There's a difference between deleting data as a Phab/Phorge admin (which is done via the bin/delete script, and prints out a massive warning about it potentially breaking stuff and generally being a bad idea), and schema migrations done as part of an upgrade, which would happily delete data without a second thought.

In T15126#3165, @Cigaryno wrote:

In T15126#3158, @avivey wrote:

can we keep the actual deletion as optional for a very long time/forever, and at the same time not create the database for new installs?
that will allow installs to backup/export their logs even if they miss the deprecation warning.

No, we should basically follow the two parts per @Matthew.

In T15126#3158, @avivey wrote:

can we keep the actual deletion as optional for a very long time/forever, and at the same time not create the database for new installs?
that will allow installs to backup/export their logs even if they miss the deprecation warning.

can we keep the actual deletion as optional for a very long time/forever, and at the same time not create the database for new installs?
that will allow installs to backup/export their logs even if they miss the deprecation warning.

I think this should be done in two parts: