@backbrace/git-changelog

Generates a git changelog, inspired & based on Angular JS changelog generator (based on git-changelog)

Install

Using npm:

npm install --save-dev @backbrace/git-changelog

Usage

Works as a CLI option or grunt plugin

Example output

• .changelogrc specification
  • Options | Defaults
• The "git_changelog" task
  • Grunt Task
    • Getting Started
  • Command Line
• Git Commit Guidelines - Source : "Angular JS"
  • Commit Message Format
  • Example types
  • Scope
  • Subject
  • Body
  • Footer
• Tagging your project
• Contributors

.changelogrc specification

The .changelogrc file contains the "standard commit guideliness" that you and your team are following.

This specification is used to grep the commits on your log, it contains a valid JSON that will tell git-changelog which sections to include on the changelog.

{
    "app_name": "Git Changelog",
    "logo": "https://github.com/backbrace/git-changelog/raw/master/images/git-changelog-logo.png",
    "intro": "Git changelog is a utility tool for generating changelogs. It is free and opensource. :)",
    "branch" : "",
    "repo_url": "",
    "version_name" : "v1.0.0",
    "file": "CHANGELOG.md",
    "template": "myCustomTemplate.md",
    "sections": [
        {
            "title": "Bug Fixes",
            "grep": "^fix"
        },
        {
            "title": "Features",
            "grep": "^feat"
        },
        {
            "title": "Documentation",
            "grep": "^docs"
        },
        {
            "title": "Breaking changes",
            "grep": "BREAKING"
        },
        {
            "title": "Refactor",
            "grep": "^refactor"
        },
        {
            "title": "Style",
            "grep": "^style"
        },
        {
            "title": "Test",
            "grep": "^test"
        },
        {
            "title": "Chore",
            "grep": "^chore"
        },
        {
            "title": "Branchs merged",
            "grep": "^Merge branch"
        },
        {
            "title" : "Pull requests merged",
            "grep": "^Merge pull request"
        }
    ]
}

Options | Defaults

• branch : The name of the branch. Defaults to
• repo_url : The url of the project. For issues and commits links. Defaults to git config --get remote.origin.url
• provider : Optional field, the provider is calculated from the repo_url, but can also be passed as config parameter. Values available: gitlab, github, bitbucket.
• version_name: The version name of the project.
• file: The name of the file that will be generated. Defaults to CHANGELOG.md,
• template: The template for generating the changelog. It defaults to the one inside this project (/templates/template.md)
• app_name : The name of the project. Defaults to My App - Changelog
• intro : The introduction text on the header of the changelog. Defaults to null
• logo : A logo URL to be included in the header of the changelog. Defaults to null
• changelogrc : Relative path indicating the location of the .changelogrc file, defaults to current dir.
• tag: You can select from which tag to generate the log, it defaults to the last one. Set it to false for log since the beginning of the project
• debug: Debug mode, false by default
• sections: Group the commit by sections. The sections included by default are the ones that are on the previous example of .changelogrc file.

The "git_changelog" task

Grunt Task

Getting Started

This plugin requires Grunt 1.0.0

If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:

npm install git-changelog --save-dev

Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('git-changelog');

In your project's Gruntfile, add a section named git_changelog to the data object passed into grunt.initConfig().

grunt.initConfig({
  git_changelog: {
    minimal: {
      options: {
        file: 'MyChangelog.md',
        app_name : 'Git changelog',
        changelogrc : '/files/.changelogrc',
        logo : 'https://github.com/backbrace/git-changelog/raw/master/images/git-changelog-logo.png',
        intro : 'Git changelog is a utility tool for generating changelogs. It is free and opensource. :)'
      }
    },
    extended: {
      options: {
        app_name : 'Git changelog extended',
        file : 'EXTENDEDCHANGELOG.md',
        version_name : 'squeezy potatoe',
        sections : [
          {
            "title": "Test commits",
            "grep": "^test"
          },
          {
            "title": "New Awesome Features!",
            "grep": "^feat"
          }
        ],
        debug: true,
        tag : false //False for commits since the beggining
      }
    },
    fromCertainTag: {
      options: {
        repo_url: 'https://github.com/backbrace/git-changelog',
        app_name : 'My project name',
        file : 'tags/certainTag.md',
        tag : 'v0.0.1'
      }
    },
    customTemplate: {
      options: {
        app_name : 'Custom Template',
        intro: 'This changelog is generated with a custom template',
        file: 'output/customTemplate.md',
        template: 'templates/template_two.md',
        logo : 'https://github.com/backbrace/git-changelog/raw/master/images/git-changelog-logo.png',
        version_name : 'squeezy potatoe',
        tag: 'v0.0.1',
        debug: true
      }
    }
  }
})

