Formatting commit messages

go-semrel-gitlab extracts information from commit messages to determine the next version bump and to produce release notes.

Message header

The first line of commit messages should be like

type(scope): subject

or

type: subject

• type is used to determine if the commit should cause a patch or minor bump
• scope and subject are included in the release note if the type indicates a version bump
• default types in go-semrel-gitlab are
  • minor bump: feat
  • patch bump: fix,refactor,perf,docs,style,test
• you can customize the types by assinging your own type lists to environment variables GSG_PATCH_COMMIT_TYPES and/or GSG_MINOR_COMMIT_TYPES

Breaking changes

When a commit contains a breaking change, the commit message should contain BREAKING CHANGE: to trigger a major version bump.

For example

refactor: unify flag naming
    
BREAKING CHANGE: Flags corresponding with CI_ env-vars are prefixed with 'ci-'.

- project-path -> ci-project-path
- project-url -> ci-project-url
- commit-sha -> ci-commit-sha
- commit-tag -> ci-commit-tag
- commit-ref-name -> ci-commit-ref-name

• BREAKING CHANGE: overrides the type information in the first line.
• The text after BREAKING CHANGE: is included in the release note.

Examples

Fixes

Commit message

refactor(actions): switch to using actions api

will appear in release note in Fixes section like this

• actions: switch to using actions api (65d00257)

Features

Commit message

feat(next-version): add flag to return curr-ver if no changes detected
    
Fixes #38

will appear in release note in Features section like this

• next-version: add flag to return curr-ver if no changes detected (80895de9)

Breaking changes

Commit message

refactor: unify flag naming
    
BREAKING CHANGE: Flags corresponding with CI_ env-vars are prefixed with 'ci-'.

- project-path -> ci-project-path
- project-url -> ci-project-url
- commit-sha -> ci-commit-sha
- commit-tag -> ci-commit-tag
- commit-ref-name -> ci-commit-ref-name

will appear in Breaking changes section like this

unify flag naming (69485bc0)

Flags corresponding with CI_ env-vars are prefixed with ‘ci-’.

• project-path -> ci-project-path
• project-url -> ci-project-url
• commit-sha -> ci-commit-sha
• commit-tag -> ci-commit-tag
• commit-ref-name -> ci-commit-ref-name