mirror of
https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog.git
synced 2025-08-15 23:08:14 +02:00
970338d437
I figured adding this section was notable enough to make a new CHANGELOG entry as well. The podcast is a bit long so I don't expect people new to this project to actually listen to it right away but it would be good to extract some of the good points made on the show into more fuel to the fire.
118 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
118 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
<html>
|
||
<head>
|
||
<title>Keep a Changelog</title>
|
||
<link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/stylesheets/normalize.css" media="screen" charset="utf-8">
|
||
<link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/stylesheets/style.css" media="screen" charset="utf-8">
|
||
<script type="text/javascript" src="//use.typekit.net/tng8liq.js"></script>
|
||
<script type="text/javascript">try{Typekit.load();}catch(e){}</script>
|
||
</head>
|
||
<body>
|
||
<article>
|
||
<h1>Keep a CHANGELOG</h1>
|
||
<h2>Don’t let your friends dump git logs into CHANGELOGs™</h2>
|
||
<h3>What's a CHANGELOG?</h3>
|
||
<p>A CHANGELOG is a file which contains a curated chronologically ordered
|
||
list of notable changes for each version of an open source project.</p>
|
||
<p><a href="CHANGELOG.md"><img src="assets/images/changelog_example.png" alt="Changelog Example"></a></p>
|
||
<h3>What's the point of a CHANGELOG?</h3>
|
||
<p>To make it easier for users and contributors to see precisely what
|
||
notable changes have been made between each release (or version) of the project.</p>
|
||
<h3>Why should I care?</h3>
|
||
<p>Well, because software tools are for people. If you don't care, why are
|
||
you contributing to open source? There must be a kernel (ha) of care
|
||
somewhere in that lovely little brain of yours.</p>
|
||
<p>I <a href="http://5by5.tv/changelog/127">talked with Adam Stacoviak and Jerod Santo on The Changelog</a>
|
||
(fitting, right?) podcast about why open source maintainers and
|
||
contributors should care, and the motivations behind this project. If
|
||
you can spare the time (1:06), it's a good listen.</p>
|
||
<h3>What makes up a good CHANGELOG?</h3>
|
||
<p>I'm glad you asked.</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>It's made for humans, not machines, so legibility is crucial.</li>
|
||
<li>One sub-section per versions.</li>
|
||
<li>Versions should come with a release date in a sensible format: YYYY-MM-DD.</li>
|
||
<li>Changes should be grouped to describe their impact on the project:
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><code>Added</code> for new features.</li>
|
||
<li><code>Deprecated</code> for once stable features removed in upcoming releases.</li>
|
||
<li><code>Removed</code> for deprecated features removed in this release.</li>
|
||
<li><code>Fixed</code> for any bug fixes.</li>
|
||
<li><code>Security</code> to invite users to upgrade in case of vulnerabilities.</li>
|
||
</ul></li>
|
||
<li>Each section should be easily linked to — hence Markdown over plain text.</li>
|
||
<li>Write release dates in an international, sensible, and
|
||
language-independent format: <code>2012-06-02</code> for <code>June 2nd, 2012</code>.</li>
|
||
<li>Order the releases reverse chronologically (latest at the top).</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>It's also good to mention whether the project
|
||
follows <a href="http://semver.org/">Semantic Versioning</a>.</p>
|
||
<h3>What makes unicorns cry?</h3>
|
||
<p>Alright, let's get into it:</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>Dumping a diff of commit logs. Just don't do that, you're helping nobody.</li>
|
||
<li>Not emphasizing deprecations: when people upgrade from one version to
|
||
another it should be painfully clear when something will break.</li>
|
||
<li>Dates in regionally-specific formats. Americans put the month first
|
||
("06-02-2012" for June 2nd, 2012, which makes <em>no</em> sense), while Brits
|
||
use a robotic-looking "June 2 2012", yet pronounce it "June 2nd, 2012".</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>There's more. Help me collect those unicorn tears by
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog/issues/new">opening an issue</a>
|
||
or a pull request.</p>
|
||
<h3>Is there a standard CHANGELOG format?</h3>
|
||
<p>Sadly, no, but this is something I want to change. This project
|
||
<a href="CHANGELOG.md">contains what I hope will become the standard CHANGELOG file</a>
|
||
for all open source projects, so take a look at it and please suggest improvements.</p>
|
||
<h3>What should the CHANGELOG file be named?</h3>
|
||
<p>Well, if you can't tell from the example above, <code>CHANGELOG.md</code> is the
|
||
best convention so far.</p>
|
||
<p>Some projects also use <code>HISTORY.txt</code>, <code>HISTORY.md</code>, <code>History.md</code>, <code>NEWS.txt</code>,
|
||
<code>NEWS.md</code>, <code>News.txt</code>, <code>RELEASES.txt</code>, <code>RELEASE.md</code>, <code>releases.md</code>, etc.
