Update release script

.github/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -17,12 +17,15 @@
 
 <h3>Internal changes ⚙️</h3>
 
+- Update release script and use the Catalyst `rc` branch in CIs in the release season.
+  [(#1285)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1285)
+
 - Updated CIs to use GCC 13.
   [(#1249)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1249)
 
 - Bumped the seed for pytests.
   [(#1276)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1276)
-    
+
 - `scipy-openblas32` dependency can be set manually when installing from source using the `ENABLE_SCIPY_OPENBLAS` cmake flag.
   [(#1220)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1220)
 
@@ -68,7 +71,7 @@ Joseph Lee
 - Raise exception when calling normalize or collapse method with `lightning.qubit`, `lightning.kokkos` and `lightning.gpu` when norm is close to 0.
   [(#1257)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1257)
 
-- Worksize preference in `cuTensorNet` can now be set and updated when using `lightning.tensor` device to reduce memory usage or improve stability. 
+- Worksize preference in `cuTensorNet` can now be set and updated when using `lightning.tensor` device to reduce memory usage or improve stability.
   [(#1238)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1238)
 
 - **Migrated to Nanobind for Python bindings**, replacing pybind11 to enhance performance, modularity, and build system efficiency.
@@ -115,7 +118,7 @@ Joseph Lee
 - Dropped support for Python 3.10. Supported Python versions are now 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13.
   [(#1224)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1224)
 
-- Dropped testing support for `tensorflow` interface after deprecation in Pennylane. 
+- Dropped testing support for `tensorflow` interface after deprecation in Pennylane.
   [(#1225)](github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1225)
 
 <h3>Deprecations 👋</h3>
@@ -152,10 +155,10 @@ Joseph Lee
 - Updated test to skip MCM test for `lightning.tensor` and fix seed for deterministic test.
   [(#1281)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1281)
 
-- Updated GitHub Actions to produce the release candidate wheels for all supported Python versions for MacOS-ARM. 
+- Updated GitHub Actions to produce the release candidate wheels for all supported Python versions for MacOS-ARM.
   [(#1273)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1273)
 
-- Updated GitHub Actions to produce the release candidate wheels for all supported Python versions. 
+- Updated GitHub Actions to produce the release candidate wheels for all supported Python versions.
   [(#1264)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1264)
 
 - Support building `lightning.gpu` and `lightning.tensor` from source with CUDA 13.
@@ -178,7 +181,7 @@ Joseph Lee
 - Updated Python to 3.12 and CIBuildWheel to 3.1.4 for CI.
   [(#1248)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1248)
 
-- Updated decomposition stopping condition to no longer convert `C(SProd)` and `C(Exp)` to Qubit Unitary, since PennyLane can decompose these operators after [PR 8133](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane/pull/8133). 
+- Updated decomposition stopping condition to no longer convert `C(SProd)` and `C(Exp)` to Qubit Unitary, since PennyLane can decompose these operators after [PR 8133](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane/pull/8133).
   [(#1247)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1247)
 
 - Removed `--no-deps` for Lightning Qubit CI tests for stable version.
@@ -189,7 +192,7 @@ Joseph Lee
 
 - Added script to automate the release process.
   [(#1231)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1231)
-  
+
 - Stopped the wheels creation for no arch if the PR is draft.
   [(#1233)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1233)
 
@@ -231,7 +234,7 @@ Amintor Dusko,
 David Ittah,
 Christina Lee,
 Joseph Lee,
-Rashid N H M, 
+Rashid N H M,
 Anton Naim Ibrahim,
 Luis Alfredo Nuñez Meneses,
 Andrija Paurevic,
@@ -270,9 +273,9 @@ Jake Zaia.
 <h3>Breaking changes 💔</h3>
 
 - The `LightningBaseStateVector`, `LightningBaseAdjointJacobian`, `LightningBaseMeasurements`,
-  `LightningInterpreter` and `QuantumScriptSerializer` base classes now can be found at `pennylane_lightning.lightning_base`.  
-  The new `lightning_base` module further enables the relocation of core files from `pennylane_lightning/core/src/*` to `pennylane_lightning/core/*`.  
-  The license classifier and `project.license` as a TOML table are deprecated in favor of a SPDX license expression and removed in `pyproject.toml`.  
+  `LightningInterpreter` and `QuantumScriptSerializer` base classes now can be found at `pennylane_lightning.lightning_base`.
+  The new `lightning_base` module further enables the relocation of core files from `pennylane_lightning/core/src/*` to `pennylane_lightning/core/*`.
+  The license classifier and `project.license` as a TOML table are deprecated in favor of a SPDX license expression and removed in `pyproject.toml`.
   To speedup the recompilation of C++ source code, `ccache` is also added to `Makefile`.
   [(#1098)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1098)
 
@@ -304,23 +307,23 @@ Jake Zaia.
 - Fixed the implementation of multi-controlled gates with a single target wire for arbitrary control values in `lightning.tensor`.
   [(#1169)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1169)
 
