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https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action

A GitHub Action to automatically update a "Keep a Changelog" CHANGELOG with the latest release notes.
https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action

actions automation changelog github github-actions keep-a-changelog

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A GitHub Action to automatically update a "Keep a Changelog" CHANGELOG with the latest release notes.

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README 

        
# changelog-updater Action



A GitHub Action to update a changelog with the latest release notes.



The Action …



- adds a new second level heading for the new release

- pastes your release notes in the appropriate place in `CHANGELOG.md`



*If your changelog follows the ["Keep a Changelog"](https://keepachangelog.com/) format and contains an "Unreleased"-heading, the Action will update the heading to point to the compare view between the latest version and `HEAD`. (Read more about this [here](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/php-changelog-updater#expected-changelog-formats))*



Don't want to use GitHub Actions? Checkout the [changelog-updater CLI](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/php-changelog-updater) that powers this Action.

Want to learn more about this Action? Read my [introduction blog post](https://stefanzweifel.dev/posts/2021/11/13/introducing-the-changelog-updater-action).



## Usage



The Action is best used in a Workflow that listens to the `release`-event and the type `released`. This way, the name and body of your release will be added to the CHANGELOG.



The following is an example Workflow ready to be used.



The Workflow checks out [the target branch of the release](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/releases#create-a-release--parameters), updates the `./CHANGELOG.md`-file with the name and the contents of the just released release and commits the changes back to your repository using [git-auto-commit](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action).



```yaml

# .github/workflows/update-changelog.yaml

name: "Update Changelog"



on:

  release:

    types: [released]



jobs:

  update:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest



    permissions:

      # Give the default GITHUB_TOKEN write permission to commit and push the 

      # updated CHANGELOG back to the repository.

      # https://github.blog/changelog/2023-02-02-github-actions-updating-the-default-github_token-permissions-to-read-only/

      contents: write



    steps:

      - name: Checkout code

        uses: actions/checkout@v4

        with:

          ref: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}



      - name: Update Changelog

        uses: stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action@v1

        with:

          latest-version: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}

          release-notes: ${{ github.event.release.body }}



      - name: Commit updated CHANGELOG

        uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v5

        with:

          branch: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}

          commit_message: Update CHANGELOG

          file_pattern: CHANGELOG.md

```



To generate the release notes automatically for you, I can recommend using the [release-drafter](https://github.com/release-drafter/release-drafter) Action. 



> **Note**   

> When you use the `publish`-input of _release-drafter_ to immediately create the release, the `release`-event is probably not triggered due to a limitation of GitHub Actions.   

> Please create a personl access token, add it as a secret to your repository and pass the token to the `release-drafter/release-drafter`-Action.

> See [this discussion](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action/discussions/30) for mor details.



### Advanced Usage



#### Use Tag Date as Release Date



The following workflow is a bit more advanced. It …



- extracts the exact release date from the git tag

- optionally, uses the target branch of the release in the "Unreleased" compare URL

- pushes the created commit to the target branch of the commit



> **Warning**  

> DO NOT enable the `compare-url-target-revision` option, if the target of your releases is the default branch (`ref/heads/main` or `main`).

> The action would otherwise receive `refs/heads/main` as the target revision value and will generate invalid compare URLs.



  

Show update-changelog.yaml

  

```yaml

# .github/workflows/update-changelog.yaml

name: "Update Changelog"



on:

  release:

    types: [released]



jobs:

  update:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest



    permissions:

      # Give the default GITHUB_TOKEN write permission to commit and push the 

      # updaetd CHANGELOG back to the repository.

      # https://github.blog/changelog/2023-02-02-github-actions-updating-the-default-github_token-permissions-to-read-only/

      contents: write



    steps:

      - name: Checkout code

        uses: actions/checkout@v4

        with:

          # Fetch entire history of repository to ensure relase date can be

          # extracted from commit of the given tag.

          fetch-depth: 0

          # Checkout target branch of this release. Ensures that the CHANGELOG

          # is not out of date.

          ref: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}



      - name: Extract release date from git tag

        id: release_date

        run: |

          echo "date=$(git log -1 --date=short --format=%ad '${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT;



      - name: Update Changelog

        uses: stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action@v1

        with:

          # Pass extracted release date, release notes and version to the Action.

          release-date: ${{ steps.release_date.outputs.date }}

          release-notes: ${{ github.event.release.body }}

          latest-version: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}



          # Optional

          # If your project keeps seperate branches for major releases, and you want to point the compare URL

          # in the "Unreleased"-heading to the corresponding major release branch (eg. `2.x`), then enable the option

          # below.

          # `compare-url-target-revision` will change how the compare URL is composed and will replace 

          # `v2.0.1...HEAD` with `v2.0.1...2.x`.

          # WARNING: When you select `main` when creating a new release, the value `refs/heads/main` 

          # is passed to the Action which will generate an invalid compare URL.

          # compare-url-target-revision: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}



      - name: Commit updated CHANGELOG

        uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v5

        with:

          # Push updated CHANGELOG to release target branch.

          branch: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}

          commit_message: Update CHANGELOG

          file_pattern: CHANGELOG.md

