The Candidate dress rehearsal has been removed and does not gate a release.
Before publication, run the release files independently on the three dedicated sandbox computers. Each check has only four product assertions: fresh install, exact version, successful startup, and a healthy setup endpoint. Windows uses the Linux archive through WSL 2. Mac also checks the platform-required signing, notarization, stapling, and Gatekeeper acceptance.
Stop on the first product failure. If all three pass, publication is a direct maintainer action; there is no rehearsal, evidence bundle, aggregate result, or automated release gate.