-- Updated requirements to only download JAX version 0.5.3 for non-X86 MacOS. 
+- Updated requirements to only download JAX version 0.5.3 for non-X86 MacOS.
   [(#1163)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1163)
 
-- Fixed Docker build for `lighting.kokkos` with ROCM library for AMD GPUs. Updated ROCM from 5.7 to 6.2.4. 
+- Fixed Docker build for `lighting.kokkos` with ROCM library for AMD GPUs. Updated ROCM from 5.7 to 6.2.4.
   [(#1158)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1158)
 
-- Fixed use of Torch with `AmplitudeEmbedding` by applying `qml.broadcast_expand` before decomposition in the preprocessing stage. 
+- Fixed use of Torch with `AmplitudeEmbedding` by applying `qml.broadcast_expand` before decomposition in the preprocessing stage.
   [(#1175)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1175)
 
 <h3>Internal changes ⚙️</h3>
 
 - Updated tests with `device(..., shots=...)` to use `qml.set_shots` to ensure compatibility with the latest version of PennyLane.
   [(#1173)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1173)
-  
+
 - Fixed `applyMultiRZ` for `lightning.kokkos` device to use Kokkos function instead of lambda.
   [(#1194)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1194)
-  
+
 - Enabled `AmplitudeEmbedding` Python tests for `lightning.kokkos` and `lightning.gpu` devices.
   [(#1192)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1192)
 
@@ -339,7 +342,7 @@ Jake Zaia.
 
 - Updated dev requirements to use JAX version 0.6.0 for CI tests.
   [(#1161)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1161)
-  
+
 - Updated stable requirements to use JAX version 0.4.28 for CI tests.
   [(#1160)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1160)
 
@@ -351,7 +354,7 @@ Jake Zaia.
 
 - Removed `max_workers` argument for `default.qubit` device in Python tests to reduce CI testing time.
   [(##1174)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1174)
-  
+
 - Bumped Github action runner to use `Ubuntu-24.04` or `Ubuntu-latest`.
   Fixed all `ubuntu-latest` action runners to `ubuntu-24.04`.
   [(#1167)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/1167)

.github/workflows/tests_gpu_cpp.yml

@@ -86,6 +86,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         id: setup_python
         name: Setup Python

.github/workflows/tests_gpu_python.yml

@@ -97,6 +97,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         id: setup_python
         name: Install Python

.github/workflows/tests_lgpumpi_cpp.yml

@@ -62,6 +62,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Switch to stable build of Lightning-GPU
         if: inputs.lightning-version == 'stable'
         run: |

.github/workflows/tests_lgpumpi_python.yml

@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Switch to release build of Lightning
         if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
         run: |

.github/workflows/tests_linux_cpp.yml

@@ -66,6 +66,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
             echo ${{ github.event_name }} && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y -q install cmake gcc-$GCC_VERSION  g++-$GCC_VERSION ninja-build gcovr lcov
@@ -144,6 +153,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y -q install cmake gcc-$GCC_VERSION  g++-$GCC_VERSION libopenblas-dev ninja-build gcovr lcov
@@ -230,6 +248,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Restoring cached dependencies
         id: kokkos-cache
         uses: actions/cache@v4
@@ -346,6 +373,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Restoring cached dependencies
         id: kokkos-cache
         uses: actions/cache@v4

.github/workflows/tests_lkcpu_python.yml

@@ -74,6 +74,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Switch to release build of Lightning
         if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
         run: |
@@ -195,6 +204,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: ${{ matrix.pl_backend }}-${{ matrix.exec_model }}_name.txt

.github/workflows/tests_lkcuda_cpp.yml

@@ -155,6 +155,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         id: setup_python
         name: Install Python

.github/workflows/tests_lkcuda_python.yml

@@ -248,6 +248,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Install ML libraries for interfaces
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade torch==$TORCH_VERSION --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu

.github/workflows/tests_lkmpi_cuda_cpp.yml

@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Switch to stable build of Lightning-Kokkos
         if: inputs.lightning-version == 'stable'
         run: |

.github/workflows/tests_lkmpi_cuda_python.yml

@@ -66,6 +66,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Switch to release build of Lightning
         if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
         run: |

.github/workflows/tests_lqcpu_python.yml

@@ -80,6 +80,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Install System dependencies
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y -q install cmake gcc-$GCC_VERSION g++-$GCC_VERSION libopenblas-dev

.github/workflows/tests_windows_cpp.yml

@@ -44,6 +44,15 @@ jobs:
           repository: PennyLaneAI/catalyst
           path: ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
 
+      - name: Switch to release build of Catalyst
+        if: inputs.lightning-version == 'release'
+        run: |
+          cd ${{ github.workspace}}/catalyst
+          git fetch --all
+          git checkout $(git branch -a --list "origin/v0.*rc*" | sort | tail -1)
+          git log -1 --format='%H'
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}
+
       - name: Kokkos execution strategy
         id: exec_model
         run: echo "exec_model=[\"SERIAL\"]" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT # We may also adopt [OPENMP, THREADS] in later iterations