vociferate/README.md

# vociferate

A reusable release preparation tool for Go repositories.

## Build

Build with just:

```bash
just go-build
```

Or directly with Go:

```bash
go build -o dist/vociferate ./cmd/vociferate
```

## Usage

Prepare release files:

```bash
go run ./cmd/vociferate --version v1.2.3 --date 2026-03-20 --root .
```

In the provided workflow and composite action, `version` is optional. When it is omitted, vociferate computes and uses the recommended next version automatically.

Recommend next release tag from changelog content:

```bash
go run ./cmd/vociferate --recommend --root .
```

### Flags

- `--version` semantic version to release (with or without leading `v`).
- `--date` release date in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
- `--recommend` print recommended next tag based on `## [Unreleased]`.
- `--root` repository root directory.
- `--version-file` path to version source file relative to `--root`.
- `--version-pattern` regexp with exactly one capture group for version value.
- `--changelog` path to changelog file relative to `--root`.

Defaults:

- `version-file`: `release-version`
- `version-pattern`: `^\s*([^\r\n]+)\s*$`
- `changelog`: `changelog.md`

When no `--version-file` flag is provided, `vociferate` derives the current version from the most recent released section heading in the changelog (`## [x.y.z] - ...`). If no prior releases exist, it defaults to `0.0.0` and recommends `v1.0.0` as the first tag.

When running `--version`, the `release-version` file is created automatically if it does not exist, so new repositories do not need to pre-seed it.

Repositories that keep the version inside source code should pass explicit `--version-file` and `--version-pattern` values; in that case the version file is used directly instead of the changelog.

## Testing

```bash
just go-test
```

## Release Flow

Releases use two workflows:

- `Prepare Release` runs on demand, updates `release-version` and `changelog.md`, commits those changes back to `main`, and pushes the release tag.
- `Do Release` runs from the pushed tag, reads the matching changelog section from that tagged revision, creates or updates the release, and uploads prebuilt binaries.

This split matters because release notes must be generated from the tagged commit that already contains the promoted changelog section.

## Release Artifacts

The tag-driven `Do Release` workflow publishes prebuilt `vociferate` binaries for:

- `linux/amd64`
- `linux/arm64`

It also uploads `checksums.txt` for integrity verification.
If a release already exists for the same tag, the workflow updates its release notes and replaces matching asset filenames so reruns stay in sync.

## Reuse In Other Repositories

You can reuse vociferate in two ways.

Use the composite action directly in your prepare workflow:

```yaml
- name: Prepare release files
  uses: git.hrafn.xyz/aether/vociferate@v1.0.0
  with:
    version-file: internal/myapp/version/version.go
    version-pattern: 'const Version = "([^"]+)"'
    changelog: changelog.md
```

Set `version` only when you want to override the recommended version.
Pin the composite action to a released tag. It downloads a prebuilt Linux binary from vociferate releases and caches it on the runner, so it does not require installing Go.
If your repository uses the default plain-text `release-version` file, you can omit `version-file` and `version-pattern` entirely.

A complete release setup should also split preparation from publication. For example:

```yaml
name: Prepare Release

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      version:
        description: Optional semantic version override.
        required: false

jobs:
  prepare:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Prepare release files
        id: prepare
        uses: git.hrafn.xyz/aether/vociferate@v1.0.0
        with:
          version: ${{ inputs.version }}

      - name: Commit and push prepared release
        run: |
          set -euo pipefail
          tag="${{ steps.prepare.outputs.version }}"
          git config user.name "gitea-actions[bot]"
          git config user.email "gitea-actions[bot]@users.noreply.local"
          git add changelog.md release-version
          git commit -m "release: prepare ${tag}"
          git tag "$tag"
          git push origin HEAD
          git push origin "$tag"
```

Then use a separate tag workflow to publish the release from the tagged revision:

```yaml
name: Do Release

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "v*.*.*"

jobs:
  release:
    uses: aether/vociferate/.gitea/workflows/do-release.yml@main
    secrets: inherit
```

Call the reusable prepare workflow:

```yaml
name: Prepare Release

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      version:
        description: Optional semantic version override.
        required: false

jobs:
  release:
    uses: aether/vociferate/.gitea/workflows/prepare-release.yml@main
    with:
      version: ${{ inputs.version }}
    secrets: inherit
```

And publish from tags with:

```yaml
name: Do Release

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "v*.*.*"

jobs:
  release:
    uses: aether/vociferate/.gitea/workflows/do-release.yml@main
    secrets: inherit
```