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Correct the release plan and design for the runner's measured state

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Both documents told the reader to pin Xcode 26.4 and to install it via a
Brewfile. A probe of novaloop-mac-studio-001 refutes the premise: it carries
exactly one Xcode, 26.6, globally selected, with no versioned siblings and no
26.4 anywhere. The design justified the pin with "the runner has it and the
legacy pipeline proves it works" — both halves are false, and a pin naming an
absent version does not fail fast: xcodes starts a multi-GB authenticated
download that no CI secret can satisfy, so before_all hangs.

Record the no-pin decision and its cost — whatever Xcode the runner has is what
ships, unrecorded — rather than only deleting the wrong instruction, so nobody
reintroduces the pin from the same reasoning. Drop the Brewfile with it: its only
purpose was installing xcodes for that pin, and brew has no business running on a
shared release machine where it could upgrade xcodegen mid-release.

Add the runner's real constraints (no passwordless sudo, single Xcode, five
missing tools installed by hand) to the design, since they are why upstream's
setup_github_actions_environment cannot run here.

Two new risks. The legacy element-ios pipeline pins the same absent 26.4, so it
is very likely broken right now — not this fork's problem to fix, but the human
needs to know before the next legacy release. And with no pin, an Xcode upgrade
on the runner silently changes the compiler for every subsequent release.

