release

A release is a published, version-tagged snapshot of abcd — both the act of cutting a curated release from the single repo (adr-28) and the resulting artefact, a GitHub Release whose published binaries do not carry .abcd/** (the packaging filter's structural deny, which no cut release has run yet), carrying a version, a changelog entry, and a git tag.

A release is the derived checkpoint, never a sequencing unit: nothing is planned into one. The order of work is dependencies (blocked_by, builds_on) plus the lifecycle shelves, rendered as the Now / Next / Later block (record families, adr-2609212115255771). launch ship derives the release's version from the impact of what shipped since the last tag and composes its changelog from the records that reached a terminal folder. The one forward-looking line a release keeps is an intent's target_release, which the preview and the cut report and never refuse on.

When to use

Use "release" for a published, version-tagged snapshot cut from the repo, and for the act of publishing one via launch ship.

When NOT to use

Do not use "release" for a stretch of development work or for a plan of what ships together: the order of work is dependencies and the shelves, and the delivery grouping is a bundle. Do not use it for the retired milestone: an intent's end condition is its acceptance criteria.

Examples

• "The release publishes, as a GitHub Release cut from the repo, every record that reached a terminal folder since the last tag."
• "An all-internal or empty cut derives no version, and launch ship writes no dated heading for it."

Related terms

• record families — the one page that maps the record families and how they relate
• version — the semver string a release carries
• phase: the retired sequencing unit; a release was never one