changelog

Command line tool (and Node module) that generates a changelog in color output, markdown, or json for modules in npmjs.org's registry as well as any public github.com repo.

Command-line Usage

Node Modules in NPM

Modules do not need to be installed to generate changelog but they must define their repository url in their package.json.

$ changelog {npm module name} [release] [options]

npm module: The module name, such as express, npm, grunt, etc.

Any Public Github.com Repository

Changelog also works on any public Github repo.

$ changelog {Github.com repo} [options]

Github.com repo url: Urls can be any format, such as https://github.com/dylang/changelog or [email protected]:dylang/changelog.git or even just dylang/changelog.

Help

changelog --help

Usage:
  changelog <npm module name> [versions] [options]
  changelog <github repo url> [versions] [options]

Module name:
   $ changelog npm

Github repo:
   $ changelog github.com/isaacs/npm
   $ changelog isaacs/npm

Versions:
   latest   Default: Show only the latest versions. ex: $ changelog npm latest
   all      Show all versions.                      ex: $ changelog npm all
   number   Show that many recent versions.         ex: $ changelog npm 3
   n.n.n    Show changes for a specific version.    ex: $ changelog npm 1.3.11

Options:
  -c, --color            Output as Color (terminal default)
  -m, --markdown         Output as Github-flavored Markdown (file default)
  -j, --json             Output as JSON
  -d, --debug            Enable debugging
  -h, --help             Display help and usage details

More Examples

• More Examples

Changelog API

Changelog can be easily integrated into other tools.

`changelog.generate(name, versions)

• name string, required NPM module name from registry.
• versions integer or semver, optional Number of versions, or the semver version to show.

var changelog = require('changelog');

changelog.generate(NpmPackageName, countOrVersions)
    .then(changelog.markdown);

var changelog = require('changelog');

changelog.generate('grunt')
    .then(showChanges);

function showChanges(data) {

    //With npm each "version" corresponds to all changes for that build pushed on npm
    //With github each "version" is one GMT day of changes
    data.versions.forEach(function(version) {
        console.log(version.version); //currently npm projects only
        console.log(version.date);    //JS Date

        //version.changes is an array of commit messages for that version
        version.changes.forEach(function(change) {
            console.log(' * ' + change);
        });
    });

    //Information about the project
    console.log(data.project);
}

How it works

• Changelog uses npmjs.org API to get the list of versions and the publish dates.
• It cross-references the versions in npm with the commit history from the Github's API.

Inspiration

Dylan Greene built this because he was always curious what was changed when doing npm update. This module's name is inspired by listening to TheChangelog Podcast on the way to work.

About the Author

Hello fellow developer! My name is Dylan Greene. When not overwhelmed with my two kids I enjoy contributing to the open source community. I'm a tech lead at Opower. I lead a team using Grunt and Angular to build software that successfully helps people like us use less power. Not too long ago I co-created Doodle or Die, a hilarious web game with millions of doodles that won us Node Knockout for the "most fun" category. I'm dylang on Twitter and other places.

Some of my other Node projects:

Name	Description	Github Stars	Npm Installs
grunt-notify	Automatic desktop notifications for Grunt errors and warnings using Growl for OS X or Windows, Mountain Lion and Mavericks Notification Center, and Notify-Send.	798	36,294
grunt-prompt	Interactive prompt for your Grunt config using console checkboxes, text input with filtering, password fields.	244	5,804
shortid	Amazingly short non-sequential url-friendly unique id generator.	262	8,357
rss	RSS feed generator. A really simple API to add RSS feeds to any project.	243	15,147
npm-check	Check for outdated, incorrect, and unused dependencies.	New!	1,164
xml	Fast and simple xml generator. Supports attributes, CDATA, etc. Includes tests and examples.	56	21,139
logging	Super sexy color console logging with cluster support.	24	541
grunt-attention	Display attention-grabbing messages in the terminal	New!	6,253
observatory	Beautiful UI for showing tasks running on the command line.	31	3,516
flowdock-refined	Flowdock desktop app custom UI	New!	59
anthology	Module information and stats for any @npmjs user	New!	216
grunt-cat	Echo a file to the terminal. Works with text, figlets, ascii art, and full-color ansi.	New!	102

This list was generated using anthology.

License

Copyright (c) 2014 undefined, contributors.

Released under the MIT license.

Screenshots are CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike).

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Generated using grunt-readme with grunt-templates-dylang on Monday, October 6, 2014.