Implement automated versioning with Release Please

[dlevy-msft-sql]

Summary

Implement automated version management using Release Please to replace manual version file updates.

Current State

• Version is stored in a version file
• Manual updates required for each release
• CHANGELOG updates are manual
• Easy to forget version bumps or have inconsistent versioning

Proposed Solution

Use Release Please (Google's release automation tool) to:

1. Analyze conventional commits merged to main
2. Auto-create a Release PR that:
   • Bumps version based on commit types (feat: → minor, fix: → patch, feat!: → major)
   • Updates CHANGELOG.md automatically
   • Updates version file(s)
3. When Release PR is merged → Creates GitHub Release with tag

Benefits

• Consistent semantic versioning based on commit messages
• Auto-generated CHANGELOG from PR titles/commits
• Review before release (PR-based, not auto-publish)
• Less manual work for maintainers
• Native Go support in Release Please

Implementation

1. Add workflow file

# .github/workflows/release-please.yml
name: Release Please

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  release-please:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: google-github-actions/release-please-action@v4
        with:
          release-type: go
          package-name: sqlcmd

2. Add release-please config (optional)

{
  "packages": {
    ".": {
      "release-type": "go",
      "package-name": "sqlcmd",
      "changelog-path": "CHANGELOG.md",
      "bump-minor-pre-major": true
    }
  }
}

3. Enforce conventional commits

Consider adding a PR title linter to ensure conventional commit format.

Conventional Commit Prefixes

Prefix	Version Bump	Example
feat:	Minor (0.X.0)	New feature
fix:	Patch (0.0.X)	Bug fix
feat!: or BREAKING CHANGE:	Major (X.0.0)	Breaking change
docs:, chore:, ci:, deps:	No bump	Maintenance

Tasks

• Add .github/workflows/release-please.yml
• Add release-please-config.json (optional)
• Update version file location if needed
• Add conventional commit linter (optional)
• Document release process in CONTRIBUTING.md
• Test with a few merged PRs

References

• Release Please Action
• Release Please CLI
• Conventional Commits