[ci] Enable BAR publishing for real-signed builds

[jonathanpeppers]

Summary

• remove the stale barPublishingEnabled gate and variable
• run publish_signed_packages automatically under the same real-sign condition as signing
• retain manual BAR validation and external setup documentation

Validation

• parsed the changed YAML files with PyYAML
• verified the BAR branch/reason condition matrix (9 cases)
• dotnet test build\publishing\SignedPackagePublisher.Tests\SignedPackagePublisher.Tests.csproj --configuration Release --nologo (18 passed)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Enables automatic BAR publishing for real-signed builds by removing the now-stale barPublishingEnabled variable gate and aligning the publish stage condition with the existing “real-sign” criteria used by signing. This keeps BAR validation/manual workflows and documentation intact while making real-signed publishing happen automatically.

Changes:

• Removed the barPublishingEnabled variable and related “publishing disabled” messaging.
• Updated the publish_signed_packages stage condition to run automatically under the same real-sign conditions as the signing stage.
• Updated publishing documentation to reflect external setup requirements (without referencing the removed gate).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

File	Description
docs/publishing-signed-packages.md	Removes references to the barPublishingEnabled gate and documents external prerequisites for BAR publishing.
build/ci/variables.yml	Drops the stale barPublishingEnabled variable while retaining BAR feed/config variables.
build/ci/stage-publish-signed-artifacts.yml	Removes the barPublishingEnabled condition gate so publish runs automatically for real-signed builds (and still supports manual validation mode).

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[jonathanpeppers]

@dalexsoto review

[dalexsoto]

Removing barPublishingEnabled enables production publishing before the required Darc default-channel mapping exists. Fresh Maestro queries find no mapping for android-libraries/main, and validation build 14995889 registered BAR build 327604 but selected channels: []; the normal path passes -RequireDefaultChannels true, so a real-signed official build with missing packages will fail promotion. Please create and verify the intended channel/feed mapping and non-validation promotion path, or retain a gate until those prerequisites are complete.

[jonathanpeppers]

@dalexsoto Addressed in 31fef6f77. Production still calls Arcade's publish-using-darc.ps1, which always passes darc add-build-to-channel --default-channels, but it no longer passes -RequireDefaultChannels true / --default-channels-required.

With the current empty mapping, official builds can register assets in BAR without failing or publishing them. Once the android-libraries/main default channel is configured, this same path will publish to it automatically. The documentation now states that behavior explicitly. No Maestro configuration was changed.

Validation: changed YAML parses successfully, the focused publisher suite passes all 18 tests, and a direct check confirms the vendored script still uses --default-channels while the stage does not require a mapping. Re-requesting your review.

[dalexsoto]

Two independent publishing blockers remain:

• publish_signed_packages depends only on sign_artifacts; standard_tests and extended_tests are sibling stages, so succeeded() does not include them. An official build can register and eventually publish packages while required tests are failed or still running.
• The setup documentation provisions only an android-libraries/main default-channel mapping, but the enabled condition also covers every release/* branch. Darc resolves mappings against the build's exact branch, so following the documented setup leaves release builds registration-only with zero channels.

Please gate production publishing on all required test stages (while allowing intentionally skipped extended tests), and provision/document release-branch mappings or narrow the publishing condition accordingly.

[jonathanpeppers]

@dalexsoto Thanks. The branch-specific behavior is intentional: Darc default-channel mappings are configured per exact branch, so main is not expected to cover release/*. Each release branch that should publish gets its own mapping; until then, builds on that branch remain registered in BAR without promotion. I clarified this in b4ebf2f32 without narrowing the stage condition or changing publishing behavior.

We are also intentionally not adding dependencies on standard_tests or extended_tests: under Microsoft release policy, test stages must not block release publishing. Signing remains the required stage dependency.

Re-requesting review with those intended behaviors documented.

[jonathanpeppers]

Correction after confirming the repository's release workflow: main is the only intended publishing branch for android-libraries. The release/* condition is legacy real-sign eligibility and does not imply those branches are shipping channels. It is therefore expected that release builds without mappings remain registered in BAR and unpromoted; no release mappings or condition changes are needed.

I reverted the overly broad documentation clarification in 17fc0ec87. The existing docs correctly scope the publishing mapping to main. The test-stage point likewise remains non-applicable because release publishing must not be blocked by test stages.

[jonathanpeppers]

@dalexsoto stamp

[dalexsoto]

Stamping as requested by @jonathanpeppers; no code review performed.