# Changelog

> Reading a markdown file with the progress in the project is easier than reading a commit log.

Automatic changelog generation from commit messages is a fairly common pattern nowadays. There is a project called [conventional-changelog](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/conventional-changelog) that generates a changelog from commit messages that follow a *convention*.

## Commit message convention

The most common convention is the *angular* commit messages convention which is [detailed here](https://github.com/angular/angular.js/blob/master/DEVELOPERS.md#-git-commit-guidelines).

## Setup

* Install: 

```bash
npm install standard-version -D
```

* Add a `script` target to your `package.json`: 

```javascript
{
  "scripts": {
    "release": "standard-version"
  }
}
```

* Optionally : To automatically push the new *git commit and tag* plus publish to npm add a `postrelease` script: 

```javascript
{
  "scripts": {
    "release": "standard-version",
    "postrelease": "git push --follow-tags origin master && npm publish"
  }
}
```

## Releasing

Simply run:

```bash
npm run release
```

Based on the commit messages `major` | `minor` | `patch` is automatically determined. To *explicitly* specify a version you can specify `--release-as` e.g.:

```bash
npm run release -- --release-as minor
```