admin: Document my git-cliff workflow for release notes

For the last year or so, I have been using git-cliff to generate the
first draft of release notes. It gets me 90% of the way there for the
monthly patch releases, perhaps more like 30% (but a very good
starting point) for the big annual major releases.

In this PR, I document my process and check in the toml file that
provides the git cliff configuration that gets mostly what we need.

Signed-off-by: Larry Gritz <[email protected]>

.github/workflows/analysis.yml

@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ on:
       - master
       - '*analysis*'
       - '*sonar*'
+    paths-ignore:
+      - '**.md'
+      - '**.rst'
+      - 'docs/**'
   # Allow manual kicking off of the workflow from github.com
   workflow_dispatch:
   # Uncomment the following line if we want to run analysis on all PRs:

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -12,10 +12,12 @@ on:
       - '**.rst'
       - '**.analysis.yml'
       - '**.properties'
+      - 'docs/**'
   pull_request:
     paths-ignore:
       - '**.md'
       - '**.rst'
+      - 'docs/**'
   schedule:
     # Full nightly build
     - cron: "0 8 * * *"

.github/workflows/scorecard.yml

@@ -11,10 +11,18 @@ on:
     # Run on pushes to master, but only the main repo, not forks
     branches: [ "master" ]
     if: github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
+    paths-ignore:
+      - '**.md'
+      - '**.rst'
+      - 'docs/**'
   pull_request:
     # Only run on individual PRs if the workflow file itself is changed.
     paths:
       - .github/workflows/scorecard.yml
+    paths-ignore:
+      - '**.md'
+      - '**.rst'
+      - 'docs/**'
 
 # Declare default permissions as read only.
 permissions: read-all

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -134,6 +134,84 @@ leverage this [command line tool](https://github.com/coderanger/dco) for
 automatically adding the signoff message on commits.
 
 
+Commit messages
+---------------
+
+### Summary heuristic
+
+Look at the commit history of the project to get a sense of the style and
+level of detail that is expected in commit messages.
+
+### General guidelines and expectations
+
+The first line of the commit message should be a short (less than 80
+characters) summary of the change, prefixed with the general nature of the
+change (see below).
+
+The rest of the commit message should be a more detailed explanation of the
+changes. Some commits are self-explanatory and don't need more than the
+summary line. Others may need a more detailed explanation. Hallmarks of
+a good commit message include:
+
+* An explanation of why the change is necessary and what you hope to
+  accomplish with it.
+* A description of any major user- or developer-facing changes that people
+  should be aware of: changes in APIs or behaviors, new features, etc.
+* An explanation of any tricky implementation details or design decisions that
+  might not be immediately obvious to someone reading the code.
+* Guideposts for somebody reviewing the code to understand the rationale and
+  have any supporting background information to fully understanding the code
+  changes.
+
+Remember that at some point in the future, a developer unfamiliar with your
+change (maybe you, long after you've forgotten the details) might need to
+understand or fix your patch. Keep that person in mind as your audience and
+strive to write a commit message that explains the context in a way that saves
+them time and effort. Be the hero in the story of their future debugging
+effort!
+
+### Using "conventional commits" prefixes
+
+We strive to follow the recommendations known as [conventional
+commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/), which means that we would like
+merged commit messages to have their first line start with one of the
+following prefixes:
+
+- `feat:`  new features
+- `fix:`  bug fixes
+- `perf:`  performance improvements
+- `api:` changes to the public APIs
+- `int:`  changes to code internals that don't affect the public API
+- `build:`  changes to the build system
+- `test:`  changes to the test suite or unit tests
+- `ci:`  changes to the CI system
+- `docs:`  changes to the documentation
+- `refactor:`  code refactoring
+- `style:`  formatting or other stylistic non-functional changes to the code
+- `admin:`  project administration or policy changes
+- `revert:`  reverting a previous commit
+
+Obviously, some (if not most) PRs may qualify for more than one of these
+categories (for example, a new feature may also introduce a new API call, add
+tests, and include new documentation). If that is the case, use your best
+judgment to pick the category that most captures the essence or most important
+aspect of the change. When ambiguous, consider the list above to be a priority
+ranking (e.g., a change that fixes a bug and adds a new test should be listed
+under `fix:`, because that appears first in the list).
+
+It is also encouraged, when it makes sense to do so, to put a subcategory in
+parenthesis after the prefix, like `fix(exr):` or `feat(IBA):`. It's ok to use
+obvious abbreviations for major classes or subsections: IB=ImageBuf,
+IBA=ImageBufAlgo, IC=ImageCace, TS=TextureSystem, etc. If there is no clear
+single format or class that is the man focus of the patch, then you can omit
+the subcategory.
+
+API or ABI-breaking changes should additionally be marked with an exclamation
+point at the end of the prefix, like `feat!:` or `fix!:` to make it easily
+identifiable as a breaking change from the first line of the commit message.
+
+
+
 Pull Requests and Code Review
 -----------------------------
 

RELEASING.md

@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ The following are the steps for making the release:
 
 2. Edit CHANGES.md to reflect the correct date of the release and ensure it
    includes any last-minute changes that were made during beta or release
-   candidate stages.
+   candidate stages. Please see the section "Generating release notes" below.
 
 3. Push it to **your** GitHub, make sure it passes CI.
 
@@ -353,3 +353,86 @@ Odds and ends to do after the tag is pushed and the announcements are sent:
   (blank) heading for the next patch or release.
 
