<!-- The first section "Release notes" is required if you want to have your release post blog MR auto generated. Currently in BETA, details on the **release post item generator** can be found in the handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/release-posts/#release-post-item-generator and this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfn9ebgTwKg. The next four sections: "Problem to solve", "Intended users", "User experience goal", and "Proposal", are strongly recommended in your first draft, while the rest of the sections can be filled out during the problem validation or breakdown phase. However, keep in mind that providing complete and relevant information early helps our product team validate the problem and start working on a solution. --> ### Release notes <!-- What is the problem and solution you're proposing? This content sets the overall vision for the feature and serves as the release notes that will populate in various places, including the [release post blog](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/categories/releases/) and [Gitlab project releases](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/releases). " --> When creating Releases in the UI based on a tag, you now have the ability to easily include that tag's message in the Release Notes. You can select the checkbox option in the UI and the tag's message will be appended to the Release notes section of the Release. ### Problem to solve <!-- What problem do we solve? Try to define the who/what/why of the opportunity as a user story. For example, "As a (who), I want (what), so I can (why/value)." --> As a user, I want to incorporate information from an annotated tag into my release notes, so that I can communicate information associated with the tag when releasing a new version of my application. ### Intended users * [Rachel (Release Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#rachel-release-manager) <!-- Who will use this feature? If known, include any of the following: types of users (e.g. Developer), personas, or specific company roles (e.g. Release Manager). It's okay to write "Unknown" and fill this field in later. Personas are described at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/ * [Cameron (Compliance Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#cameron-compliance-manager) * [Parker (Product Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#parker-product-manager) * [Delaney (Development Team Lead)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#delaney-development-team-lead) * [Presley (Product Designer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#presley-product-designer) * [Sasha (Software Developer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sasha-software-developer) * [Priyanka (Platform Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#priyanka-platform-engineer) * [Sidney (Systems Administrator)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sidney-systems-administrator) * [Sam (Security Analyst)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sam-security-analyst) * [Alex (Security Operations Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#alex-security-operations-engineer) * [Simone (Software Engineer in Test)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#simone-software-engineer-in-test) * [Allison (Application Ops)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#allison-application-ops) * [Ingrid (Infrastructure Operator)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/personas/#ingrid-infrastructure-operator) * [Dakota (Application Development Director)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/personas/#dakota-application-development-director) * [Dana (Data Analyst)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#dana-data-analyst) * [Eddie (Content Editor)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#eddie-content-editor) --> ### User experience goal <!-- What is the single user experience workflow this problem addresses? For example, "The user should be able to use the UI/API/.gitlab-ci.yml with GitLab to <perform a specific task>" https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/ux-research-training/user-story-mapping/ --> The user should be able to use the `create release` form with the GitLab UI to add meta-data from annotated tages into the body of a release notes. ### Proposal <!-- How are we going to solve the problem? Try to include the user journey! https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/journeys/#user-journey --> - In the `Create release` page (/-/releases/new), user sees a checkbox for adding the message of an annotated tag to the release notes. - Checking the checkbox will add the information to the release notes. The content won't be displayed in the `Write` view of the release notes box, but the user can preview the changes by clicking the `Preview` tab. - Unchecking the checkbox should remove the information from the release notes. - Clicking the `Create release` button will create a new release. - The user is taken to the Releases page (/-/releases) where the annotated tag comment will be displayed under a new header `Tag message`. - Clicking the `Edit release` button takes the user to the edit view of a given release. - The checkbox should not be displayed on the page anymore. - Instead, the `Tag message` is displayed as markdown in the release notes. The user can edit the content freely as plain text. ### Further details <!-- Include use cases, benefits, goals, or any other details that will help us understand the problem better. --> In our projects, we use a tag's annotation to provide release information like a changelog for that version. The tag page of GitLab visualizes this message as plain text, even without line breaks. When clicking on a tag, the message has a simple, but quite nice formatting. Currently we need to create the release notes manually to get a nice formatting also on the tag list page. Unfortunately, this leads to duplicated content in a tag's detail page. If tag's message is available, the release notes field will be pre-populate with the tag's message by default. The user will be able to edit, or remove this message, add their notes, and so on. In the future, we could consider annotating the start and end message like this example: ``` <!