Passing empty writerOpts about release-notes-generator

[pvdlg]

The code explicitly load the angular preset only if neither writerOpts and parserOpts are defined:

release-notes-generator/lib/load-changelog-config.js

Line 23 in 21911e7

} else if (!parserOpts || !writerOpts) {

I don't remember why exactly but I guess there must have been a reason for that. I'll dig in the commit history to try to figure out.

[pvdlg]

writerOpts: Additional conventional-commits-writer options that will extends ones loaded by preset or config. See Writer options means that option you set in writerOpts will be added to the one from the preset you use.
If you don't use a preset it just uses whatever you pass in writerOpts.

[jormot]

Isn't the preset default to angular? If what you say is true, then passing an empty writerOpts should have the same effect than passing no writerOpts at all, which is not the case.

[pvdlg]

Yes the preset defaults to angular but only if you don't pass writerOpts or parserOpts.

[jormot]

• So if I pass a preset, writerOpts will extend the config stored at the preset. So I can pass a preset and an empty writerOpts, this will work.
• If I don't pass a preset, writerOpts will be set as the config, so if I pass an empty writerOpts the config will have an empty value, which will not work correctly.
• If I don't pass a preset or writerOpts, the preset will be set to angular.

Is this correct?

[pvdlg]

Yes. But in any case there is absolutely no reason to pass an empty writerOpts. I don't understand why you are trying to do that.

[pvdlg]

I'm closing as it doesn't seems you are reporting a bug. Feel free to comment further if you think there is actually a bug.

[jormot]

If I understood correctly, an empty writerOpts would be the same than passing a single parameter. In the example on the README:

{
  "release": {
    "generateNotes": {
      "preset": "angular",
      "writerOpts": {
        "commitsSort": ["subject", "scope"],
      }
    }
  }
}

This works since you are explicitly passing preset: angular, but if I don't pass preset (assuming the preset will default to angular), this will not work as desired.

I believe the documentation may be more specific about that case. Since it says that the default value for preset is angular, and writerOpts extends the preset or config, one can easily assume that when passing no preset, it will default to angular and writerOpts will extend from that, but that's not the case.

This is either a bug in the documentation or a bug on the behavior.

[jormot]

Maybe you can add something like this in the note.

-**NOTE:** `options.config` will be overwritten by the values of preset. You should use either `preset` or `config`, but not both. Individual properties of `parserOpts` and `writerOpts` will overwrite ones loaded with `preset` or `config`.
+**NOTE:** `options.config` will be overwritten by the values of preset. You should use either `preset` or `config`, but not both. Individual properties of `parserOpts` and `writerOpts` will overwrite ones loaded with `preset` or `config`, only if `preset` is provided, otherwise it will not extend but set the values at config.

[jormot]

Hey @pvdlg, can you explain what changed? I can see in the PR #91 that you clarify the current behavior, but on line 23 you change the behavior.

If parserOpts or writerOpts are not defined, it will use Angular preset, and then it will be merged.

[pvdlg]

The behavior didn't change, it's just a refactoring of the code to make it more clear.
The condition on line 23 was useless as it's repeated on lines 35-36

The intention behind this behavior is:

• If you want to customize a preset, set the preset and use parserOpts/ writerOpts to override
• If you want to specify your own config then use config

[semantic-release-bot]

🎉 This issue has been resolved in version 6.1.0 🎉

The release is available on:

• npm package (@next dist-tag)
• GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