Add --release-draft-only flag

[Drarig29]

Closes #478

This is my proposal for the issue above.

• It adds the argument --release-draft-only to the CLI
• It adds the function previousTagOrFirstCommit() to get the tag which is before the one which we would have usually used
• Error if no tag found, which means the package hasn't been published yet
• Unreleased commits are ignored

Example of use case:

• First commit
• Some changes
• 1.0.0 (tag = v1.0.0)
• More changes
• Bug fix
• 1.0.1 (tag = v1.0.1) (published on NPM, no release on GitHub)
• One last fix (unreleased)

I do np --release-draft-only.

Behind the scenes, the np command is called with version 1.0.1 "in mind".

The function previousTagOrFirstCommit() returns 1.0.0 so that we can get the commit log from this revision.

The commit which bumps the version to the latest (named "1.0.1") is removed from the history as well as the unreleased commit(s).

No other task is executed. The release draft helper runs right after the first prompt.

[fregante]

The --release-draft-only flag, while useful, would be the only flag that causes np to not actually publish anything. Should this be a command?

$ np release

Or its own secondary bin command (as part of the same package)

$ np-release

[dopecodez]

While @fregante does make some valid points, I think that adding a command such as np-release could cause confusion amongst majority of the users, who probably only want a short fix to create a release draft separately.
The way @Drarig29 has implemented this using --release-draft-only should be ok for now, as the option is self explanatory and we can document it to avoid confusion.

[sindresorhus]

The --release-draft-only flag, while useful, would be the only flag that causes np to not actually publish anything. Should this be a command?

So does the --preview flag. I think it's fine to have a flag in this specific case.

[sindresorhus]

I think this should run right after the first prompt before any of the task stuff. Right now it's just too many conditionals. Would be simpler to just call releaseTaskHelper(options, pkg) as soon as possible.

[Drarig29]

Wait, I just found out that the commit range has {lastVersion}...master instead of {lastVersion}...{currentVersion} in it. I need to change that. Actually, no, it's fine. It's just what is in the console output, but the release draft is right.

And I don't know why the checks fail after a timeout... I can't do them locally too.

[dopecodez]

And I don't know why the checks fail after a timeout... I can't do them locally too.

Don't worry about the failing tests for now, there's a pending PR to fix the integration test. Tests should start passing when its merged.

[sindresorhus]

I tried it on https://github.com/sindresorhus/sindre-playground, by adding a commit, but it seems to also include the previous version:

❯ np --release-draft-only

Create a release draft on GitHub for sindre-playground (current: 1.5.4)

Commits:
- dfds  b1b4e37
- 1.5.4  d695405
- sfsf  ee4da19

Commit Range:
v1.5.3...master

Registry:
https://registry.npmjs.org/



 sindre-playground 1.5.4 published 🎉

It should also not show the sindre-playground 1.5.4 published 🎉 message (including the above newlines).

[sindresorhus]

The commit range on the opened release draft is also incorrect.

[Drarig29]

I think you didn't use the option as I intended to.

The use-case scenario I had in mind was that the process of creating a new version had already been done.

This means that the last commit should always be a "tag commit" created by np.

I think you shouldn't be able to see the latest commits in the release draft in the case of this flag, because it does not belong to any release.

What do you think about that?

If you agree with me on the last point, would you prefer:

1. To have an error (or warning) saying that the current tree has unreleased commits
2. To show the release draft of the last release (ignoring the latest commits)?

[sindresorhus]

Makes sense. I was just not thinking about the original use-case for this.

---

1. to have an error (or warning) saying that the current tree has unreleased commits

Just a warning, but still let the user do it if they really want.

[Drarig29]

I tried it on https://github.com/sindresorhus/sindre-playground, by adding a commit, but it seems to also include the previous version:

❯ np --release-draft-only

Create a release draft on GitHub for sindre-playground (current: 1.5.4)

Commits:
- dfds  b1b4e37
- 1.5.4  d695405
- sfsf  ee4da19

Commit Range:
v1.5.3...master

Registry:
https://registry.npmjs.org/



 sindre-playground 1.5.4 published 🎉

It should also not show the sindre-playground 1.5.4 published 🎉 message (including the above newlines).

This should be the result now:

❯ np --release-draft-only

Create a release draft on GitHub for sindre-playground (current: 1.5.4)

Commits:
- sfsf  ee4da19

Commit Range:
v1.5.3...v1.5.4

Registry:
https://registry.npmjs.org/

? Unreleased commits found. They won't be included in the release draft, continue? Yes

With those changes, the printed commit log doesn't include unreleased commits, but the warning says "Unreleased commits found". Do you find it's weird? (in fact, they were found but got removed)

I like the fact that it's WYSIWYG, maybe the warning should be phrased differently... how would you say it?

[Drarig29]

I think this should run right after the first prompt before any of the task stuff. Right now it's just too many conditionals. Would be simpler to just call releaseTaskHelper(options, pkg) as soon as possible.

By the way, because of this request, the tags aren't pushed to GitHub anymore when we use the --release-draft-only flag (that was the case in my first commits).

So the user might have to do it manually so that the release draft can be bound to the corresponding tag.

[dopecodez]

By the way, because of this request, the tags aren't pushed to GitHub anymore when we use the --release-draft-only flag (that was the case in my first commits).

I don't think we should proceed with that, pushing the tag and publishing the release is what np does with release drafts in our normal flow. I think having the same behavior for -release-draft-only makes sense.

[Drarig29]

The thing is I don't know how I can use the task system again without adding too much conditionals and without copy-pasting the push tags task... if I do it, it might just revert 516c89e

Maybe it's simpler to let the user handle the push tags if it failed, because the two use-cases I think of are the following:

• The user doesn't have entered his credentials yet, so the push tags spinned infinitely (see [feat] create release draft option (e.g. np release-draft <version>) would trigger release page #478 (comment)). He needs to manually push the tags, enter the credentials and then do np --release-draft-only.
• The user cancelled the release draft or lost it and he wants to retrigger it. Everything is already published, including the tags.

[dopecodez]

That makes sense, sounds good to me.

[sindresorhus]

Also, the flag is named --release-draft-only. I wouldn't expect it to do anything other than presenting a release draft.

[sindresorhus]

I released v1.6.0 of https://github.com/sindresorhus/sindre-playground/releases, but I'm still getting the unreleased commit message:

~/dev/oss/sindre-playground master 7s
❯ np --release-draft-only

Create a release draft on GitHub for sindre-playground (current: 1.6.0)

Commits:
- dfds  b1b4e37

Commit Range:
v1.5.4...v1.6.0

Registry:
https://registry.npmjs.org/

? Unreleased commits found. They won't be included in the release draft, continue? (y/N)

[Drarig29]

I released v1.6.0 of https://github.com/sindresorhus/sindre-playground/releases, but I'm still getting the unreleased commit message:

~/dev/oss/sindre-playground master 7s
❯ np --release-draft-only

Create a release draft on GitHub for sindre-playground (current: 1.6.0)

Commits:
- dfds  b1b4e37

Commit Range:
v1.5.4...v1.6.0

Registry:
https://registry.npmjs.org/

? Unreleased commits found. They won't be included in the release draft, continue? (y/N)

Okay, now you should get this:

❯ np --release-draft-only

Create a release draft on GitHub for sindre-playground (current: 1.6.0)

Commits:
- dfds  b1b4e37

Commit Range:
v1.5.4...master

Registry:
https://registry.npmjs.org/

Note that the commit range will contain the latest tag (instead of master) only if there are unreleased commits.