-- tag message begin --> This is the annotated tag's message. <!-- tag message end --> ``` ### Permissions and Security Follow same permission model for [Releases](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/releases/#edit-a-release). Only users with at least the Developer role can edit releases. * [ ] Add expected impact to members with no access (0) * [ ] Add expected impact to Guest (10) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Reporter (20) members * [x] Add expected impact to Developer (30) members * [x] Add expected impact to Maintainer (40) members * [x] Add expected impact to Owner (50) members <!-- What permissions are required to perform the described actions? Are they consistent with the existing permissions as documented for users, groups, and projects as appropriate? Is the proposed behavior consistent between the UI, API, and other access methods (e.g. email replies)? Consider adding checkboxes and expectations of users with certain levels of membership https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html Please consider performing a threat model for the code changes that are introduced as part of this feature. To get started, refer to our Threat Modeling handbook page https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/security/threat_modeling/#threat-modeling. Don't hesitate to reach out to the Application Security Team (`@gitlab-com/gl-security/appsec`) to discuss any security concerns. --> ### Documentation Yes, this change will require a documentation update to the following pages: * https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/releases * https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/topics/git/tags.html <!-- See the Feature Change Documentation Workflow https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/workflow.html#for-a-product-change * Add all known Documentation Requirements in this section. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/workflow.html * If this feature requires changing permissions, update the permissions document. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html --> ### Availability & Testing <!-- This section needs to be retained and filled in during the workflow planning breakdown phase of this feature proposal, if not earlier. What risks does this change pose to our availability? How might it affect the quality of the product? What additional test coverage or changes to tests will be needed? Will it require cross-browser testing? Please list the test areas (unit, integration and end-to-end) that needs to be added or updated to ensure that this feature will work as intended. Please use the list below as guidance. * Unit test changes * Integration test changes * End-to-end test change See the test engineering planning process and reach out to your counterpart Software Engineer in Test for assistance: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/quality/test-engineering/#test-planning --> ### Available Tier <!-- This section should be used for setting the appropriate tier that this feature will belong to. Pricing can be found here: https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/ * Free * Premium/Silver * Ultimate/Gold --> ~"GitLab Free" ### Feature Usage Metrics <!-- How are you going to track usage of this feature? Think about user behavior and their interaction with the product. What indicates someone is getting value from it? Create tracking issue using the Snowplow event tracking template. See https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/.gitlab/issue_templates/Snowplow%20event%20tracking.md --> We can measure it by the number of releases created including the annotated tags in the release notes. ### What does success look like, and how can we measure that? <!-- Define both the success metrics and acceptance criteria. Note that success metrics indicate the desired business outcomes, while acceptance criteria indicate when the solution is working correctly. If there is no way to measure success, link to an issue that will implement a way to measure this. Create tracking issue using the Snowplow event tracking template. See https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/.gitlab/issue_templates/Snowplow%20event%20tracking.md --> ### What is the type of buyer? <!-- What is the buyer persona for this feature? See https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/buyer-persona/ In which enterprise tier should this feature go? See https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/pricing/#three-tiers --> [Casey - the Release and Change Management Director](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/strategic-marketing/roles-personas/buyer-persona/#casey---the-release-and-change-management-director) ### Is this a cross-stage feature? <!-- Communicate if this change will affect multiple Stage Groups or product areas. We recommend always start with the assumption that a feature request will have an impact into another Group. Loop in the most relevant PM and Product Designer from that Group to provide strategic support to help align the Group's broader plan and vision, as well as to avoid UX and technical debt. https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/#cross-stage-features --> Yes, with ~"devops::create". ### What is the competitive advantage or differentiation for this feature? ### Links / references <!-- Label reminders - you should have one of each of the following labels. Use the following resources to find the appropriate labels: - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/labels - https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/features/ --> <!-- triage-serverless v3 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS SECTION --> *This page may contain information related to upcoming products, features and functionality. It is important to note that the information presented is for informational purposes only, so please do not rely on the information for purchasing or planning purposes. Just like with all projects, the items mentioned on the page are subject to change or delay, and the development, release, and timing of any products, features, or functionality remain at the sole discretion of GitLab Inc.* <!-- triage-serverless v3 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS SECTION -->