Changelog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A changelog is a log or record of changes made to a project, such as a website or software project. Most open source projects include a changelog as one of the top level files in their distribution.

Although the canonical naming convention for the file is ChangeLog,^[1] it is sometimes alternatively named as CHANGES or HISTORY (NEWS is usually a different file reflecting changes between releases, not between the commits). Some project maintainers will append a .txt suffix to the file name.

Some revision control systems are able to generate the relevant information that is suited as a changelog.

1 Format
2 Changelogs in Wikis
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Format

Changelog files are organized by paragraphs, which define a unique change within a function or file. Most changelog files follow the following format:

YYYY-MM-DD John Doe johndoe@example.com

    * myfile.ext (myfunction): my changes made
    additional changes

    * anotherfile.ext (somefunction): more changes

[edit] Changelogs in Wikis

Most Wiki software includes changelogs as a fundamental feature (often called history in this context). For example, the "history" link at the top of a Wikipedia entry links to that page's changelog. This feature is vital for complying with the attribution requirements of the GNU Free Documentation License that Wikipedia contributors license their text under.