# Firelink Release Process

Targets:

- macOS arm64 DMG
- Windows x64 NSIS installer
- Windows x64 portable ZIP
- Linux x64 AppImage
- Linux x64 Debian package
- Linux x64 RPM package

## Distribution policy

Firelink does not use an Apple Developer account. macOS releases are ad-hoc signed but not notarized or Gatekeeper-approved. Users may still need to explicitly approve the downloaded app through Finder or macOS Privacy & Security. Release copy must not describe these builds as Developer ID signed, notarized, or Gatekeeper-approved.

Windows releases are currently unsigned. SmartScreen may warn until code signing is added.

## Engine supply chain

Firelink never falls back to system-installed media tools.

- `engines.lock.json` pins current committed macOS payload hashes.
- `engine-sources.lock.json` pins Windows/Linux source archives and checksums.
- `scripts/provision-engines.js` downloads and verifies target archives.
- `scripts/stage-engines.js` creates one target-specific bundle payload.
- `scripts/verify-binaries.js` runs architecture, packaging, version, and RPC checks.

Linux `.deb` and `.rpm` packages are built with the complete verified engine payload. The AppImage is built separately with the engine payload temporarily omitted, then repacked from the verified payload because the AppImage tooling can rewrite bundled native binaries.

yt-dlp must remain its official PyInstaller **onedir** distribution: launcher plus adjacent `_internal` runtime. Onefile builds are rejected because repeated extraction caused roughly 17-second startup latency.

## Version update

Keep versions aligned:

- `package.json`
- `src-tauri/Cargo.toml`
- `src-tauri/tauri.conf.json`

## Local macOS build

```bash
npm ci
node scripts/stage-engines.js --target aarch64-apple-darwin
node scripts/verify-binaries.js --staged --target aarch64-apple-darwin
npm test -- --run
npm run build
cd src-tauri && cargo test --all-targets
cd ..
npm run tauri build -- --target aarch64-apple-darwin --bundles dmg
```

Verify packaged resources, then launch outside repository working directory:

```bash
APP="src-tauri/target/aarch64-apple-darwin/release/bundle/macos/Firelink.app"
node scripts/verify-binaries.js --search-root "$APP" --target aarch64-apple-darwin
node scripts/smoke-packaged-app.js --executable "$APP/Contents/MacOS/firelink"
```

GitHub release publication follows `.github/workflows/release.yml`. A `v*` tag
push builds, verifies, and publishes the GitHub release after the platform jobs
pass. A `workflow_dispatch` on a `v*` tag also publishes when its
`publish_release` input is enabled. The current workflow has no separate
release-certification inputs; clean-machine QA remains a release-owner gate
before pushing the tag.

## Automated release builds

Push a version tag to build and verify native artifacts:

```bash
git tag v<version>
git push origin v<version>
```

GitHub Actions builds all targets on native runners, verifies engines inside
final package contents, performs packaged launch smoke where supported, and
publishes the GitHub Release after the build matrix passes.

No target may silently skip missing engines, failed extraction, checksum mismatch, or missing package output.