Command Line

Install it globally

npm install -g git-changelog

See commands

git-changelog -h

Use it directly with the common options

 Usage: git-changelog [options]

  Options:

    -h, --help                         output usage information
    -V, --version                      output the version number
    -e, --extended                     Extended log
    -n, --version_name [version_name]  Name of the version
    -a, --app_name [app_name]          Name [app_name]
    -b, --branch [branch]              Branch name [branch]
    -f, --file [file]                  File [file]
    -tpl, --template [template]        Template [template]
    -r, --repo_url [repo_url]          Repo url [repo_url]
    -l, --logo [logo]                  Logo path [logo]
    -i, --intro [intro]                intro text [intro]
    -t, --tag [tag]                    Since tag [tag]
    -rc, --changelogrc [changelogrc]   .changelogrc relative path [changelogrc]
    -g, --grep [grep]                  Grep commits for [grep]
    -d, --debug                        Debugger
    -p, --provider [provider]          Provider: gitlab, github, bitbucket (Optional)

For example:

git-changelog -t false -a "My nice application"

Git Commit Guidelines - Source : "Angular JS"

We have very precise rules over how our git commit messages can be formatted. This leads to more readable messages that are easy to follow when looking through the project history. But also, we use the git commit messages to generate the AngularJS change log.

Commit Message Format

Each commit message consists of a header, a body and a footer. The header has a special format that includes a type, a scope and a subject:

<type>(<scope>): <subject>
<BLANK LINE>
<body>
<BLANK LINE>
<footer>

Any line of the commit message cannot be longer 100 characters! This allows the message to be easier to read on github as well as in various git tools.

Example commit messages

git commit -m "docs(readme): Add documentation for explaining the commit message"
git commit -m "refactor: Change other things"

Closing issues :

git commit -m "fix(git_changelog_generate): pass tag if it exists to gitReadLog
Previously if a tag was found the script would try to find commits
between undefined..HEAD. By passing the tag, it now finds tags between
tag..HEAD.

Closes #5."

Example types

You may define your own types refering to the .changelogrc specification

Must be one of the following:

• feat: A new feature
• fix: A bug fix
• docs: Documentation only changes
• style: Changes that do not affect the meaning of the code (white-space, formatting, missing semi-colons, etc)
• refactor: A code change that neither fixes a bug or adds a feature
• test: Adding missing tests
• chore: Changes to the build process or auxiliary tools and libraries such as documentation generation

Scope

The scope could be anything specifying place of the commit change. For example $location, $browser, $compile, $rootScope, ngHref, ngClick, ngView, etc...

Subject

The subject contains succinct description of the change:

• use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes"
• don't capitalize first letter
• no dot (.) at the end

Body

Just as in the subject, use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes" The body should include the motivation for the change and contrast this with previous behavior.

Footer

The footer should contain any information about Breaking Changes and is also the place to reference GitHub issues that this commit Closes.

A detailed explanation can be found in this [document][commit-message-format]. [commit-message-format]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QrDFcIiPjSLDn3EL15IJygNPiHORgU1_OOAqWjiDU5Y/edit#

Tagging your project

In order to have you project versions correctly displayed on your changelog, try to use this commit message format:

chore(release): v1.4.0 codename(jaracimrman-existence)

In order to do that, you can use git annotated tags:

git tag -a v1.4.0 -m 'chore(release): v1.4.0 codename(jaracimrman-existence)'

If you are publishing NPM modules you can let NPM [do that for you][npm-versioning]:

npm version patch -m "chore(release): %s codename(furious-stallman)"

Contributors

Add your name here by contributing to this project

• [rafinskipg][Rafinskipg]
• [JohnnyEstilles][JohnnyEstilles]
• [colegleason][colegleason]
• [jodybrewster][jodybrewster]