define auto release process including generated changelog

[plastikfan]

• [ ] : creake fakeio repo

(the fake version can be used to practice the auto release process without polluting this repo with mistake commits. Make sure to create the copy that includes the commit history (ie fork), so there is some commit data to work with)

Take a look at:

• changelog-generator
• gh action release-changelog-builder
• action-gh-release
• go-releaser
• release drafter
• signing artefacts with cosign

[plastikfan]

First, install go releaser with go install:

go install github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser@latest

Init the project:

goreleaser init

NB: you don't really need to have a local install of goreleaser, we just need it whilst we're are setting up the process. The resultant config file (gorelease.yaml) is used by CI.

Run the release command (local-only release):

goreleaser release --snapshot --clean

The output of the first run:

  • starting release...
  • loading config file                              file=.goreleaser.yaml
  • loading environment variables
  • getting and validating git state
    • couldn't find any tags before "v0.1.0"
    • building...                                    commit=de091d5287bc0637ff20ecd6afa3d00182ea1543 latest tag=v0.1.0
    • pipe skipped                                   reason=disabled during snapshot mode
  • parsing tag
  • setting defaults
  • running before hooks
    • running                                        hook=go mod tidy
    • running                                        hook=go generate ./...
  • snapshotting
    • building snapshot...                           version=0.1.1-next
  • checking distribution directory
  • loading go mod information
  • build prerequisites
  • writing effective config file
    • writing                                        config=dist/config.yaml
  • building binaries
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_darwin_arm64/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_windows_386/extendio.exe
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_windows_arm64/extendio.exe
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_linux_386/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_linux_arm64/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_windows_amd64_v1/extendio.exe
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_darwin_amd64_v1/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_linux_amd64_v1/extendio
  ⨯ release failed after 0s                  error=build for extendio does not contain a main function

As can be seen, there are issues because of a lack of tags. At the time of running this first attempt, there is only a single tag 0.1.0.

Then also note, goreleaser also complains about there not being a main function.

[plastikfan]

It looks like goreleaser is meant only for executables, not libraries, so we can't implement this. However, we can use Release Drafter

[plastikfan]

Also see how to customise builds

Just found a flag to disable the main check (no_main_check: true):

builds:
  - env:
      - CGO_ENABLED=0
    goos:
      - linux
      - windows
      - darwin
    # this is a go library
    no_main_check: true

with this in place, the output is now:

plastikfan@Janus  ~/dev/github/go/snivilised/extendio λ   chore/go-releaser ±  goreleaser release --snapshot --clean
  • starting release...
  • loading config file                              file=.goreleaser.yaml
  • loading environment variables
  • getting and validating git state
    • couldn't find any tags before "v0.1.0"
    • building...                                    commit=de091d5287bc0637ff20ecd6afa3d00182ea1543 latest tag=v0.1.0
    • pipe skipped                                   reason=disabled during snapshot mode
  • parsing tag
  • setting defaults
  • running before hooks
    • running                                        hook=go mod tidy
    • running                                        hook=go generate ./...
  • snapshotting
    • building snapshot...                           version=0.1.1-next
  • checking distribution directory
    • cleaning dist
  • loading go mod information
  • build prerequisites
  • writing effective config file
    • writing                                        config=dist/config.yaml
  • building binaries
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_darwin_arm64/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_linux_386/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_windows_arm64/extendio.exe
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_windows_386/extendio.exe
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_linux_arm64/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_darwin_amd64_v1/extendio
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_windows_amd64_v1/extendio.exe
    • building                                       binary=dist/extendio_linux_amd64_v1/extendio
  ⨯ release failed after 0s                  error=failed to build for linux_arm64: exit status 1: no Go files in /home/plastikfan/dev/github/go/snivilised/extendio

So we now have error:

error=failed to build for linux_arm64: exit status 1: no Go files in /home/plastikfan/dev/github/go/snivilised/extendio

[plastikfan]

Need to set the input directory (ie, the entry point), turn off the main check and set skip. Note that setting skip as documented:

- skip: true

doesn't work and causes the check to fail (gorelease check):

plastikfan@Janus  ~/dev/github/go/snivilised/extendio λ   chore/go-releaser ±  goreleaser check
  • loading config file                              file=.goreleaser.yaml
  • checking config...
  ⨯ config is invalid                        error=found 2 builds with the ID 'extendio', please fix your config
  ⨯ command failed                                   error=invalid config: found 2 builds with the ID 'extendio', please fix your config

However, this can be fixed by omitting the '-'.

So now re-try the release:

 ✘ plastikfan@Janus  ~/dev/github/go/snivilised/extendio λ   chore/go-releaser ±  goreleaser check
  • loading config file                              file=.goreleaser.yaml
  • checking config...
  • config is valid
 plastikfan@Janus  ~/dev/github/go/snivilised/extendio λ   chore/go-releaser ±  goreleaser release --snapshot --clean
  • starting release...
  • loading config file                              file=.goreleaser.yaml
  • loading environment variables
  • getting and validating git state
    • couldn't find any tags before "v0.1.0"
    • building...                                    commit=de091d5287bc0637ff20ecd6afa3d00182ea1543 latest tag=v0.1.0
    • pipe skipped                                   reason=disabled during snapshot mode
  • parsing tag
  • setting defaults
  • running before hooks
    • running                                        hook=go mod tidy
    • running                                        hook=go generate ./...
  • snapshotting
    • building snapshot...                           version=0.1.1-next
  • checking distribution directory
    • cleaning dist
  • loading go mod information
  • build prerequisites
  • writing effective config file
    • writing                                        config=dist/config.yaml
  • building binaries
    • skip is set                                    id=extendio
  • archives
  • calculating checksums
  • storing release metadata
    • writing                                        file=dist/artifacts.json
    • writing                                        file=dist/metadata.json

... and we now have some artifacts in the ./dist folder:

• artifacts.json
• config.yaml
• metadata.json

[plastikfan]

So the essential point of note is that for library projects, goreleaser does NOT do a build, it just handles generation of the changelog.

[plastikfan]

Since we don't have any prior releases, we can't generate a meaningful changelog, because there hasn't been any changes. A basic config has been defined to generate a changelog, but can't be tested yet. Verification of this will have to be done in a subsequent issue, once an initial release has been performed.

[plastikfan]

To aid the process of working with those pesky 'yaml' files, I have installed yamllint

See also: yaml tips

[plastikfan]

Whilst we're dealing with yaml, apply yamllint updates to the Taskfile.yml file.