Automated generation of the "What's new in this version" reading

Posted by lunohodov on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by lunohodov
Published on 2010-03-12T12:44:06Z Indexed on 2010/03/12 12:47 UTC
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Filed under:

build-automation

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subjective

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file-generation

We all know it - this is the reading that lists the changes brought by each new version of our favorite software. Whenever it comes bundled as a file (Changes.txt, CHANGES, WhatsNew.txt, etc) or is presented within an installer this is usually the first thing we read before installing/updating.

On a current project we have a Changelog.txt file that gets updated by hand every time a notable change occurs. However this often leads to "I forgot to update the changelog". So I am looking for a way to automate this.

I am thinking of a script that extracts the changes from our commit messages (using a convention) and generates the file. For example a commit message like

Updated json-glib to 0.7.6

[changes]

- Fix crash on Windows

- Fix issues with facebook contacts with very large UIDs.

Would produce the following Changes.txt

Version 1.9.18 (03/10/2010)

Fix crash on Windows

Fix issues with facebook contacts with very large UIDs.

Does anyone know a better solution/tool for this or am I going to write my own?

Thanks!

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