prepare-public-releaselisted

# /prepare-public-release Prepare a public-facing software release suitable for external distribution. ## Inputs - Optional explicit version argument, for example `v1.2.0` - Repository root path (current working directory) ## Output Create a release folder under `public-releases/<version>/` with: - `release-package.*` - `README.md` - `CHANGELOG.md` - `RELEASE_NOTES.md` - `RELEASE_MANIFEST.md` - `LICENSE` - `THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md` ## Workflow 0. Enforce release source branch - Default release branch to `main`. - Abort if current git branch is not the release branch. - Require `HEAD` to equal `origin/main` by default (configurable via `RELEASE_REF`). - Allow explicit override only for exceptional dry-runs (`ALLOW_NON_RELEASE_BRANCH=1`). - Record branch and commit in release manifest for traceability. 1. Detect project context - Detect language ecosystem, build system, package manager, and repository structure. - Resolve version with successor-release semantics: 1. If explicit version is provided, require semver (`vX.Y.Z` or `X.Y.Z`) and normalize to `vX.Y.Z`. 2. Discover metadata version from `VERSION`, `package.json`, `pyproject.toml`/`setup.py`, or `Cargo.toml`. 3. Discover highest released version from semver git tags and `CHANGELOG.md` headings. 4. Choose candidate: - If metadata version exists and is greater than highest released version, use metadata version. - Otherwise compute next version from highest released version (or metadata, or `v0.0