```

  



#### Trigger Action on `workflow_dispatch` event



[HannesWell](https://github.com/HannesWell) uses the Action in a worfklow triggered by the `workflow_dispatch`: [See workflow](https://github.com/axkr/symja_android_library/blob/b371b64b0893e20a738cf4db23e3a0fafa679b6b/.github/workflows/maven-perform-release.yml).



The workflow …



- is manually triggered

- builds a Java project

- uses the content between the Unreleased and Previous Release heading as relase notes and updates the CHANGELOG.md

- commits the changes and pushes them to GitHub

- creates a new GitHub release and points in the release notes to the right heading for the just released version



This workflow uses the output variables generated by this Action to accomplish this task.



## Inputs



Checkout [`action.yml`](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action/blob/main/action.yml) for a full list of supported inputs. 

Check the README of the [underlying CLI](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/php-changelog-updater#cli-options) to learn more about them.



## Expected Changelog Formats



At minimum, the Action requires an empty `CHANGELOG.md` file to exist in your repository.

When executed, the Action will place the release notes at the bottom of the document.

If your changelog already contains a **second level heading**, the Action will put the release notes above previous release notes in the document.



Your changelog will look something like this:



```md

# Changelog



## v1.1.0 - 2021-02-01



### Added



- New Feature A



## v1.0.0 - 2021-01-01



- Initial Release

```



If you want to learn more on how the Action determines the place for the release notes, read the the [notes in the README of the CLI](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/php-changelog-updater#expected-changelog-formats) that powers this Action.



## Outputs



The Action exposes some outputs you can further use in your workflow. The Action currently supports the following outputs:



### `release_compare_url`

The generated compare URL for the just created relase. For example `https://github.com/org/repo/compare/v1.0.0...v1.1.0`.

The value is only available, if the Action could generate a compare URL based on the available CHANGELOG data.



### `release_url_fragment`

The URL fragment for the just created release. For example '#v100---2021-02-01'. You can use this to generate URLs that point to the newly created release in your CHANGELOG.



### `unreleased_compare_url`

The generated compare URL between the latest version and the target revision. For example `https://github.com/org/repo/compare/v1.0.0...HEAD`.

The value is only available, if the Action could generate a compare URL based on the available CHANGELOG data.



See [`action.yml`](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action/blob/main/action.yml) for details.



See workflow below on how to use these output values in your workflow.



```yaml

- name: Update Changelog

  uses: stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action@v1

  id: "changelog-updater"

  with:

    # Pass extracted release date, release notes and version to the Action.

    release-date: ${{ steps.release_date.outputs.date }}

    release-notes: ${{ github.event.release.body }}

    latest-version: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}

    compare-url-target-revision: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}



- name: "release_compare_url"

  # https://github.com/org/repo/compare/v1.0.0...v1.1.0

  run: "echo ${{ steps.changelog-updater.outputs.release_compare_url }}"



- name: "release_url_fragment"

  # #v100---2021-02-01

  run: "echo ${{ steps.changelog-updater.outputs.release_url_fragment }}"



- name: "unreleased_compare_url"

  # https://github.com/org/repo/compare/v1.0.0...HEAD

  run: "echo ${{ steps.changelog-updater.outputs.unreleased_compare_url }}"

```



## Versioning



We use [SemVer](http://semver.org/) for versioning. For the versions available, see the [tags on this repository](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action/tags).



We also provide major version tags to make it easier to always use the latest release of a major version. For example you can use `stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action@v1` to always use the latest release of the current major version.

(More information about this [here](https://help.github.com/en/actions/building-actions/about-actions#versioning-your-action).)



## Credits



* [Stefan Zweifel](https://github.com/stefanzweifel)

* [All Contributors](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action/graphs/contributors)



## License



This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](https://github.com/stefanzweifel/changelog-updater-action/blob/main/LICENSE) file for details.