From f4363c51b29120f74230f0ba3aed4bc85b5d1b01 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: JSONbored <49853598+JSONbored@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2026 05:11:23 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(release): allow an empty commit when cutting the ORB
 stable Release PR

orb-manifest.json's version can already equal the proposed nextVersion
(the common case right after a maintainer hand-bumps it ahead of landing
the commits that warrant it) -- confirmed live on the first real run:
orb-manifest.json already said 0.4.0, the script also proposed 0.4.0, so
git add staged nothing and git commit failed outright, never reaching the
push/PR-create steps. --allow-empty makes the branch/PR always get
created as the reviewable release marker regardless.
---
 .github/workflows/orb-stable-release-pr.yml | 6 +++++-
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/orb-stable-release-pr.yml b/.github/workflows/orb-stable-release-pr.yml
index 5e91d318bf..293b6fb40a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/orb-stable-release-pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/orb-stable-release-pr.yml
@@ -105,7 +105,11 @@ jobs:
           git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
           git checkout -B release-orb-stable
           git add orb-manifest.json
-          git commit -m "chore(release): cut orb-v${NEXT_VERSION}"
+          # --allow-empty: orb-manifest.json's version can already equal the proposed nextVersion (the common
+          # case right after a maintainer hand-bumps it ahead of landing the commits that warrant it) -- the
+          # branch/PR must still get created/refreshed as the reviewable release marker even when there's no
+          # manifest diff to stage.
+          git commit --allow-empty -m "chore(release): cut orb-v${NEXT_VERSION}"
           git remote set-url origin "https://github.com/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}.git"
           gh auth setup-git
           git push --force origin release-orb-stable