Release: Windows jobs start at once on 8 vCPU runners

The icons job only copied the committed .ico after a cold build of the CLI, and the Windows
jobs waited for it; package.ps1 falls back to the same file. The Windows builds were 35 minutes
on a 2 vCPU runner.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #
 #   Linux x86_64, aarch64   AppImage (+ .zsync), .deb, .rpm, .flatpak, .snap, .tar.gz packaging/linux
 #   FreeBSD x86_64          .tar.gz (built in a FreeBSD VM)                        packaging/freebsd
-#   macOS universal         .dmg, and the CLI as a .zip                            packaging/macos
+#   macOS universal         .dmg, and the CLI as a .zip (both archs built in parallel)  packaging/macos
 #   Windows x64, x86, arm64 .msi and a portable .zip; x64 also the plain .exe      packaging/windows
 #   Web                     a .zip of the static site                              packaging/web
 #
@@ -83,28 +83,6 @@ jobs:
           { echo "version=$VERSION"; echo "date=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)"; echo "prerelease=$pre"; } >>"$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "### SolidCraft v$VERSION (\`${GITHUB_SHA::9}\`)" >>"$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"
 
-  # The app icon in every size, drawn by solidcraft-cli (no image files are committed), for the
-  # Windows jobs: the ARM64 build is cross-compiled and can't run there to draw its own.
-  icons:
-    needs: version
-    if: needs.version.outputs.build == 'true'
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@6323deb102c322ba6fcbdcafc7e3dddab59af2b6 # v2.9.2
-        with:
-          key: release-icons
-      - run: cargo build --release --locked -p solidcraft-cli
-      - run: |
-          . packaging/env.sh
-          make_icons target/release/solidcraft-cli icons
-      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@cf430e030ddbb5b0abf93d22962f4752f3646cd9 # v7.0.2
-        with:
-          name: icons
-          path: icons
-          if-no-files-found: error
-
   linux:
     name: Linux ${{ matrix.arch }}
     needs: version
@@ -293,11 +271,19 @@ jobs:
           path: dist/release/*
           if-no-files-found: error
 
-  macos:
-    name: macOS universal
+  # The two halves of the universal binary build in parallel on their own runners (each alone
+  # took about half of the old single job's 45 minutes); `macos` below joins and packages them.
+  macos-build:
+    name: macOS build ${{ matrix.arch }}
     needs: version
     if: needs.version.outputs.build == 'true'
     runs-on: macos-14
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - { arch: aarch64, target: aarch64-apple-darwin }
+          - { arch: x86_64, target: x86_64-apple-darwin }
     env:
       SOLIDCRAFT_VERSION: ${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}
       SOLIDCRAFT_BUILD_DATE: ${{ needs.version.outputs.date }}
@@ -305,12 +291,45 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
         with:
-          targets: aarch64-apple-darwin, x86_64-apple-darwin
+          targets: ${{ matrix.target }}
       - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@6323deb102c322ba6fcbdcafc7e3dddab59af2b6 # v2.9.2
         with:
-          key: release-macos-universal
-      - name: Build and package (dmg, CLI zip; the dmg is mounted and checked)
-        run: packaging/macos/package.sh --arch universal
+          key: release-macos-${{ matrix.arch }}
+      - name: Build
+        run: packaging/macos/package.sh --build-only ${{ matrix.target }}
+      # Not named release-*: the release job collects every release-* artifact as an asset.
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@cf430e030ddbb5b0abf93d22962f4752f3646cd9 # v7.0.2
+        with:
+          name: macos-bin-${{ matrix.arch }}
+          path: |
+            target/${{ matrix.target }}/release/solidcraft
+            target/${{ matrix.target }}/release/solidcraft-cli
+            target/${{ matrix.target }}/release/solvecraft-cli
+          if-no-files-found: error
+
+  macos:
+    name: macOS universal
+    needs: [version, macos-build]
+    if: needs.version.outputs.build == 'true'
+    runs-on: macos-14
+    env:
+      SOLIDCRAFT_VERSION: ${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}
+      SOLIDCRAFT_BUILD_DATE: ${{ needs.version.outputs.date }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+      - uses: actions/download-artifact@9000827ccba6bdab643e8b6fd33ac0654aef8333 # v8.0.2
+        with:
+          name: macos-bin-aarch64
+          path: target/aarch64-apple-darwin/release
+      - uses: actions/download-artifact@9000827ccba6bdab643e8b6fd33ac0654aef8333 # v8.0.2
+        with:
+          name: macos-bin-x86_64
+          path: target/x86_64-apple-darwin/release
+      - name: Join, package and check (dmg, CLI zip; the dmg is mounted and checked)
+        run: |
+          # Artifacts don't keep the executable bit.
+          chmod +x target/*-apple-darwin/release/solidcraft target/*-apple-darwin/release/solidcraft-cli target/*-apple-darwin/release/solvecraft-cli
+          packaging/macos/package.sh --arch universal --skip-build
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@cf430e030ddbb5b0abf93d22962f4752f3646cd9 # v7.0.2
         with:
           name: release-macos
@@ -319,9 +338,12 @@ jobs:
 