|
||
It's a mess, that only makes it harder for people to find it.</p>
|
||
<h3>Why can't people just use a git log diff?</h3>
|
||
<p>Because log diffs are full of noise. Can we really expect every single
|
||
commit in an open source project to be meaningful and self-explanatory?
|
||
That seems like a pipe dream.</p>
|
||
<h3>Can CHANGELOG files be automatically parsed?</h3>
|
||
<p>It's hard because people follow wildly different formats and file names.
|
||
<a href="https://github.com/tech-angels/vandamme/">Vandamme</a> is a Ruby gem
|
||
created by the <a href="http://gemnasium.com">Gemnasium</a> team and which parses
|
||
many (but not all) open source project CHANGELOGs.</p>
|
||
<h3>Why do you keep writing CHANGELOG in all caps?</h3>
|
||
<p>You're right, that is a bit shouty. Maybe it's because of the de facto
|
||
convention that files pertaining to an open source project should be in
|
||
all caps, for instance: <a href="README.md"><code>README</code></a>, <a href="LICENSE"><code>LICENSE</code></a>,
|
||
<a href="CONTRIBUTING.md"><code>CONTRIBUTING</code></a>.</p>
|
||
<p>It denotes that these files are metadata for the project, similarly to
|
||
<a href="http://shields.io/">open source project badges</a> they draw attention to
|
||
themselves as information people should be aware of if they mean to use
|
||
the project or contribute to it.</p>
|
||
<h3>How can I contribute?</h3>
|
||
<p>This document is not the <strong>truth</strong>, it's my carefully considered
|
||
opinion with the information and examples I was able to gather. Although
|
||
I provide an actual <a href="CHANGELOG.md">CHANGELOG</a> on <a href="https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog">the GitHub repo</a>,
|
||
I have purposefully not created a proper <em>release</em> or clear list of rules
|
||
to follow like <a href="http://semver.org/">SemVer.org</a> does for instance. This is
|
||
because I want our community to reach a consensus. I believe the discussion
|
||
is as important as the end result. So please <a href="https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog/issues"><strong>pitch in</strong></a>.</p>
|
||
<footer class="clearfix">
|
||
<p class="license">This project is <a href="http://choosealicense.com/licenses/mit/">MIT Licensed</a>.</p>
|
||
<p class="about"><a href="https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog/">Typed</a> with trepidation by <a href="http://olivierlacan.com">Olivier Lacan</a> from <a href="http://codeschool.com">Code School</a>.</p>
|
||
</footer>
|
||
</article>
|
||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||
var _gauges = _gauges || [];
|
||
(function() {
|
||
var t = document.createElement('script');
|
||
t.type = 'text/javascript';
|
||
t.async = true;
|
||
t.id = 'gauges-tracker';
|
||
t.setAttribute('data-site-id', '5389808eeddd5b055a00440d');
|
||
t.src = '//secure.gaug.es/track.js';
|
||
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
|
||
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);
|
||
})();
|
||
</script>
|
||
</body>
|
||
</html>
|