fix: allow unchanged warning count on release/hotfix branches

The warning ratchet required a strict decrease, blocking PR #9311 at an
unchanged count (26968 => 26968). Release/hotfix PRs (matched on head or
base ref) may now merge when the count is unchanged; the dev line still
requires a strict reduction and warning increases still fail.

The branch class is computed once as the lint-job IS_RELEASE_OR_HOTFIX env
and threaded into the comment via a new allow_equal flag in the result
artifact, so the PR comment stays consistent with the gate.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: mikhail-dcl

.github/workflows/pr-comment-warnings.yml

@@ -56,16 +56,19 @@ jobs:
           fi
           count=$(jq -r '.count' warning-result.json)
           baseline=$(jq -r '.baseline // ""' warning-result.json)
+          allow_equal=$(jq -r '.allow_equal // false' warning-result.json)
           echo "found=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "count=$count" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "baseline=$baseline" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "allow-equal=$allow_equal" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
       - name: Compose comment body
         if: steps.result.outputs.found == 'true'
         id: body
         env:
           COUNT: ${{ steps.result.outputs.count }}
           BASELINE: ${{ steps.result.outputs.baseline }}
+          ALLOW_EQUAL: ${{ steps.result.outputs.allow-equal }}
         run: |
           {
             echo "body<<EOF"
@@ -74,6 +77,8 @@ jobs:
               echo "**Warnings counted: $COUNT** (no baseline established yet)"
             elif [ "$COUNT" -lt "$BASELINE" ]; then
               echo "**Warnings count reduced: $BASELINE => $COUNT**"
+            elif [ "$ALLOW_EQUAL" = "true" ] && [ "$COUNT" -eq "$BASELINE" ]; then
+              echo "**Warnings unchanged: $BASELINE => $COUNT** — allowed on release/hotfix branches."
             else
               echo "**Warnings not reduced: $BASELINE => $COUNT** — remove at least one warning to merge."
             fi

.github/workflows/test.yml

@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ jobs:
 
     name: Lint
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # PRs from or into a release/hotfix branch may merge with an unchanged warning count
+    # (equality passes the ratchet below); the dev line still requires a strict reduction.
+    env:
+      IS_RELEASE_OR_HOTFIX: ${{ startsWith(github.head_ref, 'release/') || startsWith(github.head_ref, 'hotfix/') || startsWith(github.base_ref, 'release/') || startsWith(github.base_ref, 'hotfix/') }}
     steps:
 
       - name: Checkout CI actions
@@ -341,6 +345,7 @@ jobs:
           echo "Baseline warnings: ${baseline:-<none>}"
 
       # Hard gate: a PR may only merge if it strictly reduces the warning count.
+      # Exception: release/hotfix PRs may merge when the count is unchanged (equality passes).
       # No baseline yet -> pass (the first dev push seeds it). Add the 'no-warning-ratchet'
       # label to bypass on a PR that legitimately cannot touch warnings.
       - name: Enforce warning reduction (PR)
@@ -358,6 +363,10 @@ jobs:
             echo "Warnings reduced: $COUNT < $BASELINE"
             exit 0
           fi
+          if [ "$IS_RELEASE_OR_HOTFIX" = "true" ] && [ "$COUNT" -eq "$BASELINE" ]; then
+            echo "Warnings unchanged ($COUNT == $BASELINE) on a release/hotfix branch - passing."
+            exit 0
+          fi
           if [ "$BYPASS" = "true" ]; then
             echo "::warning::Warnings not reduced ($COUNT >= $BASELINE) but 'no-warning-ratchet' label present - bypassing."
             exit 0
@@ -406,7 +415,8 @@ jobs:
             --argjson pr "${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}" \
             --argjson count "$COUNT" \
             --arg baseline "$BASELINE" \
-            '{pr: $pr, count: $count, baseline: (if $baseline == "" then null else ($baseline | tonumber) end)}' \
+            --argjson allow_equal "$IS_RELEASE_OR_HOTFIX" \
+            '{pr: $pr, count: $count, baseline: (if $baseline == "" then null else ($baseline | tonumber) end), allow_equal: $allow_equal}' \
             > warning-result.json
           cat warning-result.json