Detailed changelog for ProcessWire versions?

[Gadgetto]

Hi there,

is there a detailed changelog for new PW versions other than in the blog post announcing the updates?

Or do we have to look into the PW repo on Github to see which changes have been made to the new version?

Greets,
Martin

[clsource]

Hello,

Normally ProcessWire api does not change at all.

Personally I think is one of the most stable apis I have met in a software product.

So any new version contains either a bug fix or a new feature, but not a change in how things are used.

So if you want a detailed changelog mostly it would be bug fixes and new features.
In my opinion is not needed since the documentation, blog posts and commits in the dev branch are enough for a detailed overview of whats new and fixed.

And the forums are a great way of obtaining info about the hidden gems of the API.
though, I do not know if a CHANGELOG.md file really exists.

Hope it helps ?

[szabesz]

What @clsource said, and in addition:

16 hours ago, Gadgetto said:

PW repo on Github

I recommend clicking the "Watch button" of "processwire/processwire-issues" at Github (and optionally on processwire-requests) and keeping the incoming emails organized, at least those you are interested in.

It would be great though if @ryan could come up with an automatically generated "changelog",  one that can somehow automagically be injected into his blog posts and the new docs he is currently working on.

Side note: for module "changelogs" I recommend using https://modules.processwire.com/modules/module-release-notes/ by @netcarver

Regarding the ProcessWire core changes, maybe Ryan could make it possible for Netcarver to hook into the PW upgrade process so that Github changes can also be listed by ModuleReleaseNotes.

[Gadgetto]

5 hours ago, clsource said:

Hello,

Normally ProcessWire api does not change at all.

Personally I think is one of the most stable apis I have met in a software product.

So any new version contains either a bug fix or a new feature, but not a change in how things are used.

So if you want a detailed changelog mostly it would be bug fixes and new features.
In my opinion is not needed since the documentation, blog posts and commits in the dev branch are enough for a detailed overview of whats new and fixed.

And the forums are a great way of obtaining info about the hidden gems of the API.
though, I do not know if a CHANGELOG.md file really exists.

Hope it helps ?

Please don't misunderstand - the blog posts and newsletters that precede or follow an update are brilliant!

The problem is, sometimes even small changes could break things. The trigger for my posting was the last update. It wasn't clear if e.g. the .htaccess changes will be applied. If a changelog had been available - best displayed before the update process - this would not have been a problem. So I had to compare the .htaccess first.

But I'll follow the processwire/processwire-issues" at Github to keep track of all changes.

[szabesz]

1 hour ago, Gadgetto said:

.htaccess changes will be applied.

Regarding .htaccess and (the rare case of index.php) changes I tackle them by using Beyond Compare as the fastest GUI diff app around. Since the PW upgrade does not delete these files but renames them, after the update I can use Beyond Compare's "compare to" feature to compare two files not having the same name, and this way I can easily apply any changes of the new .htaccess to the old, modified version of mine.

Edited December 2, 2018 by szabesz
typo

[adrian]

Not exactly a changelog, but I have been thinking about adding a "What's New" section at the top of the API Explorer panel in Tracy. It would simply list any new methods or properties in the current version compared to the old version.

Firstly, would you guys find this useful?

Secondly, the catch with implementation is that Ryan doesn't seem to be using @since tags anymore - not sure if this is a recent oversight, or an intentional omission (https://github.com/processwire/processwire-issues/issues/759). If he gets back to me and starts implementing them again, I think that would be the simplest approach. Otherwise I'll need to cache the API explorer results and compare the current to the cached version (on PW upgrades). This isn't a big deal and I guess has the added advantage of showing all changes since your last upgrade (not the last actual version) so if you skip over a few versions, this will be more complete.

So what do you think - would you guys make use of this? Can you see viewing the API Explorer panel after each upgrade to see what's new?

[szabesz]

2 hours ago, adrian said:

So what do you think

Well, while I like your idea, a "changelog" would be more useful. Sure, we are talking about two different things, at least API additions and changes are part of the changelog and not the other way around.

Regarding your idea, the solution relying on a cached version sounds very useful, however, the absence of the @since tags is a pity, I agree. Utilizing both would be the best... ? 

[qtguru]

I have been absent in the PW scene, I am still curious about this ChangeLog i think it's long due, is there a repo on it ? or anyone working on it, so i can contribute. 

[adrian]

On 12/2/2018 at 8:57 AM, adrian said:

I have been thinking about adding a "What's New" section at the top of the API Explorer panel in Tracy. It would simply list any new methods or properties in the current version compared to the old version.

This is now available: