• subproject management — for sub projects spanning multiple repositories (governance entity)
• workinggroup — for issues needing working group level discussion
• commonalities alignment — consolidates waiting for commonalities/Commonalities & ICM etc.

Labels managed by workflows (not to be pre-created or modified by sync script):

• automated, post-release, release-issue, release-state:* — created on-the-fly by release automation

For meta-release labels see camaraproject/ReleaseManagement for naming convention discussion.

Additional context

GitHub allows defining default labels at org level (Settings → Repository defaults), but these only apply to newly created repos. A sync script is needed for existing repos.

[hdamker]

Meta-release label naming convention discussed in camaraproject/ReleaseManagement#376