5 files changed, 38 insertions, 18 deletions
diff --git a/src/server/bnetserver/bnetserver.conf.dist b/src/server/bnetserver/bnetserver.conf.dist
index 804ce51ef2a..9b133d36e4f 100644
--- a/src/server/bnetserver/bnetserver.conf.dist
+++ b/src/server/bnetserver/bnetserver.conf.dist
@@ -234,13 +234,16 @@ Updates.ArchivedRedundancy = 0
 Updates.AllowRehash = 1
 
 #
-#    Updates.CleanDeadRef
-#        Description: Cleans dead/ orphaned references that occure if a update was deleted or renamed and edited.
+#    Updates.CleanDeadRefMaxCount
+#        Description: Cleans dead/ orphaned references that occur if an update was removed or renamed and edited in one step.
+#                     It only starts the clean up if the count of the missing updates is below or equal the Updates.CleanDeadRefMaxCount value.
+#                     This way prevents erasing of the update history due to wrong source directory state (maybe wrong branch or bad revision).
 #                     Disable this if you want to know if the database is in a possible "dirty state".
-#        Default:     1 - (Enabled)
+#        Default:     3 - (Enabled)
 #                     0 - (Disabled)
+#                    -1 - (Enabled - unlimited)
 
-Updates.CleanDeadRef = 1
+Updates.CleanDeadRefMaxCount = 3
 
 #
 ###################################################################################################
diff --git a/src/server/shared/Updater/DBUpdater.cpp b/src/server/shared/Updater/DBUpdater.cpp
index 859c697168a..10119e08deb 100644
--- a/src/server/shared/Updater/DBUpdater.cpp
+++ b/src/server/shared/Updater/DBUpdater.cpp
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ bool DBUpdater<T>::Update(DatabaseWorkerPool<T>& pool)
         sConfigMgr->GetBoolDefault("Updates.Redundancy", true),
         sConfigMgr->GetBoolDefault("Updates.AllowRehash", true),
         sConfigMgr->GetBoolDefault("Updates.ArchivedRedundancy", false),
-        sConfigMgr->GetBoolDefault("Updates.CleanDeadRef", true));
+        sConfigMgr->GetIntDefault("Updates.CleanDeadRefMaxCount", 3));
 
     if (!count)
         TC_LOG_INFO("sql.updates", ">> %s database is up-to-date!", DBUpdater<T>::GetTableName().c_str());
diff --git a/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.cpp b/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.cpp
index 63e820c3de5..3958815d5d6 100644
--- a/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.cpp
+++ b/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.cpp
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ UpdateFetcher::DirectoryStorage UpdateFetcher::ReceiveIncludedDirectories() cons
 
         if (!is_directory(p))
         {
-            TC_LOG_ERROR("sql.updates", "DBUpdater: Given update include directory \"%s\" isn't existing, skipped!", p.generic_string().c_str());
+            TC_LOG_WARN("sql.updates", "DBUpdater: Given update include directory \"%s\" isn't existing, skipped!", p.generic_string().c_str());
             continue;
         }
 
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ UpdateFetcher::SQLUpdate UpdateFetcher::ReadSQLUpdate(boost::filesystem::path co
     return update;
 }
 
-uint32 UpdateFetcher::Update(bool const redundancyChecks, bool const allowRehash, bool const archivedRedundancy, bool const cleanDeadReferences) const
+uint32 UpdateFetcher::Update(bool const redundancyChecks, bool const allowRehash, bool const archivedRedundancy, int32 const cleanDeadReferencesMaxCount) const
 {
     LocaleFileStorage const available = GetFileList();
     AppliedFileStorage applied = ReceiveAppliedFiles();
@@ -291,14 +291,28 @@ uint32 UpdateFetcher::Update(bool const redundancyChecks, bool const allowRehash
             ++importedUpdates;
     }
 
-    for (auto const& entry : applied)
+    // Cleanup up orphaned entries if enabled
+    if (!applied.empty())
     {
-        TC_LOG_WARN("sql.updates", ">> File \'%s\' was applied to the database but is missing in" \
-            " your update directory now!%s", entry.first.c_str(), cleanDeadReferences ? " Deleting orphaned entry..." : "");
-    }
+        bool const doCleanup = (cleanDeadReferencesMaxCount == -1) || (applied.size() <= cleanDeadReferencesMaxCount);
+
+        for (auto const& entry : applied)
+        {
+            TC_LOG_WARN("sql.updates", ">> File \'%s\' was applied to the database but is missing in" \
+                " your update directory now!", entry.first.c_str());
+
+            if (doCleanup)
+                TC_LOG_INFO("sql.updates", "Deleting orphaned entry \'%s\'...", entry.first.c_str());
+        }
 
-    if (cleanDeadReferences)
-        CleanUp(applied);
+        if (doCleanup)
+            CleanUp(applied);
+        else
+        {
+            TC_LOG_ERROR("sql.updates", "Cleanup is disabled! There are %u dirty files that were applied to your database " \
+                "but are now missing in your source directory!", applied.size());
+        }
+    }
 
     return importedUpdates;
 }
diff --git a/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.h b/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.h
index 48a94444aa6..fa142547873 100644
--- a/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.h
+++ b/src/server/shared/Updater/UpdateFetcher.h
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public:
         std::function<QueryResult(std::string const&)> const& retrieve);
 
     uint32 Update(bool const redundancyChecks, bool const allowRehash,
-                  bool const archivedRedundancy, bool const cleanDeadReferences) const;
+                  bool const archivedRedundancy, int32 const cleanDeadReferencesMaxCount) const;
 
 private:
     enum UpdateMode
diff --git a/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist b/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist
index c1cdc4a7517..cc04bf99908 100644
--- a/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist
+++ b/src/server/worldserver/worldserver.conf.dist
@@ -1203,13 +1203,16 @@ Updates.ArchivedRedundancy = 0
 Updates.AllowRehash = 1
 
 #
-#    Updates.CleanDeadRef
-#        Description: Cleans dead/ orphaned references that occure if a update was deleted or renamed and edited.
+#    Updates.CleanDeadRefMaxCount
+#        Description: Cleans dead/ orphaned references that occur if an update was removed or renamed and edited in one step.
+#                     It only starts the clean up if the count of the missing updates is below or equal the Updates.CleanDeadRefMaxCount value.
+#                     This way prevents erasing of the update history due to wrong source directory state (maybe wrong branch or bad revision).
 #                     Disable this if you want to know if the database is in a possible "dirty state".
-#        Default:     1 - (Enabled)
+#        Default:     3 - (Enabled)
 #                     0 - (Disabled)
+#                    -1 - (Enabled - unlimited)
 
-Updates.CleanDeadRef = 1
+Updates.CleanDeadRefMaxCount = 3
 
 #
 ###################################################################################################