[Phase 0][WP8] Establish corrective release readiness without publication

[Agenvana]

Refs #26

Objective

Prepare proposed corrective version 0.1.1 for independent release review without performing any publication action.

Starting baseline: c4db95921dc91ac7ab524d07869bdceaf41bcccb
Initial reviewed WP8 head: 395f84a4b6ba92065cad58439d9bc7503ee40ea1
M-1/M-2/M-3 correction head: 27af8dcfe76ee10bf752634b34af650224fcdcf4
Final M-4 correction head: 2c31ad698d0254526e12a8714a1c4cdb682a0af7

Final correction scope

This append-only pass addresses only Fable finding M-4 and directly necessary tests/documentation:

• .github/release/verify_environment.py now requires the checked-in publication policy and the live GitHub environment response to contain boolean can_admins_bypass: false. The response gate uses document.get("can_admins_bypass") is not False and therefore rejects missing, true, null, strings, numbers, lists, mappings, and every other non-False value before success output.
• .github/release/release-policy.json explicitly sets "can_admins_bypass": false.
• docs/RELEASE_PROCESS.md and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md both state exactly: “Allow administrators to bypass configured protection rules: disabled.”
• Executable regression tests accept exact boolean false when every other environment requirement passes and reject true, missing, null, string, numeric, list, and mapping values. Rejections assert empty success stdout and no generated success-evidence file.
• docs/THREAT_MODEL.md was left unchanged because it contains no contradictory administrator-bypass claim.

No detection, connector, monitor, report, risk-policy, persisted-state, dependency, workflow, CLI, tag-policy, or publication behavior was changed. Informational findings remain outside this pass; tag protection remains a mandatory WP9 pre-publication gate.

Fresh hosted evidence

Every pull-request workflow completed successfully for exact head 2c31ad698d0254526e12a8714a1c4cdb682a0af7:

• CI run 61: 4/4 jobs passed
• Private WP7C run 12: 10/10 matrix jobs passed. The first attempt of the macOS/Chroma 1.5.0 cell encountered a runner DNS failure resolving raw.githubusercontent.com during spaCy model setup; the unchanged exact-head retry passed, as did the other nine latest-attempt jobs.
• WP7D run 6: 5/5 exact ChromaDB 1.5.9 matrix jobs passed
• Corrective candidate run 3: 32/32 jobs passed, including policy validation, build once, wheel/sdist installs, 12 base cells, 10 WP7C cells, five WP7D cells, and the final evidence gate

The freshly downloaded candidate manifests bind source SHA 2c31ad698d0254526e12a8714a1c4cdb682a0af7, version 0.1.1, and canonical Ubuntu 24.04 / Python 3.12.13 artifacts. Independent rehashing matched both manifests:

• wheel: c2b24062ad14fdb627285759ad9258b8fcefe87f2e2e2739401dae6221032b78 (83,526 bytes)
• sdist: 731e31bba1dc50e13a0d11bee9acc5de8c0e73b559a8fac24fdfe78b180474fc (87,505 bytes)
• final status: ready-for-independent-review
• all six named gates: passed
• publication_authorized: false

Retained artifacts:

• release-candidate-dist artifact 9264417584, ZIP digest sha256:61b399397cc05ea37612fb3a8b814d4a3f5b7e09f2b9690159741953f564f8ba, expires 2026-08-30T13:34:16Z
• release-candidate-build-evidence artifact 9264417680, ZIP digest sha256:1081c91db2f019e52a5546e778c0caa71d3b4a768604d43f61ae8fca4f85639c, expires 2026-08-30T13:34:17Z
• release-candidate-evidence artifact 9264520107, ZIP digest sha256:4893339306acd41914d8d0fa9fe8ffc128b3e8d116f8ba9e99c32c822a3372bf, expires 2026-08-30T13:42:30Z

All earlier candidate hashes are superseded and were not reused.

Local evidence

• python -m pytest tests/test_wp8_release_readiness.py -q — 44 passed
• python -m pytest tests/test_wp8_release_readiness.py tests/test_wp7a_claims.py -q — 65 passed
• python -m pytest -q — 693 passed, 43 skipped
• repository-relative Markdown link test — 1 passed
• python -m pip check — no broken requirements
• Python compilation, release-policy JSON parse, and workflow YAML parse — passed
• checksum-verified actionlint 1.7.12 — passed
• exact-commit wheel/sdist build plus verify_candidate.py archive/metadata/allowlist/canary checks — passed
• downloaded canonical artifacts rehashed against both hosted manifests — passed
• staged diff check and final worktree check — passed

The local Windows diagnostic build is not canonical release evidence; only the hashes from candidate run 31950179159 above are recorded for review.

Limitations and residual risks

• Direct test inputs, builder inputs, actions, runner labels, and the model asset are pinned; transitive runtime dependencies remain resolved per matrix job and are recorded, not fully locked.
• Pattern/allowlist scanning cannot prove absence of all malicious or sensitive material. GitHub Actions, runner images, package indexes, artifact retention, tag/repository administration, environment configuration, and external PyPI administration remain trust boundaries.
• No tag ruleset or tag protection was created. That remains a mandatory WP9 pre-publication gate.
• The GitHub repository has no environments, including no pypi environment. No external PyPI Trusted Publisher configuration was created or changed.
• Candidate artifacts expire after 14 days and are evidence only for this exact commit/run.
• Fresh independent human re-review remains mandatory. The author/preparer must not self-approve.

Explicit non-publication confirmation

This pass did not merge the PR, create or move a tag, create a GitHub release, publish to PyPI or TestPyPI, yank PyPI 0.1.0, create/configure a GitHub environment, configure external PyPI Trusted Publishing, or post a final review record. PR #27 remains draft and unmerged.

[Agenvana]

Maintainer decision record — WP8 finalization

Fable returned PASS FOR FINAL REVIEW at exact reviewed head 2c31ad698d0254526e12a8714a1c4cdb682a0af7, with zero blocking findings and zero material findings. M-1 through M-4 are closed.

Exact-head workflow evidence:

• CI: 31950179190
• WP7C: 31950179160 (successful attempt 2)
• WP7D: 31950179140
• Corrective candidate: 31950179159

Reviewed pre-merge artifact evidence:

• wheel SHA-256: c2b24062ad14fdb627285759ad9258b8fcefe87f2e2e2739401dae6221032b78
• sdist SHA-256: 731e31bba1dc50e13a0d11bee9acc5de8c0e73b559a8fac24fdfe78b180474fc

Publication remains unauthorized. Actual publication is a separate WP9 decision; this WP8 finalization does not authorize tags, releases, environments, Trusted Publishing, PyPI/TestPyPI upload, or yank actions.