Hanging forever while tagging the release if git is configured to sign tags

[sheerlox]

Description

The release process will hang forever while creating the git tag for the release if git is configured to sign tags.

I tried running the git tag v0.2.0 4d4917b17558245c1046f70f3e6bb73c9ee65a15 command myself and got this warning, so that confirms the git tag command is the issue:

File /home/sherlox/workspace/TALENT_IDEAL/semantic_release_hex_test/.git/TAG_EDITMSG is being edited by sherlox (with VIM 8.2, PID 305634); open anyway?

Cause

The documentation for git tag states:

If one of -a, -s, or -u is passed, the command creates a tag object, and requires a tag message. Unless -m or -F is given, an editor is started for the user to type in the tag message.

Because having tag.gpgsign set to true is equivalent to passing the -s/--sign option to the git command, the command yields a dialog in the background and hangs the process forever.

Possible solutions

See lib/git.js:226.

1. Force not signing the tags by adding the --no-sign option. Probably isn't a breaking change since signing tags is currently not working. There is already an open PR about this: #1589
2. Use annotated tags instead of lightweight tags by adding the -m {tagName} option. There are a few discussions about this already (see related issues below). There is also already an open PR about this: #1871

For now, I'll just set tag.gpgsign to false in the repository I need to release manually (which was just for preparing a demo repository for my semantic-release-hex plugin I'm planning to present on the Elixir forum soon).

The annotated tag feature seems to be of interest to a few users, and #1871 looks pretty good overall, so I think we should push it forward sometime in the future.

Related issues

Tags signing

• Signed tags #214
• fix: use '--no-sign' flag in git tag creation #1589
• feat: add optional annotated or signed tags #1871

Annotated tags

• Allow to create annotated git tag #1192
• feat: create annotated tags #1203 (reverted)
• Annotated tags break issues workflow on some CIs #1262
• feat: add optional annotated or signed tags #1871

[sheerlox]

My bad, this belongs to semantic-release, could someone who has the right to please transfer this issue there?

[sheerlox]

Adding "-m", tagName, to the git tag options in lib/git.js fixed the issue.

[travi]

The hanging seems to come from the git tag command.

could you describe this behavior in a bit more detail and maybe what caused you to notice it? i've never noticed this sort of problem and dont recall anyone else reporting previously. is this when running locally, or within your ci pipeline?

[sheerlox]

I finally identified the root of the issue after you pointed out in #3064 the difference between lightweight and annotated tags.

I have tag.gpgsign set in my .gitconfig, and the git tag documentation states:

If one of -a, -s, or -u is passed, the command creates a tag object, and requires a tag message. Unless -m or -F is given, an editor is started for the user to type in the tag message.

I've tried adding --no-sign to the command in semantic-release, and it solved the issue. I'm updating the original issue description to add more detailed information as well as some initial thoughts on various approaches to solving this.

[sheerlox]

Issue updated ✅

[kennedykori]

Experiencing the same issue,