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Generated Changelog.md might be empty for security releases; causing confusion

Problem to solve

The generated Changelog.md is empty for security releases when all issues/MRs are confidential for security reasons.

Example: 14.6.2 is a security release with an empty changelog.

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When users upgrade their GitLab installation, one of the workflows is to navigate into the URL to the Changelog.md and verify changes.

Wider community question on the forum: https://forum.gitlab.com/t/14-6-2-ce-0-upgrade-available-but-changelog-shows-no-changes/64247

Proposal

  • Document the problem for release managers that the Changelog may be empty for security releases
  • Implement a post-release step: Update the Changelog.md with a URL to the release blog post
    • Boring solution: Edit the release milestone and add Release blog post: https://.... into the description
    • Release post bot parses the milestone description and updates the Changelog again after release
    • This idea could be rolled out for all releases later; for providing additional context