Can't quite get auto-changelog right in github release notes. githubRelease runs before git commit/tag

[laduke]

I think the issue is that github.releaseNotes runs before the new tag is created. I can't find an auto-changelog set up to make this work.

Say you have v0.6.6 and release-it is bumping to v0.6.7

In --ci, If you run like:

npx auto-changelog --stdout --starting-version=v0.6.6 --ending-version=0.6.7

or --ending-version=main

In your github.releaseNotes script, you will not get the 0.6.7 notes. You get v0.6.6 again. The v0.6.7 tag hasn't been created yet.

If you use the auto-changelog option: -p, --package [file] :

npx auto-changelog -p --stdout --starting-version=v0.6.6 

The stdout includes v0.6.6 and v0.6.7. There are two versions included in the release notes. The current and the previous.

npx auto-changelog -p --stdout --starting-version=v0.6.7

auto-changelog throw TypeError: Invalid version. Must be a string. Got type "undefined".

Would it break a bunch of existing users if githubRelease ran after the tag is created?

The only workaround I found so far is to run release-it twice. First with no githubRelase and second with --no-git.

I used literal values above. My releaseNotes script is some variation of:

npx auto-changelog -p --commit-limit=false --stdout --starting-version=${latestTag} --ending-version=${tagName}

---

npx release-it -VV --ci --dry-run

🚀 Let's release ballpit (0.6.6...0.6.7)
Changelog:
* adsf (228d793)
* one step (8e21f23)
* two steps (08a1f12)
* Release 0.6.8 (04c3dbc)
* docs: give up again (e093945)
* modified:   .release-it.json (5b0f56f)
* modified:   package.json (9ee7a4b)
* asdf (8e9006e)
* feat: bbb 5 (44a436d)
* feat: bbb 4 (5ed8835)
* feat: bbb 3 (ec87851)
* feat: bbb 2 (77555eb)
* feat: bbb 1 (1c74ce3)
! npm version 0.6.7 --no-git-tag-version
! npx auto-changelog -p --commit-limit=false
$ git status --short --untracked-files=no
Empty changeset
! git add . --update
! npx auto-changelog -p --commit-limit=false --stdout --starting-version=v0.6.6 --ending-version=v0.6.7
Empty release notes
! git commit --message Release 0.6.7
! git tag --annotate --message Release 0.6.7 v0.6.7
$ git symbolic-ref HEAD  [cached]
$ git for-each-ref --format="%(upstream:short)" refs/heads/main  [cached]
! git push --follow-tags
🔗 https://github.com/laduke/ballpit/releases/new?tag=v0.6.7&title=Release+0.6.7&body=npx+auto-changelog+-p+--commit-limit%3Dfalse+--stdout+--starting-version%3D%24%7BlatestTag%7D+--ending-version%3D%24%7BtagName%7D&prerelease=false
🏁 Done (in 0s.)

Actually I guess here it's completely empty because the commit to package.jason hasn't been done yet either.

oh here's the config too:

{
  "npm": {
    "publish": false
  },
  "github": {
    "release": true,
    "assets": ["build_artifact.txt"],
    "releaseNotes": "npx auto-changelog -p --commit-limit=false --stdout --starting-version=${latestTag}"
  },
  "hooks": {
    "after:bump": "npx auto-changelog -p --commit-limit=false"
  }
}

[laduke]

current workaround is something like

      - name: 'Bump Version'
        run: npx release-it --ci -VV --no-github.release $version

      - name: 'Create Release'
        run: npx release-it --ci -VV --no-increment --no-git

[webpro]

You could also look into using releaseNotes as a function:

https://github.com/release-it/release-it/blob/main/docs/github-releases.md#release-notes

[webpro]

Use the verbose or debug options to see the order of things and more details: https://github.com/release-it/release-it?tab=readme-ov-file#troubleshooting--debugging

[laduke]

Thanks for replying. I did use -VV to figure out what I think was happening.

I don't think auto-changelog is able to create the notes they right way until the tag/commit is there. I think I tried every combination.

I guess a function could possibly chop out the previous release notes if I run auto-changelog with the options that cause double release notes.

[webpro]

I've been using auto-changelog, but it's a while ago. Usually these tools work based on the commits since a certain tag. Also note that in dry mode the ! mean that the command didn't actually run (user commands could be writing something).

[laduke]

Also, this arguably is an auto-changelog issue/request.

I'm also not stuck on auto-changelog. I could just try conventional or keepachangelog

Or just put the git log into the githubRelease...

[webpro]

With any tool, also make sure to verify things by simply running the commands in sequence manually.

[webpro]

Closing this one, but feel free to continue discussion or open new ones.