PR #4 (`probe1-ceremony`) bumped `0.6.0-dev` to bare `0.6.0` and stamped
`## 0.6.0 — 2026-08-05`, assembled from the three fixture fragments by the
candidate's own `bin/changelog-assemble` and committed with the deletions
in one commit. The `release` label was applied and confirmed before the
merge. Facts and verdict:
```text
VER: 0.6.0
BASE_VER: 0.6.0-dev
RELEASED:
LABELED: yes
ceremony=yes
```
Observed after the run:
- **Exactly one** release: `GET /releases` returned `0.6.0` alone, not a
draft, not a pre-release, zero assets (no artifact hook in the fixture —
the hook step skipped).
-`GET /tags` returned `0.6.0` alone, pointing at
`64d02539f4a20286afc08b9997f0f8a7d1dbfccd`, which is PR #4's merge commit
— the tag names the tree that was reviewed.
- The release body was byte-for-byte the assembled section's bullets:
```text
- A second ordinary fragment, written by probe 2 of the 0.6.0 drill (#249).
- An ordinary behavior change, landing under the release label (#249).
- Fragment mode is exercised by the ceremony 0.6.0 drill (#249).
```
- Main re-armed itself: commit `2d0e19a` ("bump main to 0.6.1-dev — a dev
install must not impersonate 0.6.0"), pushed by the job's own token. Main
reads `0.6.1-dev` and `changelog.d/` holds only `README.md`.
- **The anti-recursion property held.** Neither the tag create nor the bump
push started a workflow run — the run list after the ceremony ends at
30992108742. That is what makes the merge door the release's only chance
to publish, and it is the reason probe 4 below is the door's own guard
rather than a second run's.
### Probe 4 — a re-run of the completed ceremony
Re-running 30992108742 as attempt 2 re-decided `ceremony=yes` — the facts
at that merge commit have not changed — and then died at the assert:
```text
tag '0.6.0' already exists — this release already happened, or a manual tag won the race; refusing to re-release, creating nothing.
```
Tag, publish and bump all skipped. `GET /releases` still returned exactly
one `0.6.0`. The refusal is loud (the job is red) and creates nothing, which
is the required shape: the assert is what covers a manual tag racing the
merge, not only an operator's stray re-run.
### Probe 3 — a bare-version PR without the `release` label
PR #3 (`probe3-bare`) bumped `VERSION` to bare `0.6.0` and carried no label;
the label list was read as empty before merging. The merge run refused at
decide, row 5 of the table:
```text
VER: 0.6.0
BASE_VER: 0.6.0-dev
RELEASED:
LABELED: no
the version transitioned ('0.6.0-dev' -> '0.6.0') but no merged, release-labeled PR is behind this commit — a release is a labeled ceremony PR, not a bare push — creating nothing.
```
Notes, the assert, tag, hook, publish and bump all skipped; tags and
releases were both still empty afterwards. The merge was then undone and
main re-armed to `0.6.0-dev` before the ceremony probe ran (see Setup).
