release: fail closed unless protected-main required workflow evidence is proven #191

Buyer-visible release-assurance gap

The release-admission source repair is IMPLEMENTED ON PROTECTED MAIN, but this issue remains open for operational evidence.

Current protected identity and release state

Fresh exact state:

• protected/live main: 7faf7a3b8a47980113982914000e724ab6a6cda5;
• integrating release-admission PR security(release): fail closed on protected-main evidence #192 is merged;
• exact accepted security(release): fail closed on protected-main evidence #192 source head: 090cb2738ffc2e285e4bbdda19f62f6628e06703;
• protected security(release): fail closed on protected-main evidence #192 merge commit: 5e299de0117bd6bfd89f984acec3098565c34005, retained in current protected history;
• the current GitHub Releases inventory is empty; no protected release has been created while required semantic evidence remains non-passing.

Before #192, .github/workflows/release.yml verified exact protected-main dispatch and reran repository-local quality/package checks but did not independently require the security/review evidence that made the integrated source eligible for release. That was unsafe because required workflow wrappers can look green while their semantic evidence is unavailable: Dependency Review can be skipped (#76 / read-only central .github#897), and Strix can report backend unavailable/no semantic report while its wrapper transport concludes successfully (#197 / read-only central .github#891).

#192 added a repository-owned read-only release-readiness verifier. It binds the release commit to exactly one integrating PR and exact source head, reads live protected-main rules, resolves required workflow source identities, requires exact-head workflow runs, independently checks review/thread requirements, inspects the actual Dependency Review step rather than trusting wrapper green, rejects unavailable/no-report Strix evidence, and gates tag/publication jobs behind that verification.

Later protected release-evidence hardening, including protected-main #199's required-workflow run-identity binding, strengthens this admission chain without converting missing semantic evidence into passing proof. Current Draft release-evidence work likewise remains unshipped until protected integration.

First failing boundary / RCA

• Boundary: stable-release admission before tag creation and package publication.
• Immediate historical cause: protected-main membership plus local quality/package reruns could authorize publication without independently proving merge-time security/review evidence.
• Root cause: merge-time organization workflow evidence and release-time publication authority are separate channels; wrapper conclusions can conceal absent semantic evidence.
• Systemic risk: a required-workflow false green, administrative integration, or provider-unavailable review could otherwise become a public artifact.
• Current mitigation: protected-main release admission fails closed on absent/mismatched/non-semantic evidence. Merge-time central evidence defects remain separately owned by security: fail closed when dependency review is unavailable #76/security: fail closed when required Strix review is unavailable #197 and their read-only central repair lanes.

Distinct remedies

1. Selected and protected-main implemented: repository-owned read-only exact-evidence verifier before any tag/package/publication authority.
2. Re-run/copy organization security/reviewer workflows inside release: rejected because that creates competing evidence authorities.
3. Infer readiness from aggregate check conclusions: rejected because security: fail closed when dependency review is unavailable #76/security: fail closed when required Strix review is unavailable #197 demonstrate wrapper-green/non-semantic evidence.
4. Trust protected-main membership alone: rejected because it cannot detect bypass or evidence-channel false green.

Source implementation acceptance

• Preserve test-first evidence for the missing explicit release-evidence admission boundary.
• Make verification read-only, finite, exact-SHA-bound and pagination-aware.
• Bind the protected-main commit to exactly one integrating PR and exact source head without transferring predecessor-head evidence.
• Read the live organization-required workflow set applicable to protected main and keep semantic evidence separate from wrapper/status/model evidence.
• Reject a Security Scan whose dependency-review wrapper succeeded while the immutable-pinned Dependency review action did not actually execute successfully.
• Reject required Strix evidence whose backend is unavailable or produced no semantic report.
• Prevent release/tag/package jobs from running unless the verifier succeeds.
• Preserve least privilege, OIDC publication boundaries, immutable action pins, reproducible package evidence, rollback/recovery behavior and no secret-value logging.
• Add deterministic positive/negative evidence-contract tests while preserving exact owned-production coverage and Python 3.10–3.14/package CI on the accepted source lineage.
• Preserve the release-admission chain through current protected main and keep GitHub Releases empty while its semantic prerequisites are not satisfied.

Remaining operational acceptance

• Integrate the separately governed fail-closed Dependency Review repair (ContextualWisdomLab/.github#897 or a freshly verified protected-central successor).
• Correct the organization-required merge-time Strix unavailable/no-report false-green boundary tracked centrally by .github#891 and locally by security: fail closed when required Strix review is unavailable #197.
• Obtain one exact protected EgressWeave candidate whose actual immutable-pinned Dependency Review action executes and succeeds.
• Obtain an actual exact-head Strix semantic review rather than backend-unavailable/neutral/wrapper-only evidence.
• Revalidate live rulesets, all required workflows, reviews/threads, security findings, exact coverage/docstrings, package/SBOM/provenance/reproducibility, compatibility and rollback/recovery on one unchanged integrated protected head.
• Exercise the protected release-admission path with the accepted evidence set and independently verify that known negative-control evidence states remain blocked before any tag/publication authority.
• Only after every release gate passes, version/update CHANGELOG/publish through the reviewed release workflow and independently verify resulting artifacts.
• Close only after protected-main operational proof demonstrates the release-admission contract end to end.

Non-goals

• No EgressWeave-local replacement for organization-owned Dependency Review or Strix workflows.
• No weakening or bypass of organization rulesets.
• No extra release credential, long-lived publishing token, autonomous release, or model-mediated publication decision.
• No release merely to manufacture operational evidence while required semantic gates remain non-passing.
• No claim that a current dependency or source vulnerability exists; this is evidence-integrity/release-authority assurance.