# Release candidates

Clusterflux release binaries are built once. The same candidate archive is
deployed, exercised by the strict production-shaped batch, and copied into the
final assets without rebuilding.

Create the candidate in a dedicated directory:

~~~bash
CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_RELEASE_DIR=target/release-candidate \
CLUSTERFLUX_ALLOW_INCOMPLETE_RELEASE_EVIDENCE=1 \
./scripts/prepare-public-release.js
~~~

Deploy `target/release-candidate/assets/clusterflux-public-binaries-*.tar.gz`.
Set `CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_RELEASE_MANIFEST` to the candidate manifest while
running the strict batch. Set `CLUSTERFLUX_QUALITY_GATE_EVIDENCE_PATH` to the
JSON record from the private and public acceptance commands. The result records
the source commit, source-tree and
public-tree identities, candidate binary digests, deployment generation, and
configuration identity.

Finalize into a different directory after the strict result passes:

~~~bash
CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_RELEASE_DIR=target/public-release \
CLUSTERFLUX_RELEASE_CANDIDATE_MANIFEST=target/release-candidate/public-release-manifest.json \
CLUSTERFLUX_FINAL_RESULT_PATH=target/acceptance/cli-happy-path-live.json \
./scripts/prepare-public-release.js
~~~

Finalization rejects a changed commit, source tree, public tree, candidate
archive, binary digest set, deployment binding, or strict result. It never runs
the release binary build when a candidate manifest is supplied.