Changelog

Changelog is a command line utility (and module) that generates a changelog in markdown, json, or color output for Node modules in npm and any public github.com repo.

Command-line Usage

Node Modules in NPM

Modules do not need to be installed locally to get a 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.

Any Public Github.com Repository

Changelog also works on any public Github repo.

$ changelog {Github.com repo url} [options]

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

Help

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

Release:
   latest   Show only the latest release.        ie: changelog express latest
   number   Show that many recent releases.      ie: changelog express 3
   n.n.n    Show changes for a specific release. ie: changelog express 2.4.4

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

Install

Using npm just do:

$ npm-g install changelog

Using npm-g installs changelog globally so you can use changelog anywhere. You can also just use npm install changelog if you are using it as a module for another project.

Update

To make sure you have the latest version:

$ npm-g update

This will update all of your global modules.

More Examples

• More Examples

Changelog API

Changelog can be easily integrated into other tools.

var Changelog = require('changelog');

Changelog.npm('express', callback);
Changelog.github('joyent/node', callback);

function callback(err, data) {

    //Check err for errors or just throw
    if (err) throw err;

    //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 the Github V3 API and npmjs.org API.

Upcoming Features

• Add header and/or footer to the output with module name, contributors, etc.
• Support private Github repos and Github Fi.
• Better color choices for those with default terminal colors.
• Support versions/releases for Github repositories (waiting for Github to address Github API Issue #17).
• Support paging Github's API to aquire more than 100 commit messages.

Want to help?

Here are some ideas I have no idea how to do.

• Support for brew and gem?
• Integrate into npm update?
• Create a git pull shortcut?

About

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.