The plan's embedded Fastfile and skill now match the branches that implement
them byte-for-byte, so the plan cannot drift from the artefacts it describes.
This commit is contained in:
Joël Poyet
2026-07-16 00:00:26 +02:00
parent e4d4541c75
commit 2bd8865d4e
2 changed files with 86 additions and 57 deletions
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docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-15-healthchat-appstore-release-design.md
+37 -13
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@@ -168,12 +168,11 @@ element-ios. Here that class of conflict does not exist — which is why this is
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `fastlane/Fastfile` | `before_all` (Xcode pin) + public `release_testflight` + private helpers |
| `fastlane/Fastfile` | Public `release_testflight` + private helpers. **No `before_all`, no Xcode pin** — see runner notes. |
| `fastlane/Appfile` | `apple_id ENV["APPLE_ID"]`, `team_id ENV["TEAM_ID"]` |
| `fastlane/.env.default` | Project/target/bundle-id/profile configuration (full key list below) |
| `fastlane/Pluginfile` | **`fastlane-plugin-xcodegen` only** |
| `Gemfile` + `Gemfile.lock` | `fastlane` + plugins. No cocoapods, no slather. **Commit the lock** — the workflow's gem cache keys on `hashFiles('**/Gemfile.lock')`; without it the key is constant and fastlane silently re-resolves between two runs of the same tag. |
| `Brewfile` | `xcodesorg/made/xcodes`. **Not** `xcodegen` — see runner notes. |
| `HEALTHCHAT_CHANGES.md` | **New file** (D8). Seed with a `## Changes in 26.07.3 (<date>)` section matching the awk pattern. |
| `.gitignore` | Add `out/` and **`provisioning_profiles/`** (signing material — security-relevant). `build` (`:35`) and `fastlane/report.xml` (`:28`) are already covered upstream. |
@@ -262,7 +261,8 @@ Changes from the legacy:
- Drop the CocoaPods cache and `rm -rf Pods/MatrixSDK`.
- Drop `MX_GIT_BRANCH` (legacy `:41`) — no `mx_git_branch` helper exists in the slim Fastfile.
- Re-evaluate `fetch-depth: 0` (legacy `:48`); keep only if something needs history.
- Keep the explicit `brew bundle` step (legacy `:115`).
- **Drop the `brew bundle` step** (legacy `:115`) — there is no `Brewfile`, and the runner is provisioned by
hand. See runner notes.
- `bundle exec fastlane release_testflight`; artifacts `out/ElementX.ipa`, `out/ElementX.app.dSYM.zip`.
- Harden the notes step with `[[ -f HEALTHCHAT_CHANGES.md ]]`. The legacy's "warning fallback" only fires on
an *empty match*, not an absent file — under `set -euo pipefail` a missing file aborts the job.
@@ -278,16 +278,38 @@ the real requirement.**
`runs-on: [self-hosted, macOS]`. Confirm the org runner group's visibility includes element-x-ios (two
`Default` groups exist, one `all`, one `selected`).
**Xcode pin: use `"26.4"`.** The runner has it and the legacy pipeline proves it works.
`ci_scripts/ci_common.sh:34` (`sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_26.5.0.app`) is an **Xcode Cloud image
path, not an `xcodes` version identifier**, and is not evidence the runner has 26.5. If element-x turns out to
need 26.5, install it on the runner manually **first** — otherwise `xcodes` attempts a multi-GB authenticated
download needing `XCODES_USERNAME`/`XCODES_PASSWORD`, which none of the five secrets supply, and hangs in
`before_all`.
**No Xcode pin.** Measured on the runner today (user `novaloop`, arm64, macOS 26.5.2): exactly **one** Xcode,
`/Applications/Xcode.app` — **26.6, build `17F113`**, `xcode-select`ed and the only version `xcodes` lists. No
versioned `Xcode_*.app` siblings exist.
Also required on the runner: `xcodegen` on PATH (installed manually once, deliberately **not** in `Brewfile`
so `brew bundle` cannot churn it), Homebrew, Ruby + bundler, and `APPLE_ID` exported as a machine-level shell
variable (the `Appfile` reads it; it is not repo-carried).
An earlier draft said to pin `"26.4"` because "the runner has it and the legacy pipeline proves it works".
**Both halves were wrong.** The runner does not have 26.4 and never will; a pin naming an absent version does
not fail fast — `xcodes` starts a multi-GB authenticated download needing `XCODES_USERNAME`/`XCODES_PASSWORD`,
which none of the five secrets supply, so `before_all` hangs and takes the release with it. Since the runner
carries a single globally-selected Xcode, whatever `xcode-select` points at *is* the build toolchain, and a pin
could only ever disagree with reality. **Drop it entirely**; the Xcode version becomes a property of the
machine, changed by provisioning it rather than by editing a tracked file. The reasoning about
`ci_scripts/ci_common.sh:34` (`sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_26.5.0.app`) still stands — it is an
Xcode Cloud image path, not an `xcodes` version identifier, and says nothing about this runner.
The cost of dropping it: **whatever the runner has is what ships**, and no release run records which Xcode
built it (`release-healthchat.yml` does not log `xcodebuild -version`; `unit-tests.yml` does). Upgrading the
runner's Xcode is therefore a release-affecting change with no tag, diff or review. Accepted — the alternative
pins a version that does not exist. Captured in the skill.
**The runner is provisioned by hand, never by CI.** Upstream's `setup_github_actions_environment`
(`ci_scripts/ci_common.sh`) cannot run here: it calls `sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_26.5.0.app` —
there is **no passwordless sudo** and no such path — and `brew update && brew install …`, which on this
*shared release machine* could upgrade `xcodegen` underneath a running release. CI must **verify and fail
loudly**, naming the fix, instead.
Present today: `xcodes`, `xcodegen`, `git-lfs`, `brew`, `swift`, rbenv `ruby`/`bundle`/`gem`, and `APPLE_ID`
exported as a machine-level shell variable (the `Appfile` reads it; it is not repo-carried).
**Missing today** — the human installs these once, before the test workflow can pass: `swiftlint`,
`swiftformat`, `pkl`, `xcresultparser`, `xcbeautify`. Only `xcresultparser` is outside homebrew-core
(`a7ex/homebrew-formulae/xcresultparser`). The unit-test job asserts all of them. The release lane requires
none: its SwiftLint/SwiftFormat build phases are `if which …` guarded and degrade to a build warning when the
tool is absent (`ElementX/SupportingFiles/target.yml:202-214`), and nothing in the build reads `pkl`.
### Secrets to copy
@@ -343,7 +365,7 @@ per its own "keep current" rule this is a new fact about the repo, so it belongs
| PR | Contents | Label |
|---|---|---|
| PR1 | Part 1 — `CLASSIC_APP_*`, entitlement, `.requiresBackup` edit, regenerated pbxproj | `pr-bugfix` |
| PR2 | Part 2 — fastlane, workflow, Gemfile(.lock), Brewfile, .gitignore, HEALTHCHAT_CHANGES.md | `pr-build` |
| PR2 | Part 2 — fastlane, workflow, Gemfile(.lock), .gitignore, HEALTHCHAT_CHANGES.md | `pr-build` |
| PR3 | Part 3 — skill + AGENTS.md delegation | `pr-doc` |
AGENTS.md's 500-addition guidance argues for keeping these separate rather than combining PR2 and PR3.
@@ -424,6 +446,8 @@ upload; review proves nothing extra about the pipeline.
| **O4** | **Runner group visibility** — confirm `novaloop-mac-studio-001` is reachable from element-x-ios. |
| **O5** | `Secrets/Secrets.swift` holds placeholders; `Secrets/Secrets.pkl:12-17` wants MAPLIBRE_API_KEY among others. Maps degrade without it. Not a release blocker — track separately. |
| **O6** | Cosmetic Element strings ship in a HealthChat binary, e.g. `BGTaskSchedulerPermittedIdentifiers: io.element.elementx.background.refresh` (`ElementX/SupportingFiles/target.yml:102-104`). Working; cosmetic only. |
| **O7** | **The legacy element-ios pipeline is probably broken right now — unverified, and worth verifying.** It pins `xcodes(version: "26.4")` and runs on this same runner, which carries only **26.6**. Its last green run was 2026-04-15, so the machine plausibly had 26.4 then and lost it to an upgrade since. If so, the next legacy release does not fail — it **hangs** in `before_all` on an authenticated multi-GB download, and only a timeout ends it. **This fork no longer depends on that pipeline** (D3's "the legacy pipeline is proven" means *was* proven, on a toolchain the machine no longer has), so this is not a blocker here. Confirm the pin against `Novaloop-AG/element-ios` and de-pin it there before its next release. Out of scope for these three PRs — raise it. |
| **O8** | **Whatever Xcode the runner has is what ships**, and no release run records it. The pin is gone (see Runner), so upgrading `/Applications/Xcode.app` silently changes the compiler for every subsequent release, with no tag, diff or review. Mitigated only by documentation in the skill. Adding `xcodebuild -version` to `release-healthchat.yml` would give provenance cheaply — worth doing. |
**Closed:** the app-group collision question — container paths are disjoint, and the shared
`group.ch.healthchat` UserDefaults suite has a verified-empty key intersection. Captured as a standing hazard