diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 33d2fece0295e2f4be136754dc0ad113c190caec..063f1ac1d196613df9f42f0970625cbd0652b91f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+# [7.6.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.5.2...7.6.0) (2025-01-08)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* add separate 'publish-enabled' to enable publishing package ([6f9ee56](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/commit/6f9ee56d00ee5408953fa24323dbba81aa2d4f3a))
+
 ## [7.5.2](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.5.1...7.5.2) (2024-12-22)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4bd40abeb1e700c0bf6fe72814d206daf8255d3c..ef3afd001726fbe8f66ac108da61365024c05a06 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # 1: include the component
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.5.2
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.6.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 include:
   # 1: include the template
   - project: 'to-be-continuous/python'
-    ref: '7.5.2'
+    ref: '7.6.0'
     file: '/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml'
 
 variables:
@@ -561,9 +561,9 @@ With:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # main component
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.5.2
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.6.0
   # Vault variant
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.5.2
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.6.0
     inputs:
       vault-base-url: "https://vault.acme.host/v1"
       # audience claim for JWT
@@ -602,13 +602,13 @@ The variant requires the additional configuration parameters:
 
 ```yaml
 include:
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.5.2
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.6.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
       pytest-enabled: true
 
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@7.5.2
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@7.6.0
     inputs:
       # common OIDC config for non-prod envs
       gcp-oidc-provider: "projects/<gcp_nonprod_proj_id>/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/<pool_id>/providers/<provider_id>"
@@ -668,13 +668,13 @@ then set the required configuration.
 
 ```yaml
 include:
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.5.2
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.6.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
       pytest-enabled: true
 
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-aws-codeartifact@7.5.2
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-aws-codeartifact@7.6.0
     inputs:
       aws-region: "us-east-1"
       aws-codeartifact-domain: "acme"
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
index e019db95a52ccbc5505d80fe237b390175945a08..9431dd793abbca668de838abb96e563276237eb1 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ variables:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.5.2"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.6.0"]
   variables:
     GCP_JWT: $GCP_JWT
   before_script:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
index e8f60bdea7ba665943f8260ff744a7cdee08b0d4..877a6baa0ecd0e67144effb8204987e2afe4b381 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ variables:
 .python-base:
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.5.2"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.6.0"]
     - name: "$TBC_VAULT_IMAGE"
       alias: "vault-secrets-provider"
   variables:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
index abe8acf15d18199d476c953717367b782d83f7cd..0464e8807da5e5b0228a83b183e04a59bbb70584 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
@@ -966,7 +966,7 @@ stages:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.5.2"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.6.0"]
   variables:
     # set local cache dir; most Python tools honour XDG specs
     XDG_CACHE_HOME: "$CI_PROJECT_DIR/.cache"