[CI] Automate binary builds and prerelease publishing

.github/RELEASING.md

@@ -2,63 +2,115 @@
 
 [Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 reference](https://github.com/semver/semver/blob/master/semver.md)
 
+Recommended versioning for the next release line:
+
+- Start the next stable release at `v0.10.0`.
+- Keep the binary's embedded version in source as a normal semver such as `0.10.0`.
+- Let merge-driven prereleases use generated tags like `pre-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS-<sha7>`.
+- Reserve manual semver tags like `v0.10.x` for a future stable-release process if needed.
+
 ### 1. New Feature or Breaking‑Change Release (Minor/Major)
 
 1. **Merge & Verify**
+
 - Merge all feature or breaking‑change PRs into `master`.
 - Ensure CI (tests, linter, codegen) all pass on `master`.
 
-2. **Determine Version Bump**
+1. **Determine Version Bump**
+
 - **Major** (`X.0.0`) when you make incompatible changes
 - **Minor** (`0.Y.0`) when you add functionality in a backward compatible manner
 - **Patch** (`0.0.Z`) when you make backward compatible bug fixes
 
-3. **Create Git Tag**
-   ```bash
-   git tag vX.Y.Z
-   git push origin vX.Y.Z
-   ```
-   This triggers the `Release` workflow.
+1. **Merge to `master`**
+   - Merging to `master` triggers the `Release` workflow automatically.
 
-4. **Monitor Release**
+   Or, for a manual test without merging:
+   - Run the `Release` workflow with `workflow_dispatch`.
+   - Optionally provide a short `release_label` such as `test`.
+
+2. **Monitor Release**
    - GitHub Actions will:
      - Run `go generate ./...`
-     - Build artifacts with `main.version=vX.Y.Z`
-     - Zip as `go-mud-release-vX.Y.Z.zip`
-     - Publish the GitHub Release for `vX.Y.Z`
-
-5. **Announce**
+     - Build per-platform binaries with `main.version` set from `main.go`
+     - Create a generated prerelease tag like `pre-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS-<sha7>`
+     - Archive `_datafiles` as `go-mud-datafiles-pre-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS-<sha7>.zip`
+     - Generate `go-mud-pre-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS-<sha7>-SHA256SUMS.txt`
+     - Publish a GitHub prerelease for that generated tag
+     - Leave the release unmarked as `Latest`
+
+3. **Announce**
+   - After review, a repo owner can edit the release in GitHub and promote it to
+     `Latest`.
    - Share the release link with the team or via configured notifications.
 
 ---
 
-### 2. Basic Patch Release (x.y.Z)
+### 2. Merge-Driven Prerelease Policy
+
+1. **Pull requests do not publish release binaries**
+   - PRs should run normal CI only.
+
+2. **Merges to `master` do publish release binaries**
+   - A push to `master` runs the `Release` workflow and publishes a prerelease.
 
-1. **Merge Bug‑Fix PR**
-   - Once the fix is in `master` and CI is green.
+3. **Manual test runs can also publish prereleases**
+   - `workflow_dispatch` can be used to create a test prerelease without merging.
+   - An optional `release_label` is appended to the generated prerelease tag.
 
-2. **Determine Patch Bump**
-   ```bash
-   # if current version is vX.Y.Z:
-   git tag vX.Y.(Z+1)
-   git push origin vX.Y.(Z+1)
-   ```
+4. **Generated release naming**
+   - The release tag is generated automatically from UTC time plus the merge commit SHA.
+   - Example: `pre-20260417021530-1a2b3c4`
+   - With a manual label: `pre-20260417021530-1a2b3c4-test`
 
-3. **Tag & Push**
-   - Pushing the tag triggers the same release workflow.
+---
+
+### 3. Manual Test Release Flow
+
+1. **Run the release workflow manually**
+   - Use `workflow_dispatch` when you want a test release
+     without merging to `master`.
+   - Optionally set `release_label=test` or similar to make the generated tag clearer.
+
+2. **Verify the GitHub release**
+   - Confirm the workflow succeeds.
+   - Confirm the per-platform binaries are attached.
+   - Confirm the `_datafiles` zip asset is attached.
+   - Confirm the checksum manifest asset is attached.
+   - Confirm GitHub marks the release as a prerelease.
+   - Confirm GitHub does not mark it as `Latest`.
 
-4. **Publish**
-   - The workflow publishes the release automatically after the build completes.
+3. **Clean up if needed**
+   - Delete the test tag and release after validation if you do not want to keep them
+     in repository history.
 
 ---
 
 ### FAQ / Guidelines
 
 - **Does every merge to `master` trigger a release?**
-  No - only pushing a Git tag matching `v*.*.*` triggers a release.
+  Yes - every push to `master` runs the release workflow and publishes a prerelease.
 
 - **Is auto-tagging enabled?**
-  No - releases are manual. Create and push the version tag yourself when you want to publish.
+  Stable semver tags are not generated automatically. The merge-driven workflow creates
+  its own prerelease tag from UTC time plus commit SHA.
+
+- **Can I create a test release without merging to `master`?**
+  Yes - run the `Release` workflow manually with `workflow_dispatch`. That keeps PR
+  submissions clean while still allowing on-demand test releases.
+
+- **Are workflow-created releases stable releases?**
+  No - the workflow creates prereleases. A repo owner must manually promote a release
+  to `Latest` in GitHub when it is approved.
+
+- **What assets should a release include?**
+  Each release should include separate per-platform binaries, a `_datafiles` zip,
+  and a checksum manifest so testers can download only what they need and still
+  verify the assets.
+
+- **What tag format should we use going forward?**
+  Keep the source/binary version on the `0.10.x` line. Let the workflow generate
+  prerelease tags like `pre-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS-<sha7>` on merges to `master`.
 
