diff --git a/scripts/release/families.ts b/scripts/release/families.ts
index 09acbe2da9..f43939f17d 100644
--- a/scripts/release/families.ts
+++ b/scripts/release/families.ts
@@ -180,8 +180,11 @@ export abstract class ReleaseFamily {
     }
     for (const member of byNameSorted) checkInstall(member, [])
 
-    // Emit the order over both kinds of edge. A node already on the stack is a
-    // cycle only peer edges can form, and skipping it drops just that edge.
+    // Emit the order over both kinds of edge. A node already on the stack closes
+    // a cycle, and that cycle carries at least one peer edge because the install
+    // edges were just proved acyclic — but the back edge that reaches the stacked
+    // node is not necessarily the peer one, so the post-condition below decides
+    // whether the emitted order survived.
     const ordered: ReleaseMember[] = []
     const droppedPeerEdges: DroppedPeerEdge[] = []
     const placed = new Set<string>()
@@ -216,7 +219,6 @@ export abstract class ReleaseFamily {
         visit(peer)
       }
       onStack.delete(member.name)
-      if (placed.has(member.name)) return
       placed.add(member.name)
       ordered.push(member)
     }
diff --git a/scripts/release/process.ts b/scripts/release/process.ts
index acec98feae..392a6cab66 100644
--- a/scripts/release/process.ts
+++ b/scripts/release/process.ts
@@ -39,17 +39,25 @@ export function attempt(command: string, args: readonly string[], options: RunOp
 }
 
 /**
- * Run a command, letting its output reach the log while also returning it.
+ * Run a command, capture its output, and echo it once the command exits.
  *
- * A step that both shows progress and classifies its own failure needs both: the
- * output has to appear in the workflow log as the command produces it, and the
- * caller has to read it to decide whether a failure is worth retrying.
+ * A step that both shows what a command said and classifies its own failure
+ * needs both halves: the output has to reach the workflow log, and the caller has
+ * to read it to decide whether a failure is worth retrying.
+ *
+ * This is not live progress. `spawnSync` returns only after the child exits, so
+ * nothing appears while the command runs, and the two streams are echoed one
+ * after the other — all of stdout, then all of stderr — which loses their
+ * interleaving. For an npm publish that matters in one visible way: `npm notice`
+ * lines go to stderr while the `+ name@version` confirmation goes to stdout, so
+ * the log shows the confirmation first. Live progress would need an
+ * asynchronous spawn with data listeners.
  * @param command - executable name.
  * @param args - command arguments.
  * @param options - working directory and environment.
  * @returns The exit status and captured streams.
  */
-export function attemptStreaming(command: string, args: readonly string[], options: RunOptions = {}): CommandResult {
+export function attemptEchoed(command: string, args: readonly string[], options: RunOptions = {}): CommandResult {
   const result = spawnSync(command, [...args], {
     cwd: options.cwd,
     env: options.env,
diff --git a/scripts/release/publish.ts b/scripts/release/publish.ts
index f861da18c2..6301241ed7 100644
--- a/scripts/release/publish.ts
+++ b/scripts/release/publish.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import { join, resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { setTimeout as sleep } from 'node:timers/promises'
 import { parseArgs } from 'node:util'
 import { releaseFamily } from './families.ts'
-import { attempt, attemptStreaming, isEntry } from './process.ts'
+import { attempt, attemptEchoed, isEntry } from './process.ts'
 import { packedIdentity, readPublishOrder } from './tarball.ts'
 
 /**
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ async function publishTarball(tarball: string, name: string, version: string): P
     // command-line flag could not serve both and would override the manifest
     // that does. Each packed manifest decides, and
     // check-workspace-constraints holds every manifest to its sequence's level.
-    const result = attemptStreaming('npm', ['publish', tarball, ...tagArgs])
+    const result = attemptEchoed('npm', ['publish', tarball, ...tagArgs])
     const output = `${result.stdout}${result.stderr}`
     if (result.status === 0) return