feat(ci): auto-publish mainnet fixture patch releases from the nightly fill

[spencer-tb]

Description

Automates fortnightly mainnet fixture patch releases from the existing nightly fill while keeping every mainnet-fork (X) and consensus-revision (Y) release manual.

The release policy is explicit:

Version component	Meaning	Release path
X	Mainnet fork line	Manual vX.0.0 release
Y	Consensus revision for that fork	Manual vX.Y.0 release
Z	Non-consensus fixture changes	Automatic patch, at most once every 14 days

Maintainers select the active X.Y series in .github/configs/mainnet_fixture_version.yaml. A consensus-changing PR increments consensus_revision; a new-mainnet-fork PR increments fork and resets the revision to zero. The scheduled workflow never chooses an X or Y bump: while the configured series is ahead of the latest published release it publishes nothing and points to the exact manual vX.Y.0 release required.

When the configured and published series match, nightly fixture changes accumulate. The first eligible nightly at least 14 days after the latest published tests@ release publishes the next Z patch from that run's own artifact. An unchanged fixture root produces no release. A manual major or minor release starts a fresh 14-day patch window.

Content and integrity gates

Every combined fill records two small assets alongside fixtures.tar.gz:

• index_root.txt provides the cheap content-equality check;
• fixtures_index.json.gz supports per-fixture validation and added/removed/changed counts.

The scheduled job publishes only a validated patch. It produces no release when the previous or current index is missing, corrupt or ambiguous; (json_path, id) identities are duplicated; a mass disappearance suggests a partial fill; the fork set changes unexpectedly; release-note commit enumeration is incomplete; or a newer manual draft is pending.

Manual mainnet release creation and scheduled patch publication share a concurrency lock, preventing both paths from selecting or creating the same next tests@ version simultaneously.

Releases predating the standalone index asset bootstrap from the leading metadata members of fixtures.tar.gz; the streaming reader allows files such as fixtures.ini before index.json and stops before downloading the fixture body.

Manual releases and cached artifacts

Manual tests releases are validated against the configured series. A new-series release must be exactly the configured vX.Y.0.

Cached releases remain fast, but a cached new-series release may reuse only a nightly whose target commit already contains that exact series marker. This prevents a just-merged consensus or fork release from accidentally attaching fixtures built before the change. If no matching nightly exists, the workflow requires a fresh fill or an explicitly selected newer nightly.

The A-tests label never gates publication; it only selects PRs for the generated release notes.

Verification

• 91 passed in .github/scripts/tests/test_release_scripts.py
• just static

Related Issues or PRs

N/A.

Checklist

• Ran fast static checks to avoid CI failures.
• PR title follows the repository's conventional title format.

Cute Animal Picture

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 93.53%. Comparing base (43e3cd1) to head (f90f146).
⚠️ Report is 8 commits behind head on forks/amsterdam.

Additional details and impacted files

@@               Coverage Diff                @@
##           forks/amsterdam    #3385   +/-   ##
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  Coverage            93.53%   93.53%           
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  Files                  624      624           
  Lines                37074    37074           
  Branches              3394     3394           
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  Hits                 34679    34679           
  Misses                1645     1645           
  Partials               750      750           

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	93.53% <ø> (ø)

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