diff --git a/docs/releases.md b/docs/releases.md
index 367c9193..27b148db 100644
--- a/docs/releases.md
+++ b/docs/releases.md
@@ -474,6 +474,16 @@ To exercise only the private builds and the packaging without releasing, on Stri
 WEEKLY_DRY_RUN=1 WEEKLY_TAG=rehearsal-private scripts/weekly.sh ~/.cache/1bit-weekly build package
 ```
 
+That example runs `build` before `package` for a reason, and it is not only the build: **a `package`-only run
+needs a workdir that has already built.** `stage_package` starts by signing the sealed NPU sets, and it signs
+them with `<workdir>/src/tools/seal_manifest.py` — the source checkout that the `build` stage's `checkout()`
+creates. On a workdir that has never built, `weekly.sh <workdir> package` therefore stops on its first line
+with `can't open file '…/src/tools/seal_manifest.py'`, and on one whose `src` is older than `main` it packs
+with that older packer (measured 2026-11-08: three attempts, each stopped by one of those two, plus a `src`
+whose pre-#1361 `package-linux.sh` refused the build tree's tools). What a re-pack does *not* need a build
+for is the HSA runtime: `stage_package` resolves the pinned toolchain itself with
+`scripts/fetch-rocm-sdk.sh` (`config/hrx-toolchain.config`), which reuses the tree when its `.pin` matches.
+
 ## The release run
 
 `scripts/weekly.sh <workdir>` on Strix Halo, in stages:
diff --git a/scripts/weekly.sh b/scripts/weekly.sh
index e018a05e..d9c7e000 100755
--- a/scripts/weekly.sh
+++ b/scripts/weekly.sh
@@ -553,8 +553,27 @@ stage_package() {
     # the same in all four (scripts/pack-distro.sh). LIBHSA is the release's gfx1151 runtime out of the
     # pinned toolchain: the packer refuses a runtime that would register no device, and the engine
     # bundle carries none (HRX dlopens it).
-    LIBHSA=$(ls -d "$HRX_TOOLCHAIN"/lib/python3*/site-packages/_rocm_sdk_core/lib/libhsa-runtime64.so.1 2>/dev/null | head -1) \
-        "$SRC/scripts/mk-plugin-package.sh" "$W/lemonade/1bit" "$OUT" "$tag" > "$LOGS/distro-packages.log" 2>&1 ||
+    # The four packages need the release's gfx1151 HSA runtime and the engine bundle does not carry one (HRX
+    # dlopens it). preflight fetches the pinned toolchain for the bumps and build stages only, so a cut that
+    # runs package (and release) against an existing build - which is what re-packaging a candidate is - gets
+    # here with HRX_TOOLCHAIN empty, the glob below matches nothing, and the packer aborts with "no
+    # libhsa-runtime64.so.1 ... set LIBHSA=": the c32 cut of 2026-11-07 did exactly that, and the four
+    # packages the docs promise were missing from the candidate. Resolve it here instead: fetch-rocm-sdk.sh
+    # reuses the tree when its .pin matches (so it costs nothing in a workdir that built) and fetches the
+    # pinned runtime in one that did not. LIBHSA from the environment still wins, for another runtime.
+    if [ -z "${HRX_TOOLCHAIN:-}" ]; then
+        HRX_TOOLCHAIN=$("$SRC/scripts/fetch-rocm-sdk.sh" "$SRC/config/hrx-toolchain.config" "$W/hrx-toolchain" 2>> "$LOGS/hrx-toolchain.log") ||
+            { say "no pinned HRX toolchain for the packages' HSA runtime: see $LOGS/hrx-toolchain.log (or set LIBHSA)"; return 1; }
+    fi
+    if [ -z "${LIBHSA:-}" ]; then
+        # `|| true`: a failing glob in a standalone assignment is fatal under this script's `set -e`, and
+        # would abort the stage with rc 2 and no message at all instead of reaching the line below (checked:
+        # that is what this line did before the `|| true` was added)
+        LIBHSA=$(ls -d "$HRX_TOOLCHAIN"/lib/python3*/site-packages/_rocm_sdk_core/lib/libhsa-runtime64.so.1 2>/dev/null | head -1 || true)
+        [ -n "$LIBHSA" ] ||
+            { say "no libhsa-runtime64.so.1 under $HRX_TOOLCHAIN: set LIBHSA to the release's gfx1151 runtime"; return 1; }
+    fi
+    LIBHSA=$LIBHSA "$SRC/scripts/mk-plugin-package.sh" "$W/lemonade/1bit" "$OUT" "$tag" > "$LOGS/distro-packages.log" 2>&1 ||
         { cat "$LOGS/distro-packages.log"; return 1; }
     say "package $tag: proof, one clean container per family"
     # Nothing is published that nobody installed: every family is installed in a throwaway container of