[lit26]

Fixes #149.

infra/release/install.sh used awk in four places: the release-manifest readers (json_value, json_top_value), the GitHub tag_name fallback used by the managed search tools, the sha256 digest trim, and the # stepcode PATH-block validator/stripper. The README lists no awk prerequisite, and a Fedora 44 WSL image without any awk implementation failed at manifest parsing:

bash: line 33: awk: command not found

Change

release-bundle.mjs writes latest.json and manifest.json with JSON.stringify(_, null, 2), so both documents are line-oriented — one top-level key per line, one entry per line inside each object. That shape is now read with bash pattern matching instead of awk:

• json_top_value / json_value keep their exact signatures and semantics (section start, closing brace at end of section, first matching key wins).
• The digest comes from a parameter expansion, ${actual%%[[:space:]]*}, instead of awk '{print $1}'.
• strip_step_block is rewritten as two bash loops with the same behaviour: a nested or unterminated # stepcode marker leaves the rc untouched, the blank lines directly above a well-formed block are dropped with it, and an unterminated block's lines are restored rather than dropped.

Manifest entries with a missing key still fall through to the existing die messages (|| true keeps set -e from aborting before them).

Tests

New case in scripts/release-bundle.test.mjs: renders the installer against a fake release directory (file:// base URL, tar.gz with a stub step), builds a PATH containing every command the installer needs except awk, asserts awk is not reachable, then runs a full install and a checksum-mismatch run.

node --test scripts/release-bundle.test.mjs
# tests 19  # pass 16  # fail 0  # skipped 3   (skips are the pwsh cases)

The new case fails on the previous implementation (awk: command not found → exit 127, nothing installed). The existing strip_step_block harness and the static PATH-persistence checks still pass, and bash -n infra/release/install.sh is clean.

A CHANGELOG.md entry is added under Unreleased → Fixed.