 - **When should I bump minor vs. patch?**
   - **Minor** for new, backward‑compatible features.

.github/workflows/build-and-release.yml

@@ -3,8 +3,14 @@ name: Release
 
 "on":
   push:
-    tags:
-      - 'v*.*.*'
+    branches:
+      - master
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      release_label:
+        description: Optional prerelease label suffix, e.g. test or rc
+        required: false
+        type: string
 
 concurrency:
   group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
@@ -13,13 +19,57 @@ concurrency:
 permissions:
   contents: write
 
-env:
-  RELEASE_FILENAME: go-mud-release
-  RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ github.ref_name }}
-
 jobs:
+  prep:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    outputs:
+      binary_version: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.binary_version }}
+      release_tag: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.release_tag }}
+      datafiles_archive: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.datafiles_archive }}
+      checksums_file: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.checksums_file }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6.0.2
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Compute release metadata
+        id: meta
+        env:
+          RELEASE_LABEL: ${{ inputs.release_label }}
+        run: |
+          binary_version="$(
+            sed -n 's/^const VERSION = \"\\([^\"]*\\)\"$/\\1/p' main.go
+          )"
+          if [ -z "$binary_version" ]; then
+            echo "Could not determine binary version from main.go" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          release_stamp="$(date -u +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
+          release_tag="pre-${release_stamp}-${GITHUB_SHA::7}"
+          release_label="${RELEASE_LABEL:-}"
+          if [ -n "$release_label" ]; then
+            case "$release_label" in
+              *[!A-Za-z0-9._-]*)
+                echo "release_label must match [A-Za-z0-9._-]+" >&2
+                exit 1
+                ;;
+            esac
+            release_tag="${release_tag}-${release_label}"
+          fi
+
+          {
+            echo "binary_version=${binary_version}"
+            echo "release_tag=${release_tag}"
+            echo "datafiles_archive=gomud-ALL-datafiles-${release_tag}.zip"
+            echo "checksums_file=gomud-${release_tag}-SHA256SUMS.txt"
+          } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    needs: prep
+    env:
+      BINARY_VERSION: ${{ needs.prep.outputs.binary_version }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v6.0.2
         with:
@@ -41,32 +91,32 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build windows amd64
         run: >-
           env GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -v
-          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}"
-          -o bin/go-mud-windows_x64.exe .
+          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.BINARY_VERSION }}"
+          -o bin/gomud-windows_x64.exe .
 
       - name: Build darwin/arm64
         run: >-
           env GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -v
-          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}"
-          -o bin/go-mud-darwin_arm64 .
+          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.BINARY_VERSION }}"
+          -o bin/gomud-darwin_arm64 .
 
       - name: Build darwin/amd64
         run: >-
           env GOOS=darwin GOARCH=amd64 go build -v
-          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}"
-          -o bin/go-mud-darwin_x64 .
+          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.BINARY_VERSION }}"
+          -o bin/gomud-darwin_x64 .
 
       - name: Build linux/amd64
         run: >-
           env GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -v
-          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}"
-          -o bin/go-mud-linux_x64 .
+          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.BINARY_VERSION }}"
+          -o bin/gomud-linux_x64 .
 
       - name: Build linux/arm5
         run: >-
           env GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm GOARM=5 go build -v
-          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}"
-          -o bin/go-mud-linux_arm5 .
+          -ldflags "-X main.version=${{ env.BINARY_VERSION }}"
+          -o bin/gomud-linux_arm5 .
 
       - name: Upload bin
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
@@ -76,25 +126,52 @@ jobs:
 
   release:
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
-    needs: build
+    needs:
+      - prep
+      - build
+    env:
+      RELEASE_TAG: ${{ needs.prep.outputs.release_tag }}
+      DATAFILES_ARCHIVE: ${{ needs.prep.outputs.datafiles_archive }}
+      CHECKSUMS_FILE: ${{ needs.prep.outputs.checksums_file }}
     steps:
       - name: Download builds
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: bin-artifact
           path: bin/
 
-      - name: Archive release
+      - name: Archive datafiles
         run: >-
           zip -r
-          bin/${{ env.RELEASE_FILENAME }}-${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}.zip
-          bin/
+          bin/${{ env.DATAFILES_ARCHIVE }}
+          bin/_datafiles
+
+      - name: Generate release checksums
+        run: |
+          cd bin
+          sha256sum \
+            gomud-windows_x64.exe \
+            gomud-darwin_arm64 \
+            gomud-darwin_x64 \
+            gomud-linux_x64 \
+            gomud-linux_arm5 \
+            "${{ env.DATAFILES_ARCHIVE }}" \
+            > "${{ env.CHECKSUMS_FILE }}"
 
       - name: Release with notes
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v3.0.0
-        with:
-          files: bin/${{ env.RELEASE_FILENAME }}-${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}.zip
-          tag_name: ${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}
-          fail_on_unmatched_files: true
+        run: |
+          gh release create "$RELEASE_TAG" \
+            bin/gomud-windows_x64.exe \
+            bin/gomud-darwin_arm64 \
+            bin/gomud-darwin_x64 \
+            bin/gomud-linux_x64 \
+            bin/gomud-linux_arm5 \
+            "bin/$DATAFILES_ARCHIVE" \
+            "bin/$CHECKSUMS_FILE" \
+            --title "$RELEASE_TAG" \
+            --target "$GITHUB_SHA" \
+            --prerelease \
+            --latest=false \
+            --generate-notes
         env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

.gitignore

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 .vscode
+bin/
 private-notes.txt
 _datafiles/**/users/*
 _datafiles/**/plugin-data/*