Releasing With Changelogger

Releasing with Changelogger

Generates a new release section in CHANGELOG.md by collecting all unreleased changelog entries from changelogs/unreleased/.

When to Act

• When explicitly asked to create a release or generate a changelog for a new version.
• When preparing a version bump or tag.

Workflow

1. Review Unreleased Changes

Before releasing, check what unreleased entries exist:

changelogger show

This displays all pending changelog entries in a table. If there are no entries, there is nothing to release.

2. Verify CHANGELOG.md Contains the Marker

The CHANGELOG.md file must contain the marker comment where new releases are inserted:

<!-- CHANGELOGGER -->

If the file or marker does not exist, inform the user — the release command needs it to insert the new section at the correct position.

3. Run the Release

changelogger release <tag>

The <tag> is the version number (e.g., v1.2.0, 2024.03, or any version scheme the project uses). Check existing entries in CHANGELOG.md to match the project's versioning convention.

This command will:

1. Collect all YAML files from changelogs/unreleased/.
2. Group and sort them by type (and by group, if configured).
3. Insert a new section into CHANGELOG.md at the <!-- CHANGELOGGER --> marker.
4. Delete all files in changelogs/unreleased/.

If only "ignore" entries exist, no changelog section is added, but the files are still cleaned up.

4. Verify the Result

After the release, review the generated output:

head -50 CHANGELOG.md

Confirm the new section looks correct and the changelogs/unreleased/ directory is empty.

5. Update project files

Check project files like package.json, manifest.json, composer.json, or others to see if a version is set and update that field. Use the same as in Step 3. If necessary run install for the project to update the .lock file.

6. Commit the Changes

Stage the updated CHANGELOG.md, updated project files (+ lock files), and the removed unreleased files:

git add CHANGELOG.md changelogs/unreleased/ package.json manifest.json composer.json
git commit -m "Release <tag>"

Only commit if the user has asked you to. Do not push without explicit consent.

7. Set Git Tag

git tag <tag>

Save the current as git tag after the changes were committed.

Other Useful Commands

Important Rules

• Never edit CHANGELOG.md manually. Always use changelogger release.
• Always check changelogger show before releasing so you can confirm the entries with the user.
• Match the versioning scheme used in existing CHANGELOG.md entries (e.g., v1.0.0 vs 1.0.0).
• After a release, the changelogs/unreleased/ directory should be empty (except .gitkeep if present).

Source: churchtools/changelogger — distributed by TomeVault.