We are using JIRA to track production changes and need to keep an accurate audit trail of what has happened in the past. However, when a custom field option needs to be removed (no longer relevant for future issues), we can't have that field option being removed from past issues.

Currently, if an option from a custom field is removed, JIRA removes that option for all existing issues that have it (closed as well). Same story with components - If I remove a component that isn't needed for future issues, it should not remove that component from previous issues.

This is a lack of data integrity for JIRA. We should be able to modify field options for future issues without "breaking" the past issues.