Guide to Changelogs

Changelogs are small YAML files that developers create to add their pull requests' changes to the master changelog.html file. A python script run by a maintainer collects all the changes specified and generates the HTML necessary, merging changes by the same author during the same day.

On the /tg/station Github changelogs can be automatically generated from special formatting in the body of a PR's description.

The idea is to reduce merge conflicts caused by two PRs trying to edit the same file.

Creating a Changelog

Committing a .yml file

PR changelogs are temporary and just get deleted after they're merged into the master changelog.

1. Create html/changelogs/USERNAME-BRANCHNAME.yml.
   1. Go to /master/html/changelogs/ on your branch.
   2. Create file USERNAME-BRANCHNAME.yml in the folder, where 'BRANCHNAME' the name of the branch on your fork and 'USERNAME' is your github username.
      • Example: Deantwo-BrainlessShooting.yml
      • File name is not super important but helps the maintainers know who made the file and which PR it is related to. Also prevents conflicts since two files won't have the same name.
2. Copy the contents of this.
3. Fill it out.
   • Make sure to set delete-after to true.
   • Also ensure you update the author name so you get credited appropriately.
4. PROOFREAD. Changelog entries are final after they're merged.
5. Add it to git so it's included with your PR.

File content example:

   author: Deantwo
   
   delete-after: True
   
   changes: 
     - rscadd: "Added laser rifles for everyone."
     - rscdel: "Removed everyone's brains."

Online auto-creation

By formatting text in the body of your PR description you can have a changelog .yml file automatically generated for you. Declare the start of a changelog entry with :cl: and close it with /:cl:; anything in between these two tags will included, remember to use prefixes for each line. See below for a list of valid prefixes. An author can be set after the :cl: tag, if omitted your Github username will be used by default. Don't use double quotation marks " " in your entry as they are used as delimiters by the changelog system which will break upon encountering them.

Format example:

   :cl: Deantwo
   rscadd: Added laser rifles for everyone.
   rscdel: Removed everyone's brains.
   /:cl:

Updating the Changelog

Only maintainers need to do this.

• First, install python 2.7, pip, and PyYaml:
  • After installing python and ensuring it and its Scripts/ folder is in PATH, download and run get-pip.py with python.
  • Once pip is installed run the following commands in your terminal
  • pip install PyYaml
  • pip install beautifulsoup4
• With /tg/station's code, simply run makeChangelog.bat.
• On Linux or other codebases, run python tools/ss13_genchangelog.py html/changelog.html html/changelogs

Screwed up Changelog

If a changelog needs to be edited after merge, a maintainer will need to edit the html/changelogs/.all_changelog.yml file in order to fix the database. (This file is hidden on Linux and Mac OSX.)

Valid Prefixes

Any of these prefixes can be used when creating a changelog.

• bugfix
• wip
• tweak
• soundadd
• sounddel
• rscadd
• rscdel
• imageadd
• imagedel
• spellcheck
• experiment

Contribution guides
General	Hosting a server, Setting up git, Guide to working with tgstation as an upstream repository, Downloading the source code, Guide to contributing to the game, Reporting issues, Game resources category, Guide to changelogs
Database (MySQL)	Setting up the database, MySQL
Coding	Coding standards, Understanding SS13 code, SS13 for experienced programmers, Binary flags‎, Getting Your Pull Accepted, Text Formatting
Mapping	Guide to mapping, Map merger
Spriting	Guide to spriting
Wiki	Guide to contributing to the wiki, Wikicode, Maintainer Assignments