 
+## Generating release notes
+
+We strongly encourage the use of "conventional commit" prefixes in commit
+messages. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#commit-messages) for details.
+
+Many PRs are submitted (even by the author of this section you are now
+reading!) without the conventional commit prefix. The person who approves and
+merges the commit should take responsibility during the merge process to edit
+the commit message to add the appropriate prefix (and for that matter, to edit
+any part of the commit message for clarity). But at the end of the day, if we
+end up with some commits lacking a conventional commit prefix, it's no big
+deal -- we can fix it all up by hand when we make the release notes. But
+having CC prefixes in as many commit messages possible helps make the release
+notes process be simpler and more automated.
+
+We have been using the [git-cliff](https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff) tool
+as the starting point for relese notes. The command we use is:
+
+    git cliff -c src/doc/cliff.toml -d v1.2.3.4..HEAD > cliff.out.md
+
+where v1.2.3.4 in this example is the tag of the last release. You could also
+use commit hashes to denote the range of changes you want to document.
+
+**For monthly patch releases**
+
+We have found that the git-cliff output is most of what we need for the patch
+releases, and can be copied into the CHANGES.md file with only some minor
+editing needed. The template for the patch release notes can be found in
+[Changes-skeleton-patch.md](docs/dev/Changes-skeleton-patch.md).
+
+* Get rid of the headings that git-cliff generates. We don't use the headings
+  for the patch releases.
+* Add prefixes to any commits that don't have them (they will be marked as
+  "uncategorized" by git-cliff), and feel free to change any of the existing
+  prefixes that you think are wrong or could be improved for clarity.
+* Rearrange the order of the entries to be logical and readable. I prefer the
+  order: feature enhancements, bug fixes, build system fixes that might impact
+  users, internal changes, test improvements, documentation and administrative
+  changes.
+* For patch releases, feel free to omit any entries that you think are not
+  user-facing and are too minor to be worth mentioning in the release notes.
+
+Strive to keep the release notes just long enough for users to know if the
+patch contains any fixes relevant to them, but short enough to be read at a
+glance and without extraneous detail.
+
+Here is an example of well-constructed monthly patch release notes:
+https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/OpenImageIO/releases/tag/v2.5.12.0
+
+**For annual major/minor releases**
+
+For major releases, the git-cliff output is just a starting point and need
+significant editing to get the detail and quality level we expect for our
+major releases. A simple bullet list of commits is not sufficient -- we aim
+for a prose-based description of important changes that "tell the story" of
+the year's work and will be thoroughly understood by our stakeholders who need
+to understand what has changed.
+
+* Copy all the headings from [Changes-skeleton-major.md](docs/dev/Changes-skeleton-major.md)
+  or the previous year's release notes to get the skeleton of the major and
+  minor headers that you fit everything into. Note that it mostly corresponds
+  to sections of the git-cliff output, but with a more carefully constructed
+  hierarchy of categories.
+* Add prefixes to any commits that don't have them (they will be marked as
+  "uncategorized" by git-cliff), and feel free to change any of the existing
+  prefixes that you think are wrong or could be improved for clarity.
+* Rearrange the git-cliff output into the hierarchy of our preferred major
+  release notes organization. Within each section and subsection, group
+  similar changes together. The chronological order of the commits isn't as
+  important as clearly explaining what changed over the course of the year.
+* The git-cliff output is a good starting point for populating the notes with
+  every PR, plus automatically adding a reference and link to the PR and the
+  name of the author of the patch.
+* Look with a skeptical eye at the one-line bullet points from git-cliff (i.e,
+  from the first line of each PR's commit message). Often, they are too terse
+  or tend to [bury the lede](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/bury-the-lede/).
+  Expand into as much explanation is necessary for users who need to know
+  about the change or feature to know whether it is relevant and have some
+  idea what to do or that they should look at the relevant PRs for more
+  detail.
+
+Here is an example of well-constructed annual major release notes:
+https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/OpenImageIO/releases/tag/v2.5.4.0

docs/dev/Changes-skeleton-major.md

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+Release 3.0 (Fall 2024) -- compared to 2.5
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+### New minimum dependencies and compatibility changes:
+* *Blah*: Raise minimum to 1.2...
+
+### ⛰️  Major new features and public API changes:
+* *New feature*: item
+* *New image file format support:*
+    - Format1 explanation
+    - Format2 explanation
+* *oiiotool*:
+    - item
+* *ImageBuf/ImageBufAlgo*:
+    - item
+* *Other categories or subsystems as needed*:
+
+### 🚀  Performance improvements:
+  - *subsystem*: item
+
+### 🐛  Fixes and feature enhancements:
+* *subsystem*: item
+* *oiiotool*: item
+* *ImageBuf/ImageBufAlgo*:
+    - item
+* *ImageCache/TextureSystem*:
+    - item
+* *format*:
+    - item
+
+### 🔧  Internals and developer goodies
+  - *int*: item
+  - *header.h*: developer item
+
+### 🏗  Build/test/CI and platform ports:
+* CMake build system and scripts:
+  - item
+* Testing and Continuous integration (CI) systems:
+  - *test*: item
+  - *ci*: item
+* Platform support:
+  - *win*: item
+
+### 📚  Notable documentation changes:
+  - *docs*: item
+
+### 🏢  Project Administration
+  - *admin*: item

docs/dev/Changes-skeleton-patch.md

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Release 1.2.3.4 (Month DD, YYYY) -- compared to 1.2.3.3
+-------------------------------------------------------
+- *category*: Description [#1234](https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/OpenImageIO/pull/1234) (by someuser)
+