Automate your changelogs! Release Drafter

[Almost] nobody likes writing documentation, and the same for the changelogs! Can we automate these processes and improve both user and developer experiences? Of course!

We will review the Release Drafter - a handy changelog automation tool for those who use GitHub or GitHub Enterprise. It can be used as a GitHub Action and easily generates changelog drafts, utilizing pull requests and labels as a foundation. Many advanced features are included, e.g. text formatting and substitutions, semantic versioning support, and management at the organization level. So let’s take this tool and configure it for a project together!

During the presentation, we will also review changelog automation examples from WireMock, Testcontainers, Jenkins, and other open-source communities. Those examples need copy and paste.

Transcript

1. Oleg Nenashev @oleg_nenashev
2. > whoami @oleg_nenashev oleg-nenashev Dr. Nenashev / Mr. Jenkins Developer tools hacker Community builder FOSS/DevRel consultant #RussiansAgainstPutin #StandWithUkraine
3. My Open [and not so] Communities Time * Once a contributor, [almost] always a contributor Neuchâtel
6. Takeaways 6 • Automate changelog drafts • There are tools for pull requests, not just [conventional?] commits • Release Drafter • Add tools to your release Pipeline
7. * parody content
8. • jenkins.io Changelogs in Jenkins 8
9. • jenkins.io • CHANGELOG.md / Wiki Changelogs in Jenkins 9
10. • jenkins.io • CHANGELOG.md / Wiki • GitHub Releases • Changelogs elsewhere • No changelogs Changelogs in Jenkins 10
12. 12 * parody content
13. 13 * parody content
14. 14 * parody content
15. 15 * parody content
16. 16 * parody content
17. • jenkins.io • CHANGELOG.md / Wiki • GitHub Releases • Changelogs elsewhere • No changelogs Changelogs in Jenkins 17
19. • jenkins.io ⇔ GitHub Releases • Jenkins Wiki • CHANGELOG.md on GitHub ⇔ (often) GitHub Releases • GitHub Releases • Changelogs elsewhere • No changelogs In Jenkins… 19
20. github.com/release-drafter
21. 21 • Created by Tim Lucas, @toolmantim • Co-maintained by Joseph Petersen, @jetersen • GitHub Releases & Markdown • Based on the Probot & GitHub Actions • **Very** flexible, not just a semver • Pull requests, not [not so?] Conventional Commits GitHub: release-drafter/release-drafter
22. 22 • Powered by pull request titles and labels • If needed, Maintainers edit PR titles and labels before the merge (or release) • No reliance on commit history by default github.com/wiremock/wiremock/pulls?q =is%3Apr+is%3Aclosed
23. 23 • Release Drafter generates changelog drafts • Most likely you’ll have to copy-edit the drafts before the release
25. 25 • You publish the release • Manual or automatic, depends on your Pipeline • Assets & Co can be attached to the draft too wiremock/wiremock-testcontainers-go/rel eases/tag/v1.0.0-alpha-7
26. And it’s flexible! 26 github.com/testcontainers/ testcontainers-go/releases
27. github.com/release-drafter
28. Minimum Viable Configuration [1/2] github.com/marketplace /actions/release-drafter 28
29. .github/release-drafter.yml Minimum Viable Configuration [2/2] 29
30. Categories, powered by labels 30
31. github.com/release-drafter
32. • Uses Probot Config engine, powered by deepmerge • Global config repo: https://github.com/jenkinsci/.github • Minimal configuration in repositories Inheritance! 32
33. Replacers 33 Hyperlinks Acronyms
34. Editable Markdown layout 34 // Injecting YAML changelogs into Markdown
35. Variables for injection into the code/configurations Output variables for subsequent GitHub Actions Automatic resolution in the drafts Version resolvers 35
36. Well, good luck! :) Automatic labeling 36
37. Not only markdown? 37
38. Good for social media 38 * Better than GitHub Releases
39. 3.0.0-beta-13 Example: Opengraph for release
40. Jenkinsfile Runner 1.0-beta-30
41. 1.0-alpha-1 bit.ly/faascinator 🚀 New features and improvements • Initial implementation, powered by Quarkus and picocli • Support running the CLI commands via "/" endpoint • Support for printing help via the "/help" endpoint • Configure target JAR and main class via runtime properties • Docker images, based on AdoptOpenJDK 11 Hotspot 📝 Documentation updates • Initial docs: Overview, Quick Start, and Usage Guide • First "Current Time” demo for local and Docker runs • Create Contributor Guide 👻 Maintenance • Add continuous integration for the project • Enable continuous delivery of Docker images to ghrc.io • Release tagged versions of Docker images
42. github.com/release-drafter
43. 4 years with Release Drafter in Jenkins • Almost all development tools use Release Drafter • Global configuration by default in templates/archetypes • 500+ plugins use Release drafter • 6 contributors to Release Drafter from Jenkins 43
44. • jenkins.io ⇔ GitHub Releases • Jenkins Wiki • CHANGELOG.md on GitHub • GitHub Releases • Changelogs elsewhere • No changelogs In Jenkins… 44
45. github.com/release-drafter
46. Takeaways • Use changelog automation • Make them a part of your release Pipeline • Consider Release Drafter for a custom development Pipeline • There are other tools, esp. for integrated releases or Conventional commits: JReleaser, Git Cliff
47. Release Drafter Docs release-drafter/release-drafter GitHub Action https://github.com/marketplace/actions/release-drafter Useful links 47
48. Global configurations / projects • Jenkins: jenkinsci/.github/blob/master/.github/release-drafter.adoc https://github.com/jenkinsci/.github/blob/master/.github/release-drafter.yml • WireMock: https://github.com/wiremock/.github/blob/main/.github/release-drafter.yml Local configurations: • testcontainers/testcontainers-java • oleg-nenashev/testcontainers-c Examples 48
50. GitHub: oleg-nenashev Twitter: @oleg_nenashev QUESTIONS?