   windows:
     name: Windows ${{ matrix.arch }}
-    needs: [version, icons]
+    needs: version
     if: needs.version.outputs.build == 'true'
-    runs-on: windows-latest
+    # An 8 vCPU runner: the release build was 35 minutes on a 2 vCPU windows-latest and is the
+    # longest job of the release. The installer icon is the committed
+    # assets/icons/app/windows/exports/solidcraft.ico (package.ps1's default), so nothing waits.
+    runs-on: blacksmith-8vcpu-windows-2025
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
@@ -334,10 +356,6 @@ jobs:
       SOLIDCRAFT_VERSION: ${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
-      - uses: actions/download-artifact@9000827ccba6bdab643e8b6fd33ac0654aef8333 # v8.0.2
-        with:
-          name: icons
-          path: icons
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
         with:
           targets: ${{ matrix.target }}
@@ -351,8 +369,6 @@ jobs:
           wix extension add -g WixToolset.UI.wixext/5.0.2 WixToolset.Util.wixext/5.0.2
       - name: Build and package (msi, portable zip)
         shell: pwsh
-        env:
-          SOLIDCRAFT_ICONS: ${{ github.workspace }}/icons
         run: ./packaging/windows/package.ps1 -Arch ${{ matrix.arch }}
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@cf430e030ddbb5b0abf93d22962f4752f3646cd9 # v7.0.2
         with:

packaging/macos/package.sh

@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 #                                                      compatibility alias) with the licence files
 #
 # Usage: packaging/macos/package.sh [--arch universal|aarch64|x86_64] [--skip-build]
+#        packaging/macos/package.sh --build-only <rust-target>
+#
+# --build-only builds just that target (aarch64-apple-darwin or x86_64-apple-darwin) and stops,
+# so the release workflow can build the two halves of the universal binary on separate runners;
+# a later `--arch universal --skip-build` run joins the binaries it finds under
+# $CARGO_TARGET_DIR/<target>/release/ and packages them.
 #
 # The app is ad-hoc signed (not notarized): the first launch needs right-click > Open.
 # Adapted from PhotoCraft's packaging (storytold/photocraft, Apache-2.0; see ATTRIBUTION.md).
@@ -18,11 +24,13 @@ MACOS_BUNDLE_ID=ai.storyteller.solidcraft
 
 ARCH=universal
 SKIP_BUILD=0
+BUILD_ONLY=
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   case "$1" in
     --arch) ARCH="$2"; shift 2 ;;
     --skip-build) SKIP_BUILD=1; shift ;;
-    -h | --help) sed -n '2,10p' "$0"; exit 0 ;;
+    --build-only) BUILD_ONLY="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    -h | --help) sed -n '2,16p' "$0"; exit 0 ;;
     *) echo "unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
   esac
 done
@@ -41,6 +49,16 @@ APP="$WORK/SolidCraft.app"
 DMG="$DIST/solidcraft-$VERSION-macos-$ARCH.dmg"
 CLI_ZIP="$DIST/solidcraft-cli-$VERSION-macos-$ARCH.zip"
 
+if [ -n "$BUILD_ONLY" ]; then
+  case "$BUILD_ONLY" in
+    aarch64-apple-darwin | x86_64-apple-darwin) ;;
+    *) echo "unknown --build-only target $BUILD_ONLY" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+  echo "==> SolidCraft $VERSION for macOS ($BUILD_ONLY, build only)"
+  (cd "$ROOT" && cargo build --release --locked -p solidcraft -p solidcraft-cli --target "$BUILD_ONLY")
+  exit 0
+fi
+
 echo "==> SolidCraft $VERSION for macOS ($ARCH)"
 if [ "$SKIP_BUILD" = 0 ]; then
   args=()