How to Keep a Changelog in Markdown
===================================
`Keep a Changelog `_ is a standardized way to format a news file in `Markdown `_.
This guide shows you how to configure ``towncrier`` for keeping a Markdown-based news file of a project without using any Python-specific features.
Everything used here can be used with any other language or platform.
This guide makes the following assumptions:
- The project lives at https://github.com/twisted/my-project/.
- The news file name is ``CHANGELOG.md``.
- You store the news fragments in the ``changelog.d`` directory at the root of the project.
Put the following into your ``pyproject.toml`` or ``towncrier.toml``:
.. code-block:: toml
[tool.towncrier]
directory = "changelog.d"
filename = "CHANGELOG.md"
start_string = "\n"
underlines = ["", "", ""]
title_format = "## [{version}](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/tree/{version}) - {project_date}"
issue_format = "[#{issue}](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/{issue})"
[[tool.towncrier.type]]
directory = "security"
name = "Security"
showcontent = true
[[tool.towncrier.type]]
directory = "removed"
name = "Removed"
showcontent = true
[[tool.towncrier.type]]
directory = "deprecated"
name = "Deprecated"
showcontent = true
[[tool.towncrier.type]]
directory = "added"
name = "Added"
showcontent = true
[[tool.towncrier.type]]
directory = "changed"
name = "Changed"
showcontent = true
[[tool.towncrier.type]]
directory = "fixed"
name = "Fixed"
showcontent = true
Next create the news fragment directory:
.. code-block:: console
$ mkdir changelog.d
Next, create the news file with an explanatory header::
$ cat >CHANGELOG.md <.
EOF
.. note::
The two empty lines at the end are on purpose.
That's it!
You can start adding news fragments:
.. code-block:: console
towncrier create -c "Added a cool feature!" 1.added.md
towncrier create -c "Changed a behavior!" 2.changed.md
towncrier create -c "Deprecated a module!" 3.deprecated.md
towncrier create -c "Removed a square feature!" 4.removed.md
towncrier create -c "Fixed a bug!" 5.fixed.md
towncrier create -c "Fixed a security issue!" 6.security.md
towncrier create -c "Fixed a security issue!" 7.security.md
towncrier create -c "A fix without an issue number!" +something-unique.fixed.md
After running ``towncrier build --yes --version 1.0.0`` (you can ignore the Git error messages) your ``CHANGELOG.md`` looks like this:
.. code-block:: markdown
# Changelog
All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/), and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
This project uses [*towncrier*](https://towncrier.readthedocs.io/) and the changes for the upcoming release can be found in .
## [1.0.0](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/tree/1.0.0) - 2022-09-28
### Security
- Fixed a security issue! ([#6](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/6), [#7](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/7))
### Removed
- Removed a square feature! ([#4](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/4))
### Deprecated
- Deprecated a module! ([#3](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/3))
### Added
- Added a cool feature! ([#1](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/1))
### Changed
- Changed a behavior! ([#2](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/2))
### Fixed
- Fixed a bug! ([#5](https://github.com/twisted/my-project/issues/5))
- A fix without an issue number!
Pretty close, so this concludes this guide!
.. note::
- The sections are rendered in the order the fragment types are defined.
- Because ``towncrier`` doesn't have a concept of a "previous version" (yet), the version links will point to the release tags and not to the ``compare`` link like in *Keep a Changelog*.
- *Keep a Changelog* doesn't have the concept of a uncategorized change, so the template doesn't expect any.