Manual release builds do not hard-gate on APIView approval

## Problem A manual storage release build published packages even though APIView approval was pending for `com.azure:azure-storage-internal-avro` version `12.19.0`. https://dev.azure.com/azure-sdk/internal/_build/results?buildId=6301632&view=results The `Validate packages and update work items` step detected the pending APIView status, but it did not fail the build because `IsReleaseBuild` was `False`. For a manually queued release run, this appears wrong: the pipeline should automatically set `SetAsReleaseBuild=true` or otherwise hard-gate release publishing on APIView approval. ## Impact Manual release runs can continue through Signing/Release and publish packages even when the package validation step has already found pending APIView approval for a GA package. ## Evidence from the storage pipeline logs The validation step was run with `IsReleaseBuild: False`: ```text 2026-05-14T23:34:28.1546181Z Artifact path: /mnt/vss/_work/1/a 2026-05-14T23:34:28.1549237Z Package Info Files: /mnt/vss/_work/1/a/PackageInfo/azure-storage-common.json, ... /mnt/vss/_work/1/a/PackageInfo/azure-storage-internal-avro.json, ... 2026-05-14T23:34:28.1555748Z IsReleaseBuild: False ``` The avro package was a GA client package selected for validation/release: ```text 2026-05-14T23:34:48.0165738Z Processing artifact: azure-storage-internal-avro 2026-05-14T23:34:48.0167815Z Is Release Build: False 2026-05-14T23:34:48.0169404Z Checking if we need to create or update work item for package azure-storage-internal-avro and groupId @{Name=azure-storage-internal-avro; Version=12.19.0; DevVersion=; DirectoryPath=sdk/storage/azure-storage-internal-avro; ServiceDirectory=storage; ReadMePath=sdk/storage/azure-storage-internal-avro/README.md; ChangeLogPath=sdk/storage/azure-storage-internal-avro/CHANGELOG.md; Group=com.azure; SdkType=client; IsNewSdk=True; ArtifactName=azure-storage-internal-avro; ReleaseStatus=2026-05-14; IncludedForValidation=False; AdditionalValidationPackages=System.Object[]; ArtifactDetails=; CIParameters=; SpecProjectPath=}.Group with version 12.19.0. ``` APIView was explicitly pending: ```text 2026-05-14T23:34:49.1724803Z Checking API review status for package com.azure:azure-storage-internal-avro 2026-05-14T23:34:49.1726372Z Checking API review status for package com.azure:azure-storage-internal-avro with version 12.19.0. language [java]. 2026-05-14T23:34:49.1728564Z Request to APIView: [https://apiview.dev/AutoReview/GetReviewStatus?language=Java&packageName=com.azure:azure-storage-internal-avro&packageVersion=12.19.0] 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2158982Z Response: 201 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2162402Z WARNING: API Review is not approved for package com.azure:azure-storage-internal-avro. Release pipeline will fail if API review is not approved for a GA version release. You can check http://aka.ms/azsdk/engsys/apireview/faq for more details on API Approval. Once your API is approved, re-trigger the release pipeline again. 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2163825Z Package name is approved for package com.azure:azure-storage-internal-avro ``` The work item was updated to pending, but the build still continued because release mode was false: ```text 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2166971Z Output: { 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2167463Z "Name": "azure-storage-internal-avro", 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2167934Z "GroupId": "com.azure", 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2168415Z "Version": "12.19.0", ... 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2171344Z "APIReviewValidation": { 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2171845Z "Name": "API Review Approval", 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2172345Z "Status": "Pending", 2026-05-14T23:34:49.2173148Z "Message": "API Review is not approved for package com.azure:azure-storage-internal-avro. Release pipeline will fail if API review is not approved for a GA version release. You can check http://aka.ms/azsdk/engsys/apireview/faq for more details on API Approval. Once your API is approved, re-trigger the release pipeline again." ... 2026-05-14T23:34:49.9693663Z Change log status: Success 2026-05-14T23:34:49.9694532Z API Review status: Pending 2026-05-14T23:34:49.9695056Z Package Name status: Approved ``` ## Code path `validate-all-packages.yml` passes `SetAsReleaseBuild` to the validation script: ```yaml -IsReleaseBuild $$(SetAsReleaseBuild) ``` But the same template defaults `SetAsReleaseBuild` to `false` when it is empty: ```yaml - pwsh: | echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=SetAsReleaseBuild]false" displayName: "Set as release build" condition: and(succeededOrFailed(), eq(variables['SetAsReleaseBuild'], '')) ``` `Validate-All-Packages.ps1` only hard-fails validation when `IsReleaseBuild` is true: ```powershell if ($IsReleaseBuild) { if (!$updatedWi -or $changeLogStatus.Status -ne "Success" -or $apireviewDetails.ApiviewApproval.Status -ne "Approved" -or $apireviewDetails.PackageNameApproval.Status -ne "Approved") { Write-Error "At least one of the Validations above failed for package $pkgName with version $versionString." exit 1 } } ``` Also, the AzureCLI validation task currently has `continueOnError: true`, so this step may not be acting as a hard gate even when the script exits non-zero. ## Expected behavior For a manually queued internal release run, the pipeline should treat package validation as a release build and fail before publishing if a GA package has pending APIView approval. At minimum, manual release runs should set `SetAsReleaseBuild=true` before `validate-all-packages.yml` executes. ## Suggested fix Consider one of the following: 1. Automatically set `SetAsReleaseBuild=true` for manual internal release runs that have release artifacts selected. 2. Remove or override `continueOnError: true` for release validation. 3. Add an explicit pre-Signing/pre-Release APIView approval gate in `archetype-java-release-batch.yml`, so APIView approval is verified on the actual release path before packages are published. Option 3 may be the most robust because the current release stage itself does not call `validate-all-packages.yml`; the validation runs in the Build stage while Signing/Release are separate stages.