Pulse/docs/release-control/v6/internal/records/rc-to-ga-promotion-readiness-blocked-2026-04-04.md

Prerelease-to-GA Promotion Readiness Blocked Record

• Date: 2026-04-04
• Gate: rc-to-ga-promotion-readiness
• Result: blocked

Blocking Facts

1. The latest shipped Pulse v6 prerelease tag is v6.0.0-rc.6.
2. That shipped prerelease tag resolves to commit c25e95cb2b071551df95c8add62773905ba0628b.
3. The selected remote ref origin/pulse/v6-release is still behind the current local governed branch state, so Release Dry Run would exercise stale remote control-plane metadata instead of the intended candidate.
4. The governed release profile in docs/release-control/control_plane.json currently declares both prerelease_branch and stable_branch as pulse/v6-release.
5. The active control-plane target is still v6-product-lane-expansion, not v6-ga-promotion.
6. The active local pulse/v6-release branch currently reports VERSION=6.0.0-rc.6, so the working line is still prerelease and there is not yet a governed local stable 6.0.0 candidate.
7. There is still no governed Prerelease-to-GA Rehearsal Record proving a successful non-publish Release Dry Run for the eventual stable 6.0.0 candidate.
8. docs/releases/RELEASE_NOTES_v6.md and docs/release-control/v6/internal/V5_MAINTENANCE_SUPPORT_POLICY.md now carry the currently proposed exact dates for the eventual GA notice:
   • v6 GA date: 2026-06-03
   • v5 end-of-support date: 2026-09-01
9. There is still no governed Release Dry Run artifact or rehearsal record exercising stable inputs for:
   • version=6.0.0
   • promoted_from_tag=v6.0.0-rc.6
   • the artifact-owned candidate stable tag for that rehearsal
   • the artifact-owned promotion channel for that rehearsal
   • the artifact-owned promoted prerelease tag for that rehearsal
   • the artifact-owned rollback target for that stable candidate
   • ga_date=2026-06-03
   • an explicit rollback_version
   • the exact derived rollback command that artifact will publish
   • v5_eos_date=2026-09-01

Why The Gate Cannot Be Cleared Yet

The blocker is no longer missing governance text. The remaining problem is that the control plane still holds v6 on the pre-GA prerelease line, the working version is still prerelease (6.0.0-rc.6), and there is still no exercised Release Dry Run record proving the eventual stable 6.0.0 candidate is ready for GA-style promotion. Until that rehearsal exists, stable users would still be the first real cohort for the final promotion path.

Required Unblock Steps

1. Promote the active target from v6-product-lane-expansion to v6-ga-promotion only when that change is actually intended.
2. Push the governed pulse/v6-release branch state that is intended to become the stable 6.0.0 candidate, including the eventual VERSION=6.0.0 change and release-control records, to origin/pulse/v6-release.
3. Run Release Dry Run from pulse/v6-release with:
   • version=6.0.0
   • promoted_from_tag=v6.0.0-rc.6
   • an artifact-owned candidate stable tag matching that rehearsal
   • an artifact-owned promotion channel matching that rehearsal
   • an artifact-owned promoted prerelease tag matching that rehearsal
   • an artifact-owned rollback target for the stable candidate
   • the exact planned GA and v5 end-of-support dates for the publish notice
   • ga_date=2026-06-03
   • an explicit stable rollback_version
   • the exact derived rollback command that artifact will publish
   • v5_eos_date=2026-09-01
4. Capture the rc-to-ga-rehearsal-summary artifact and run URL.
5. Materialize the final rehearsal record from that artifact without hand-repairing any missing candidate tag, promoted prerelease tag, rollback target, rollback command, or GA/EOS metadata.
6. Change the gate from blocked only if the rehearsal passes and the rollout inputs remain explicit.