In RTC source control should streams be deleted

Question

Given RTC streams are the 'branch' equivalent should you allow them to be deleted after they are no longer actively used (preserving any snapshots by moving them to another stream)?

My current thinking is yes they can be - to keep the work area tidy-er. So if one product has several streams e.g. I may do:

Stream DevEng [delete]
Stream IntEng [delete]
Stream FixEng [delete]
Stream RelEng [Keep]

Since the only thing you lose is the ability to query the stream to see if it every saw a particular component baseleine.

Are there other negatives? What policy do you have?

Answer 1

The other alternative is to rename and reuse.
But deleting is a viable option.

In any case, that means the baselines and snapshots are not tightly linked to a Stream (which can be renamed or deleted at any time).
As a result, it is important to adequately name said baselines and snapshots in order to remember their purpose.

Answer 2

I've been trying to get my head around what it means for a stream to "no longer be actively used" unless it's a temporary feature stream and the work has been merged back to the development stream. The only other option I can think of is that the product is finished (or dead) and will never see future development.

In general, I prefer deletion -- if you're really done, just make it go away. But if I'm "done" with the stream, but not stuff in it, I would consider myself not done with the stream and keep it. Perhaps rename it if you want it to sort out of the way of more current ones.