releases is a reserved keyword and cannot be removed

Error message

releases is a reserved keyword and cannot be removed

What it means

Error "releases is a reserved keyword and cannot be removed" thrown in docker/cli.

Source

Thrown at cmd/docker-trust/trust/signer_remove.go:101

			"Are you sure you want to continue?",
			signerName, repoName, repoName,
		)
		return prompt.Confirm(ctx, dockerCLI.In(), dockerCLI.Out(), message)
	}
	return false, nil
}

// removeSingleSigner attempts to remove a single signer and returns whether signer removal happened.
// The signer not being removed doesn't necessarily raise an error e.g. user choosing "No" when prompted for confirmation.
func removeSingleSigner(ctx context.Context, dockerCLI command.Cli, repoName, signerName string, forceYes bool) (bool, error) {
	imgRefAndAuth, err := trust.GetImageReferencesAndAuth(ctx, authResolver(dockerCLI), repoName)
	if err != nil {
		return false, err
	}

	signerDelegation := data.RoleName("targets/" + signerName)
	if signerDelegation == releasesRoleTUFName {
		return false, errors.New("releases is a reserved keyword and cannot be removed")
	}
	notaryRepo, err := newNotaryClient(dockerCLI, imgRefAndAuth, trust.ActionsPushAndPull)
	if err != nil {
		return false, trust.NotaryError(imgRefAndAuth.Reference().Name(), err)
	}
	delegationRoles, err := notaryRepo.GetDelegationRoles()
	if err != nil {
		return false, fmt.Errorf("error retrieving signers for %s: %w", repoName, err)
	}
	var role data.Role
	for _, delRole := range delegationRoles {
		if delRole.Name == signerDelegation {
			role = delRole
			break
		}
	}
	if role.Name == "" {
		return false, fmt.Errorf("no signer %s for repository %s", signerName, repoName)

View on GitHub (pinned to e9452d6e78)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cmd/docker-trust/trust/signer_remove.go:101 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@e9452d6e78 (2026-08-01). Data as JSON: /data/errors/2a1c06269baeccb0.json. Report an issue: GitHub.