ci: publish release candidates automatically on tag push

Revert the manual workflow_dispatch flow: pushing a v*-rc* tag now
runs CI against the tag and publishes a GitHub pre-release, like the
nightly flow. Publishing an RC supersedes the nightly line, so all
nightly pre-releases are deleted at that point.

Author: leandromqrs

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -4,47 +4,23 @@ on:
   push:
     tags:
       - 'v[0-9]*'
-      - '!v[0-9]*-rc*'
-  workflow_dispatch:
-    inputs:
-      tag:
-        description: Release candidate tag to publish (e.g. v49.0-rc1)
-        required: true
-        type: string
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
   packages: write
 
-env:
-  RELEASE_TAG: ${{ inputs.tag || github.ref_name }}
-
 jobs:
   ci:
-    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || !contains(github.ref_name, '-') }}
+    if: ${{ !contains(github.ref_name, '-') || contains(github.ref_name, '-rc') }}
     uses: ./.github/workflows/ci.yml
-    with:
-      checkout_ref: ${{ inputs.tag || '' }}
 
   release:
     name: Create GitHub Release
-    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || !contains(github.ref_name, '-') }}
+    if: ${{ !contains(github.ref_name, '-') || contains(github.ref_name, '-rc') }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: [ci]
     steps:
-      - name: Validate release candidate tag
-        if: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' }}
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          tag="${{ inputs.tag }}"
-          if [[ "$tag" != *-rc* ]]; then
-            echo "Tag '$tag' is not a release candidate (expected to contain '-rc')." >&2
-            exit 1
-          fi
-
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ inputs.tag || '' }}
 
       - name: Download extension zip
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
@@ -55,16 +31,33 @@ jobs:
       - name: Create GitHub Release
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v3
         with:
-          tag_name: ${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}
-          name: ${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}
+          name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
           files: dist/target/aurora-shell@luminusos.github.io.shell-extension.zip
           generate_release_notes: true
-          prerelease: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' }}
+          prerelease: ${{ contains(github.ref_name, '-') }}
+
+      # An RC supersedes the nightly line: once a release candidate is out,
+      # the nightly pre-releases are removed like superseded nightlies are.
+      - name: Delete superseded nightly pre-releases
+        if: ${{ contains(github.ref_name, '-rc') }}
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          gh release list \
+            --limit 1000 \
+            --json tagName,isPrerelease \
+            --jq '.[] | select(.isPrerelease and (.tagName | test("-nightly[0-9]+$"))) | .tagName' |
+            while IFS= read -r nightly_tag; do
+              gh release delete "$nightly_tag" --cleanup-tag --yes
+              echo "Deleted superseded nightly ${nightly_tag}." >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"
+            done
 
       - name: Create maintenance branch
-        if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' }}
+        if: ${{ !contains(github.ref_name, '-') }}
         run: |
-          MAJOR=$(echo "${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}" | sed 's/^v//' | grep -oP '^\d+')
+          MAJOR=$(echo "${{ github.ref_name }}" | sed 's/^v//' | grep -oP '^\d+')
           BRANCH="release/v${MAJOR}.x"
           if git ls-remote --exit-code --heads origin "$BRANCH" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
             echo "Branch $BRANCH already exists, skipping."

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ and adds a final version bump commit. For example, if `metadata.json` on `releas
 
 Release candidates are published alongside GNOME Shell RCs. Tags follow the pattern `v50-rc1`, `v50-rc2`, etc. RC releases are marked as **pre-releases** on GitHub.
 
-Pushing an RC tag does **not** publish anything. After pushing the tag, trigger the `Release` workflow manually (`workflow_dispatch`) and pass the tag name in the `tag` input. The workflow validates that the tag contains `-rc`, runs CI against it, and publishes the pre-release.
+Pushing an RC tag publishes it automatically: the `Release` workflow runs CI against the tag and creates the pre-release. An RC supersedes the nightly line, so publishing one deletes all nightly pre-releases.
 
 ### Stable releases
 
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ D-Bus services.
 
 All jobs must pass before a PR can be merged.
 
-When a stable version tag (`v50.1`, `v50.2`, etc.) is pushed, `.github/workflows/release.yml` calls the CI pipeline and, if all jobs pass, publishes the GitHub Release automatically. Release candidate tags (`v50-rc1`, etc.) are excluded from this trigger and are published manually via `workflow_dispatch`, as described above.
+When a version tag (`v50.1`, `v50-rc1`, etc.) is pushed, `.github/workflows/release.yml` calls the CI pipeline and, if all jobs pass, publishes the GitHub Release automatically. Release candidate tags are published as pre-releases and supersede the nightly pre-releases, as described above.
 
 ## Coding Standards