docs(installer): bundles publish to a branch, releases only tag

Two corrections to §7.1, both forced by the first compose run that ever
had a bundle to write (org lead, 2026-08-05).

The section said bundles are committed to `main` and that this "needs no
new branch-protection exception: release.yml's version-bump commit
already requires the CI user to be able to push to main". Both halves
were wrong. `main` is protected and declines the push, and release.yml
had never pushed anything: its bump step has never executed in any repo
carrying it, because an empty template expression written literally in
one of its comments makes the runner fail to build the step and skip it
without failing the job. The tags exist because Gitea's release API
creates one when it publishes. The assumption that a working push path
already existed had never been tested by anything.

Bundles now publish to a `bundles` branch at its root, which keeps every
property the original choice was for -- reviewable diff, git history of
the compat matrix, plain anonymous raw URLs, no credentials on the shard
host -- and needs no exception. The release workflows are tag-only for
the same reason, as servuo-plugins has always been: the version is still
written into Cargo.toml before building so a released binary
self-reports correctly, but is not committed back.

Also updated: the raw URLs in INSTALL.md Appendix A1 and in Phase 0.3's
as-built note.

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

installer/INSTALL.md

@@ -648,7 +648,7 @@ Throughout: `<servuo>` is your ServUO root, and **the shard is stopped**.
 ### A1. Fetch the bundle (so you install a checked pair)
 
 ```bash
-curl -s https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/raw/branch/main/bundles/current.json
+curl -s https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/raw/branch/bundles/current.json
 ```
 
 It names the sidecar tag, the overlay tag, their agreed `protocol`, and the SHA256 of every asset.

installer/PLAN.md

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ described a ServUO integration that does not match how `servuo-plugins` actually
 |---|---|
 | 0.1 `servuo-plugins` release workflow | ✅ Merged — [servuo-plugins#7](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/servuo-plugins/pulls/7) + [#8](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/servuo-plugins/pulls/8); first overlay release is [`v0.1.1`](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/servuo-plugins/releases/tag/v0.1.1) |
 | 0.2 `link` installable (data paths + `--print-config`) | ✅ Merged — [link#24](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/link/pulls/24) (docs half [docs#84](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/docs/pulls/84)); released as [`v1.1.0`](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/link/releases/tag/v1.1.0) |
-| 0.3 Bundle CI in the installer repo | ✅ Merged — [installer#3](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/pulls/3), plus the dispatch step in each component ([link#25](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/link/pulls/25), [servuo-plugins#9](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/servuo-plugins/pulls/9)). First bundle: [`2026.08.04`](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/src/branch/main/bundles/current.json) |
+| 0.3 Bundle CI in the installer repo | ✅ Merged — [installer#3](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/pulls/3), plus the dispatch step in each component ([link#25](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/link/pulls/25), [servuo-plugins#9](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/servuo-plugins/pulls/9)). First bundle: [`2026.08.04`](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/src/branch/bundles/current.json) |
 | 0.4 This file + `INSTALL.md` | ✅ Merged — [docs#87](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/docs/pulls/87). [`INSTALL.md`](INSTALL.md) is the operator guide, written before the binary because it *is* the specification of the run |
 | — Repo bootstrap (governance + CI) | ✅ [`RunicGateway/installer`](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer) created; workflows merged ([installer#1](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/pulls/1), [#2](https://gitea.whitlocktech.com/RunicGateway/installer/pulls/2)) |
 
@@ -433,7 +433,9 @@ Repo work that must land before an installer can exist.
 
    - **Bundles are committed to the installer repo, not published as releases** — see §7.1 for
      where and why. That was the one genuinely open question here, and the deciding factor is that
-     this repo's *own* releases are the installer binaries.
+     this repo's *own* releases are the installer binaries. They were committed to `main` until
+     2026-08-05, when the first run that actually had a bundle to write found `main` protected;
+     they now live on a `bundles` branch (§7.1).
    - **Gate 1 reads the sidecar's protocol from source at the release tag**, not from the binary.
      `--print-config` (Phase 0.2) would answer authoritatively, but only for releases from `v1.1.0`
      onward, and `--bundle <tag>` has to be able to recompose a bundle from an older pair. Reading
@@ -1200,24 +1202,44 @@ Two gates run at compose time, both cheap and both worth it:
 
 #### Where bundles are published
 
-Committed to the installer repo under `bundles/`, so the installer's fetch is a plain anonymous
-`GET` against a public repo — the shard host has no Gitea credentials (§1):
+Committed to the installer repo, on a **`bundles` branch of their own** and at its root, so the
+installer's fetch is a plain anonymous `GET` against a public repo — the shard host has no Gitea
+credentials (§1):
 
 ```
-bundles/current.json          → …/RunicGateway/installer/raw/branch/main/bundles/current.json
-bundles/bundle-<tag>.json     → …/raw/branch/main/bundles/bundle-2026.08.04.json   (--bundle)
+current.json          → …/RunicGateway/installer/raw/branch/bundles/current.json
+bundle-<tag>.json     → …/raw/branch/bundles/bundle-2026.08.04.json                (--bundle)
 ```
 
 Every bundle is kept forever, so `--bundle` stays reproducible. Tags are UTC dates; a second bundle
 on the same day — a sidecar release in the morning and an overlay release in the afternoon is the
 normal way that happens — becomes `2026.08.04.2`, so one tag always names exactly one matrix.
 
+**A branch, not `main`, and that correction cost a day.** This section originally said bundles were
+committed to `main` and "needs no new branch-protection exception: `release.yml`'s version-bump
+commit already requires the CI user to be able to push to `main`". Both halves were wrong. `main` is
+protected and declines a push from CI (`pre-receive hook declined`), and `release.yml` had never
+pushed anything — its bump step has never executed in any repo carrying it, because an **empty
+template expression written literally in one of its comments** makes the runner fail to build the
+step and skip it *without failing the job*. The tags exist because Gitea's release API creates one
+when it publishes. So the assumption that a working push path already existed was never tested by
+anything.
+
+Publishing to a branch of its own keeps every property the original choice was for — a reviewable
+diff, a git history of the compat matrix, plain anonymous raw URLs, no credentials on the shard host
+— and needs no exception at all. The alternative, whitelisting a scheduled job for pushes to the
+default branch, buys nothing this does not.
+
 **Not one Gitea release per bundle**, which was the obvious alternative. This repo's own releases
 are the installer *binaries*, and `/releases/latest` returns whichever release is newest regardless
 of kind — interleaving bundle releases would make "latest" intermittently resolve to a release
-carrying no installer binary. Committing also yields a reviewable diff and a git history of the
-compat matrix, and needs no new branch-protection exception: `release.yml`'s version-bump commit
-already requires the CI user to be able to push to `main`.
+carrying no installer binary.
+
+**The release workflows tag and never write to a branch**, for the same reason and settled at the
+same time (org lead, 2026-08-05): the tag *is* the version, as `servuo-plugins` has always done it.
+The version is still written into `Cargo.toml` before building — so a released binary self-reports
+correctly — but is no longer committed back, and the next version is computed from the newest tag.
+A first release must not depend on a write to a protected branch.
 
 ### 7.2 What triggers a bundle