[changelog] Create and update CHANGELOG.md as separate file

[aalmiray]

Some projects prefer keeping a separate CHANGELOG.md file with all entries per release, instead of listing them in each release page.

[gotson]

@aalmiray i was wondering if there's any chance this would get done sooner rather than later ? I'm really interested in this, and that would help me migrate from semantic-release. I have an existing changelog that was generated by each release done with semantic-release, and i would like to keep that when migrating over to JReleaser.

Some examples:

• https://github.com/junrar/junrar/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md
• https://github.com/gotson/komga/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

I would be happy to just have the new changes generated by JReleaser to be prepended to the existing files, i don't need JReleaser to recreate the whole changelog since the beginning of times.

[aalmiray]

I think the last hurdle is identifying a comment section that may be used to anchor the next entry.

[gotson]

In the examples above, the changelog for the newest version is always added at the top, so there wouldn't be any need for that, right ?

[aalmiray]

Yes, but not all aggregated changelogs are equal. See https://github.com/helidon-io/helidon/blob/helidon-3.x/CHANGELOG.md

[gotson]

you're right, i agree. Do you actually need the anchor to ship the feature, or could it be done in 2 steps, first with append/prepend only, and later on have the anchoring feature?

[aalmiray]

If there's no anchor then it will prepend. How about that?

[gotson]

If there's no anchor then it will prepend. How about that?

seems like a good default. I'm not sure about append, i don't think that's a thing.

[aalmiray]

Released in v1.4.0 -> https://github.com/jreleaser/jreleaser/releases/tag/v1.4.0

[jacobk]

Hey! Sorry for reviving this old thread.

How is the appended changelog best incorporated into the release-process. I guess jreleaser won't add+commit+push the appended changelog as part of doing a full-release? But if not, how can one ensure that the updated changelog is part of the tagged commit?

[aalmiray]

You could configure a script hook (https://jreleaser.org/guide/latest/reference/hooks/script.html) to run on success, filtering by changelog. I'd recommend adding a condition (such as checking if running on CI or if the tool was not invoked in dryrun mode) as the hook would be invoked every time the changelog step successfully completes.

[jacobk]

You could configure a script hook (https://jreleaser.org/guide/latest/reference/hooks/script.html) to run on success, filtering by changelog. I'd recommend adding a condition (such as checking if running on CI or if the tool was not invoked in dryrun mode) as the hook would be invoked every time the changelog step successfully completes.

I see. Thanks!