From e21053311d2b1aa38508fe7adedf886b264c88ef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: antondlr <anton@sigmaprime.io>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 07:25:06 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Scrap redundant docker builds on releases (#8999)

Our release workflow is pretty inefficient and slow. This PR aims to consolidate and cut down on duplicate tasks.


  1) We now run the whole build process both on pushing to the `stable` branch and pushing a version tag.
A quick win is to not fire off separate builds.

~~2) The Docker release workflow could re-use the binaries being built instead of doing its own cross-compilation. ~~
we won't take this on _right now_


Co-Authored-By: antondlr <anton@sigmaprime.io>

Co-Authored-By: Michael Sproul <michaelsproul@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-Authored-By: Michael Sproul <michael@sigmaprime.io>
---
 .github/workflows/docker-reproducible.yml | 15 +++++++++++----
 .github/workflows/docker.yml              | 15 +++++++++------
 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-reproducible.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-reproducible.yml
index f3479e9468..7e46fc691b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-reproducible.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-reproducible.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ on:
   push:
     branches:
       - unstable
-      - stable
     tags:
       - v*
   workflow_dispatch: # allows manual triggering for testing purposes and skips publishing an image
@@ -25,9 +24,6 @@ jobs:
           if [[ "${{ github.ref }}" == refs/tags/* ]]; then
             # It's a tag (e.g., v1.2.3)
             VERSION="${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/}"
-          elif [[ "${{ github.ref }}" == refs/heads/stable ]]; then
-            # stable branch -> latest
-            VERSION="latest"
           elif [[ "${{ github.ref }}" == refs/heads/unstable ]]; then
             # unstable branch -> latest-unstable
             VERSION="latest-unstable"
@@ -174,3 +170,14 @@ jobs:
             ${IMAGE_NAME}:${VERSION}-arm64
 
           docker manifest push ${IMAGE_NAME}:${VERSION}
+
+          # For version tags, also create/update the latest tag to keep stable up to date
+          # Only create latest tag for proper release versions (e.g. v1.2.3, not v1.2.3-alpha)
+          if [[ "${GITHUB_REF}" == refs/tags/* ]] && [[ "${VERSION}" =~ ^v[0-9]{1,2}\.[0-9]{1,2}\.[0-9]{1,2}$ ]]; then
+            docker manifest create \
+              ${IMAGE_NAME}:latest \
+              ${IMAGE_NAME}:${VERSION}-amd64 \
+              ${IMAGE_NAME}:${VERSION}-arm64
+
+            docker manifest push ${IMAGE_NAME}:latest
+          fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker.yml b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
index 415f4db0e6..e3f6e5d8b8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ on:
     push:
         branches:
             - unstable
-            - stable
         tags:
             - v*
 
@@ -28,11 +27,6 @@ jobs:
     extract-version:
         runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
         steps:
-            - name: Extract version (if stable)
-              if: github.event.ref == 'refs/heads/stable'
-              run: |
-                    echo "VERSION=latest" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-                    echo "VERSION_SUFFIX=" >> $GITHUB_ENV
             - name: Extract version (if unstable)
               if: github.event.ref == 'refs/heads/unstable'
               run: |
@@ -159,7 +153,16 @@ jobs:
 
             - name: Create and push multiarch manifests
               run: |
+                  # Create the main tag (versioned for releases, latest-unstable for unstable)
                   docker buildx imagetools create -t ${{ github.repository_owner}}/${{ matrix.binary }}:${VERSION}${VERSION_SUFFIX} \
                       ${{ github.repository_owner}}/${{ matrix.binary }}:${VERSION}-arm64${VERSION_SUFFIX} \
                       ${{ github.repository_owner}}/${{ matrix.binary }}:${VERSION}-amd64${VERSION_SUFFIX};
 
+                  # For version tags, also create/update the latest tag to keep stable up to date
+                  # Only create latest tag for proper release versions (e.g. v1.2.3, not v1.2.3-alpha)
+                  if [[ "${GITHUB_REF}" == refs/tags/* ]] && [[ "${VERSION}" =~ ^v[0-9]{1,2}\.[0-9]{1,2}\.[0-9]{1,2}$ ]]; then
+                    docker buildx imagetools create -t ${{ github.repository_owner}}/${{ matrix.binary }}:latest \
+                        ${{ github.repository_owner}}/${{ matrix.binary }}:${VERSION}-arm64${VERSION_SUFFIX} \
+                        ${{ github.repository_owner}}/${{ matrix.binary }}:${VERSION}-amd64${VERSION_SUFFIX};
+                  fi
+