Update determine runner workflow to use large runners if the branch n…

…ame matches a certain format (#769)

**Context:**
This PR is being opened under sc-66351. It introduces a new change to CI
ahead of release where a local branch (not forked) that matches the
regex pattern `vX.Y.Z-rcN` (The `N` after rc being optional) is auto
ported over to the large runners.

Though this may provide a minor bump to the runtimes of the workflows
themselves, the bigger objective (right now at least) is to not wait
long times to get a runner.

**Description of the Change:**
The change is a minor one within the `determine-runner` workflow. It now
checks for both a label present on a pr OR if the pr branch names
matches the rc branching format above.

**Benefits:**
Faster queue times for rc branches.

**Possible Drawbacks:**
Though the large runners and standard runners should have parity in
theory. We do not live in a perfect world. There is a none-zero chance
that workflows might break. But we can test that out as part of this PR.

**Related GitHub Issues:**
None.

---------

Co-authored-by: ringo-but-quantum <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Amintor Dusko <[email protected]>

.github/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@
 
 ### Improvements
 
+* Release candidate branches are automatically switched over to using the new large GitHub runner pool.
+  [(#769)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/769)
+
 * LightningKokkos dev wheels for MacOS (x86_64, ARM64) and Linux (aarch64) are uploaded to TestPyPI upon PR merge.
   [(#765)](https://github.com/PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning/pull/765)
 

.github/workflows/determine-workflow-runner.yml

@@ -33,8 +33,14 @@ jobs:
         if: >-
           ${{
             github.event_name == 'pull_request'
-            && contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'urgent')
             && startsWith(inputs.default_runner, 'ubuntu')
           }}
         id: runner_group
-        run: echo "runner_group=$LARGE_RUNNER_GROUP_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+        env:
+          # We are not able to use \d to check numeric values as bash does not allow them (not POSIX compliant)
+          RC_BRANCH_FORMAT_REGEX: v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+-rc[0-9]?
+          REPO_FULL_NAME: PennyLaneAI/pennylane-lightning
+        run: |
+          if [[ '${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'urgent') }}' == 'true' || ('${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}' == "$REPO_FULL_NAME" && "${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }}" =~ "$RC_BRANCH_FORMAT_REGEX") ]]; then
+            echo "runner_group=$LARGE_RUNNER_GROUP_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi

pennylane_lightning/core/_version.py

@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
    Version number (major.minor.patch[-label])
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.37.0-dev43"
+__version__ = "0.37.0-dev44"