ForgeFIRM v0.0.4

FORGEFIRM_RELEASE 0.0.4. The acceptance record that authorizes this
build: campaign c-20260912182427-e1ee on dev image 20260912180956
(manifest 8bb5b6f3), 85 tests, 85 satisfied, 0 required, exported
2026-09-12T19:21:35Z. The release notes in releases/v0.0.4/notes.md
name this the first public beta; the pipeline takes a release's
notes.md, when it carries one, in place of GitHub's generated notes.

scripts/release.sh

@@ -365,6 +365,19 @@ else
   DOCS_TAG_CMD="git -C $DOCS_DIR push origin v$VERSION"
 fi
 
+# The release notes: releases/v<version>/notes.md when the release carries
+# one (staged beside the assets, not uploaded as one), GitHub's generated
+# notes otherwise.
+NOTES_OPT="--generate-notes"
+if [ -f "$REPO/releases/v$VERSION/notes.md" ]; then
+  cp "$REPO/releases/v$VERSION/notes.md" "$STAGE/notes.md"
+  NOTES_OPT="--notes-file notes.md"
+  echo "notes: releases/v$VERSION/notes.md"
+else
+  rm -f "$STAGE/notes.md"
+  echo "notes: generated by GitHub"
+fi
+
 cat <<EOF
 
 == release v$VERSION staged ==
@@ -377,7 +390,7 @@ Pre-publish checklist (docs.forgefirm.org, Developers, "Release flow"):
 Publish (from a directory with an authenticated gh):
   cd "$STAGE"
   gh release create "v$VERSION" --repo openglow-org/forgefirm \\
-    --title "ForgeFIRM v$VERSION" --generate-notes $PRERELEASE \\
+    --title "ForgeFIRM v$VERSION" $NOTES_OPT $PRERELEASE \\
     $ASSETS
 
 Push the documentation tag with it:
@@ -387,7 +400,7 @@ EOF
 if [ "$PUBLISH" = "1" ]; then
   command -v gh >/dev/null || die "--publish requested but gh is not on PATH"
   ( cd "$STAGE" && gh release create "v$VERSION" --repo openglow-org/forgefirm \
-      --title "ForgeFIRM v$VERSION" --generate-notes $PRERELEASE \
+      --title "ForgeFIRM v$VERSION" $NOTES_OPT $PRERELEASE \
       $ASSETS ) \
     || die "gh release create failed"
   echo "== published v$VERSION =="