Foot Clutch- wont completely let go

This could be a stupid question.

Situation:

-Engine in frame, no oil for about a half a year. Functioned fine before teardown. (nothing on the engine touched, bc if it aint broke...)
-chain/rear wheel not hooked up, still building frame bits
-foot clutch is hooked up, when actuated it moves the pressure plate about 1/8th inch or so. Plates are free when actuated and can be moved in and out by hand.
-when in gear and actuated, i can't spin the front sprocket by hand
-clutch alignment marks are fine.

I dont think this is right. It makes sense that if the clutch is working properly, when in gear and clutch fully depressed, i should be able to spin that front sprocket.

Is there a minimum amount the plates need to move to work properly? I'd think that being able to move the plates when disengaged would mean its right.

Or is this all fine...

well with no oil in the eng the clutch is dry and the plates are prob. stuck put some oil in it and crank over a few time and retry

its still going to be a bit till i put oil in it, guess ill cross this bridge later on.

There's enough residual adhesion/sticktion in the released (but not separated) plates to require a few foot-pounds of torque to rotate the clutch hub, which is quite tough to do at the drive sprocket...

its amazing how much time is freed up when you quit your job.

anyways i'm onto the tuning phase of my build now and i think i know what my issue is, but just confirm for me:

I dont have my chain on right now, so the rear wheel isn't connected to the engine. I can have the engine idling and shift through all the gears without a clutch. essentially the bike can idle in 1st, 2nd or whatever gear with no clutch or throttle input.

This is normal, yes? The engine has no load on it from the rear wheel so it can spin freely regardless.

I just want to make sure that is right before i start diving into something that doesn't need to be fixed.