XerahS Release Bump Tag

Windows Portable Releases

Windows portable ZIPs are part of every normal tagged release alongside the EXE/MSI installers. For portable-only local packaging, artifact verification, and upgrade guidance, read references/windows-portable.md. A request to build a portable ZIP locally does not require a version bump, tag, or GitHub release; use that reference instead of the publishing sequence below.

Overview

Use this skill to run release steps in strict order:

• Step 1: Execute maintenance prep first (git pull --recurse-submodules and git submodule update --init --recursive), then reattach ShareX.ImageEditor to develop and fast-forward it from origin/develop. Uncommitted local changes in the working tree are auto-committed with message [skill] Auto-commit uncommitted changes before release maintenance before the pull. Submodule local changes still block the sequence and must be committed/stashed manually.
• Step 2: Run .ai/skills/update-changelog/SKILL.md second (optional only if docs/CHANGELOG.md is intentionally absent)
• Step 3: Verify build, then execute bump/commit/push/tag automation
• Step 4: Monitor the tag-triggered release workflow every 2 minutes
• Step 5: If failure occurs, inspect logs, fix the root cause in code or workflow first (do not skip the fix and retry the same version), commit and push the fix, then retry with the next patch version. If the failure is in the build-flatpak job, verify all plugin DLLs are present in the staging directory; the workflow now includes a plugin re-validation step but a code fix in package-linux.sh may also be needed. Repeat until workflow succeeds.
• Step 6: Ensure standard release notes block is present on the GitHub release
• Step 7: Apply repo release-channel policy (see below)
• Optional Step 8: Generate a Flathub source-build manifest candidate from the successful release tag; do not open or automate a Flathub PR
• Optional Step 9: Stamp Launchpad PPA / Fedora COPR / openSUSE OBS candidates, or publish them with --publish-distro-repos (secrets-gated skip per backend; see docs/linux/distro-repos.md)
• GitHub Actions release upload steps must match the same repo policy (prerelease / make_latest by github.repository); do not rely only on the post-workflow gh release edit guard.