## Why

`release-1.6` was created at v1.6.0's merge commit on 2026-07-22, and
the finalize fixes landed on `main` after that. Workflow files run from
the ref they fire on, so a promote PR based on `release-1.6` runs
**this** copy of `pull-requests-release.yaml`, not `main`'s. Shipping
v1.6.1 from this line today would repeat two defects v1.6.0 already hit.

## What this carries

Three upstream commits, after which this file is **byte-identical to
`main`'s copy** — so later backports touching it will not conflict.

| Upstream | Change |
| --- | --- |
| `01e1e7188` | `persist-credentials: false` on the checkout |
| `f49d54a68` | publish the release with the merged changelog as its
body |
| `ba67fea7d` | drop `paths-ignore` from the trigger |

### persist-credentials

Without it the checkout persists `GITHUB_TOKEN` as an
`http.extraheader`, which silently wins over the app token injected by
`git remote set-url`. The stable tag then pushes as `GITHUB_TOKEN`,
which creates no workflow run, so `tags.yaml` never fires and its
`generate-changelog` and `update-website-docs` backstops stay silent.
That is exactly what happened to v1.6.0.

### Changelog as release body

Without it the release publishes with the draft's own body, `"Promoted
from vX.Y.Z-rc.N"`.

**These two compound into a permanent defect on a maintenance line.** A
patch's changelog is committed to `release-1.6.1`, merged into
`release-1.6`, and never reaches `main` — and `update-releasenotes.yaml`
only watches `main`, so nothing would ever sync it. The tag-time
backstop that would have ported it is dead because of the credential
bug. v1.6.1 would ship with placeholder release notes permanently, with
no error anywhere.

### paths-ignore

Latent rather than active. A promote PR carrying only
`docs/changelogs/vX.Y.Z.md` would be dropped by the filter, producing no
finalize run, no tag and no error. v1.6.1 will carry tag-string rewrites
so it would not have fired, but the filter has no remaining purpose now
that the promote PR always carries a changelog.

## On the cherry-pick policy

`docs/release.md`'s skip rule says CI-only changes do not belong in a
patch. That rule governs release *contents*; backporting release
*machinery* so the line is releasable at all is a different thing, and
there is precedent already on this branch — #3473, #3474 and #3514 are
all CI/release backports.

## Verification

`actionlint` clean. `zizmor` clean, no findings. YAML parses. No bats
suite references this workflow, and `hack/promote-gate-contract.bats`
does not exist on this line, so there is no stale contract test to trip.
The diff against `origin/main`'s copy of the file is empty.

## Not included

Three known gaps on this line are deliberately out of scope, none of
which needs a code change to ship v1.6.1:

- `e2e-tag.yaml` is absent and `tags.yaml` has no `rc-e2e` job, so no
E2E runs on the rc. Handled by dispatching **E2E Release Tag from
`main`** against the published rc tag, which also supplies the promote
gate's alternate evidence.
- `pull-requests.yaml` has no `labeled` trigger, so adding `full-e2e` to
the promote PR starts nothing. Backporting that needs the label-event
guards too, and rc-time validation makes it unnecessary here.
- finalize is still the pre-#3456 monolith, so a mid-registry failure is
not re-runnable and needs the documented hand recovery.

```release-note
NONE
```