From 2baa88e6c4ccd8afebef4149d2d92b5e284ff06d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Scott Dodson <sdodson@redhat.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:23:55 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Omit Node Info rendering for 4.18 and earlier

rpmdb collection on 4.18 and earlier requires pulling the entire
rhel-coreos image. 4.19+ stores the rpmdb separately, making it
significantly cheaper.

Add ReleaseTagHasCheapRpmdb() which returns false for 4.x tags
where x <= 18, and use it to skip Node Info in:
- getChangeLog() / renderChangeLog() (HTML page and compare page)
- apiReleaseInfo() (API endpoint)

Unparseable tags (nightlies, CI builds) are not gated.

rh-pre-commit.version: 2.4.0
rh-pre-commit.check-secrets: ENABLED
---
 cmd/release-controller-api/http.go           |  5 +++++
 cmd/release-controller-api/http_changelog.go | 13 +++++++++++++
 pkg/release-controller/semver.go             | 14 ++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 32 insertions(+)

diff --git a/cmd/release-controller-api/http.go b/cmd/release-controller-api/http.go
index 8135f5078..f5d00056e 100644
--- a/cmd/release-controller-api/http.go
+++ b/cmd/release-controller-api/http.go
@@ -706,6 +706,11 @@ func (c *Controller) apiReleaseInfo(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		}
 
 		wg.Go(func() {
+			// Skip node image info for 4.18 and earlier: rpmdb collection requires
+			// pulling the entire rhel-coreos image for those releases.
+			if !releasecontroller.ReleaseTagHasCheapRpmdb(tagInfo.Tag) {
+				return
+			}
 			streams, err := c.releaseInfo.ListMachineOSStreams(tagInfo.TagPullSpec)
 			if err != nil {
 				nodeImageErr = newHTTPError(http.StatusInternalServerError, "listing machine-OS streams for %s: %w", tagInfo.Tag, err)
diff --git a/cmd/release-controller-api/http_changelog.go b/cmd/release-controller-api/http_changelog.go
index b6f3d87ca..99d7cfc50 100644
--- a/cmd/release-controller-api/http_changelog.go
+++ b/cmd/release-controller-api/http_changelog.go
@@ -88,6 +88,13 @@ func (c *Controller) getChangeLog(ctx context.Context, ch chan renderResult, chN
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Skip node image info for 4.18 and earlier: rpmdb collection requires
+	// pulling the entire rhel-coreos image for those releases.
+	if !releasecontroller.ReleaseTagHasCheapRpmdb(toTag) {
+		chNodeInfo <- renderResult{}
+		return
+	}
+
 	toImagePullspec := toImage.GenerateDigestPullSpec()
 	fromImagePullspec := fromImage.GenerateDigestPullSpec()
 
@@ -200,6 +207,12 @@ func (c *Controller) renderChangeLog(w http.ResponseWriter, fromPull string, fro
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Skip node image info for 4.18 and earlier: rpmdb collection requires
+	// pulling the entire rhel-coreos image for those releases.
+	if !releasecontroller.ReleaseTagHasCheapRpmdb(toTag) {
+		return
+	}
+
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "<h2 id=\"node-image-info\">Node Image Info</h2>")
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, `<p id="node_loading" class="alert alert-info">Loading node image info, this may take a while ...</p>`)
 	flusher.Flush()
diff --git a/pkg/release-controller/semver.go b/pkg/release-controller/semver.go
index 2a0a8588a..60ec0a5f7 100644
--- a/pkg/release-controller/semver.go
+++ b/pkg/release-controller/semver.go
@@ -174,3 +174,17 @@ func ReleaseTagIsDualRHCOS(toTag string) bool {
 	}
 	return v.Major == 4 && v.Minor >= 21
 }
+
+// ReleaseTagHasCheapRpmdb reports whether the target release tag supports
+// rpmdb collection without pulling the entire rhel-coreos image.
+// Releases 4.19 and later store the rpmdb separately; 4.18 and earlier
+// require pulling the full image, so Node Info is omitted for those releases.
+// If the tag cannot be parsed as a semver version, it is assumed to support
+// cheap rpmdb (i.e., nightly or CI tags are not gated).
+func ReleaseTagHasCheapRpmdb(toTag string) bool {
+	v, err := SemverParseTolerant(toTag)
+	if err != nil {
+		return true
+	}
+	return !(v.Major == 4 && v.Minor <= 18)
+}

From 1fa26a95aa4189a8fcf5afb624959283b4c1635c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Scott Dodson <sdodson@redhat.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 10:53:37 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] pkg/release-controller: apply De Morgan's law to satisfy
 staticcheck

rh-pre-commit.version: 2.4.0
rh-pre-commit.check-secrets: ENABLED
---
 pkg/release-controller/semver.go | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/pkg/release-controller/semver.go b/pkg/release-controller/semver.go
index 60ec0a5f7..446b39f16 100644
--- a/pkg/release-controller/semver.go
+++ b/pkg/release-controller/semver.go
@@ -186,5 +186,5 @@ func ReleaseTagHasCheapRpmdb(toTag string) bool {
 	if err != nil {
 		return true
 	}
-	return !(v.Major == 4 && v.Minor <= 18)
+	return v.Major != 4 || v.Minor > 18
 }