diff -r f8bf1a8e9181 -r 71ae6fee2b9d mercurial/phases.py
--- a/mercurial/phases.py	Tue Feb 20 21:40:13 2024 +0100
+++ b/mercurial/phases.py	Wed Feb 21 15:24:22 2024 +0100
@@ -674,6 +674,8 @@
         repo.invalidatevolatilesets()
 
     def _retractboundary(self, repo, tr, targetphase, nodes=None, revs=None):
+        if targetphase == public:
+            return False
         # Be careful to preserve shallow-copied values: do not update
         # phaseroots values, replace them.
         if revs is None: