"Change Channel and URL if Release Branch" does not change the URL, and its condition is always true on tags

[gagelarsen]

Cleanup, not a correctness bug — the current publishing behavior turns out to be right. Filing so the misleading parts don't cost someone an afternoon later.

Two problems in one step

github-ci.yaml.jinja (four occurrences, one per platform job):

- name: Change Channel and URL if Release Branch
  uses: allenevans/set-env@v2.0.0
  with:
    CONAN_CHANNEL: stable
    AQUAPI_URL: ${{ secrets.AQUAPI_URL_DEV }}
  if: ${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/') && startsWith(env.BRANCH_NAME, env.XMS_VERSION) }}

1. It does not change the URL. AQUAPI_URL is already secrets.AQUAPI_URL_DEV in the job's env: block, so the assignment is a no-op. The step name promises otherwise. AQUAPI_URL_STABLE (or any other AQUAPI_URL_*) has never existed in this repo — git log -S AQUAPI_URL_STABLE --all returns nothing.

2. The condition is effectively always true on tags. nelonoel/branch-name reports the tag name for a tag ref, so BRANCH_NAME equals XMS_VERSION and the startsWith always matches. Confirmed from an xmscore 7.0.13 job log: BRANCH_NAME: 7.0.13, XMS_VERSION: 7.0.13, CONAN_CHANNEL: stable. So every tagged release publishes to channel stable, not just release-branch tags. That may well be intended, but the step's name and condition both suggest a narrower trigger than what happens.

Why this is not a correctness bug

Wheels are split by toolchain across two indexes, and the split is correct as-is:

• CI wheels — msvc 194 / gcc 13 / apple-clang 17, Python 3.10 / 3.13 / 3.14 — go to the dev index.
• Hand-built VS2019 wheels — msvc 192, cp310 only — go to https://public.aquapi.aquaveo.com/aquaveo/stable, which is what the desktop products consume. Verified by reading that index: xmscore 7.0.12, xmsgrid 9.1.0, xmsinterp 7.0.11, all cp310-cp310-win_amd64, with zero cp313 or cp314.

CI therefore never needs a stable wheel URL. Nothing is being published to the wrong place.

Suggested fix

Pick whichever matches the intent:

• If CI wheels should stay on dev (which the evidence says): drop the AQUAPI_URL line and rename the step to Change Conan Channel on Tags, so it says what it does. Consider dropping the BRANCH_NAME half of the condition too, since it never discriminates — that would also remove one use of nelonoel/branch-name, which is on the Node 20 list in Modernize GitHub Actions in the CI templates: Node 20 deprecation, one archived action, stale pins #102.
• If a tagged release should publish wheels to a stable index: add the secret and actually reference it here, mirroring CONAN_CHANNEL. This is a behavior change and needs a decision, not just an edit.

Either way the step should stop claiming to do something it doesn't.

Blast radius

Template-only, affects all seven GitHub consumer repos on regeneration. Pairs naturally with #102, which already touches nelonoel/branch-name and every job in this template.