Release Checklist

This document is the authoritative release gate policy.

Release-Blocking Conditions

A release is blocked unless all conditions below are true:

1. No merge conflict markers in tracked source/doc files.
2. Naming hygiene checks pass for public docs.
3. Configure/build sanity passes (cmake -S . -B ... and cmake --build ... --target sima_neat).
4. Docs link checks pass in strict mode (DOCS_STRICT_LINKS=1).
5. Working tree is clean after generation steps.
6. Zero unresolved crash/correctness failures before push and on release refs.
7. Crash/correctness/stress/sanitizer gates are green on the release ref.
8. MPK security gate is green (mpk-security-gate).
9. Install smoke gate is green (install-smoke).
10. Performance regression gate is green (perf-regression-gate).
11. Soak stability lane is green for release tags (soak-weekly).
12. Fuzz lane is green for release candidates (fuzz-nightly).
13. Zero-skip gate is green (zero-skip-gate) for strict test lanes.
14. Required governance files are present and valid:

• .github/CODEOWNERS
• .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
• CONTRIBUTING.md
• docs/contribute/release-checklist.md

15. Release metadata is complete:

• project(SimaNeat VERSION x.y.z) updated in CMakeLists.txt
• CHANGELOG.md has ## [x.y.z] entry
• release notes prepared in the release/tag body

No "known crashers" list is allowed in release flow. Any crash regression blocks release until fixed.

Required Status Checks

The following checks are required on release PRs and release tags:

• repo-hygiene
• configure-build-sanity
• docs-link-check
• crash-correctness-gate
• mpk-security-gate
• install-smoke
• perf-regression-gate
• zero-skip-gate
• soak-weekly (required for release tags)
• fuzz-nightly (required for release candidates)
• stress-gate
• asan-ubsan-gate
• release-policy-check

These checks are implemented in:

• .github/workflows/release-gate.yml
• .github/workflows/test-crash-correctness-nightly.yml
• .github/workflows/mpk-security.yml
• .github/workflows/install-smoke.yml
• .github/workflows/perf-regression.yml
• .github/workflows/zero-skip.yml
• .github/workflows/test-soak-weekly.yml
• .github/workflows/long-tests-weekly.yml
• .github/workflows/test-fuzz-nightly.yml
• .github/workflows/test-stress-nightly.yml
• .github/workflows/sanitizers.yml

Trigger ownership to avoid duplicate gate execution:

• Non-release PRs into main run mpk-security, install-smoke, perf-regression, and zero-skip from their standalone workflows.
• Release PRs (release/* head refs) and release refs (release/**, v*) run those same lanes from .github/workflows/release-gate.yml.

GitHub Branch and Tag Protection

Configure GitHub repository settings:

1. Protect main:
   • Require pull request before merge.
   • Require at least one code-owner approval (two recommended when available).
   • Dismiss stale approvals on new commits.
   • Require all required status checks.
   • Disallow force pushes.
   • Use squash-only or linear history.
2. Protect v* tags to restrict who can create release tags.

Release Flow

1. Cut release/x.y.z from green main.
2. Freeze non-release PR merges.
3. Run release gate workflow on release branch.
4. Create vX.Y.Z-rcN tag(s) for candidate validation.
5. Promote to final vX.Y.Z tag.
6. Fast-forward merge release branch back to main.
7. Publish release notes and post-release follow-up issues.

Operational Notes

• No release from dirty branches.
• No release from unreviewed code.
• No release when required checks are red.
• No push allowed when local crash/correctness gate fails.
• No manual bypass path for hygiene failures.

Perf Regression Contract

• Perf gate entrypoint is scripts/ci/run_perf_regression_gate.sh.
• Baselines are profile-scoped under tests/perf/baselines/v2/modalix_default/:
  • profile.json defines the fixed Modalix environment contract.
  • one scenario file per scenario ID (<scenario_id>.json).
• Required scenarios:
  • mpk_parse_smoke
  • runtime_session_sync_rgb
  • runtime_session_async_rgb
  • runtime_graph_fanout
  • runtime_graph_join_bundle
• Every perf run publishes per-scenario result files in build-perf-gate/perf_results/.
• Each result must include:
  • scenario_id
  • modalix_profile_id
  • status
  • failure_class
  • reason_code
  • metrics
  • run_meta
  • timestamp
• Any REGRESSION, HARNESS_ERROR, or ENV_BROKEN classification blocks the lane.