feat: enforce Conventional Commits for PR titles and retire CHANGELOG.md by DennisOSRM · Pull Request #7469 · Project-OSRM/osrm-backend

DennisOSRM · 2026-04-12T09:29:12Z

Summary

This PR implements Conventional Commits enforcement for PR titles and retires the manual CHANGELOG.md file.

Changes

CI Enhancements

✅ Added PR title validation to format-taginfo-docs CI job
✅ Enforces standard Conventional Commits types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, perf, test, ci, chore, build
✅
✅ CI job fails if PR title is non-compliant (blocks merge)
✅ Removed changelog validation step

Code Changes

Created: scripts/check_pr_title.js - Node.js script for PR title validation
Deleted: CHANGELOG.md - Retired manual changelog (1184 lines)
Deleted: scripts/validate_changelog.js - No longer needed

Documentation Updates

CONTRIBUTING.md: Added Conventional Commits section with format, types, and examples
docs/releasing.md: Added Conventional Commits section and release notes auto-generation documentation
Removed references to manual CHANGELOG.md maintenance

Benefits

✅ Structured commit history for better changelog automation
✅ Enforced consistency across all PRs
✅ Reduced manual maintenance burden
✅ Clear breaking change visibility in commit history

Testing

Validated PR title script with 8 test cases (4 valid, 4 invalid)
All valid Conventional Commits formats accepted
All invalid formats properly rejected with helpful error messages

Example PR Titles

Valid:

feat: add new routing algorithm
fix(api): resolve nearest endpoint crash

Invalid (will be rejected):

awesome: new feature
feat add new feature

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR updates the project’s contribution/release process by enforcing Conventional Commits formatting for PR titles in CI and removing the legacy manual changelog workflow.

Changes:

Added a CI step to validate PR titles against an allowed Conventional Commits type list.
Introduced scripts/check_pr_title.js and removed the old scripts/validate_changelog.js + CHANGELOG.md.
Updated contributor and release documentation to describe Conventional Commits and changelog/release-note expectations.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 11 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`.github/workflows/osrm-backend.yml`	Adds PR title validation step; removes changelog validation invocation.
`scripts/check_pr_title.js`	New Node script to validate PR title format.
`scripts/validate_changelog.js`	Deleted (no longer validating `CHANGELOG.md`).
`docs/releasing.md`	Replaces changelog-based breaking-change guidance with Conventional Commits guidance; updates release steps.
`CONTRIBUTING.md`	Adds PR-title Conventional Commits guidance and references release notes/changelog removal.
`CHANGELOG.md`	Deleted (retiring manual changelog).

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Copilot · 2026-04-12T09:36:05Z

+      run: |
+        PR_TITLE="${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}" node ./scripts/check_pr_title.js


The PR title is injected into a bash assignment with double quotes. If the PR title itself contains a double quote, this step will produce invalid shell syntax and fail (or potentially alter the value). Prefer passing the title via the step-level env: block (e.g., env: { PR_TITLE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }} }) and then run node ./scripts/check_pr_title.js.

Suggested change

run: |

PR_TITLE="${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}" node ./scripts/check_pr_title.js

env:

PR_TITLE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}

run: |

node ./scripts/check_pr_title.js

Copilot · 2026-04-12T09:36:05Z

    - name: Run checks
      run: |
        ./scripts/check_taginfo.py taginfo.json profiles/car.lua
        # Check that code formatting is up to date
        ./scripts/format.sh && ./scripts/error_on_dirty.sh "Run './scripts/format.sh' locally and commit the changes."


PR description says references to manual CHANGELOG.md maintenance were removed, but .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md still asks for a CHANGELOG.md entry. Either update the template (preferred) or adjust the PR description to reflect what is actually changed in this PR.

Copilot · 2026-04-12T09:36:05Z

+// Conventional Commits format: type[optional scope][optional !]: description
+// Examples:
+//   feat: add new feature
+//   feat!: breaking change
+//   feat(scope): add feature with scope
+//   feat(scope)!: breaking change with scope
+const conventionalCommitPattern = /^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|ci|chore|build)(?:\([^\)]+\))?!?:\s.+/;
+
+if (!conventionalCommitPattern.test(prTitle)) {


The current regex accepts a title with no real description (e.g., feat: ) because :\s.+ allows whitespace-only content. Tighten the pattern to require a non-whitespace character in the description (and consider trimming before validation) so empty/blank descriptions are rejected.

Suggested change

// Conventional Commits format: type[optional scope][optional !]: description

// Examples:

// feat: add new feature

// feat!: breaking change

// feat(scope): add feature with scope

// feat(scope)!: breaking change with scope

const conventionalCommitPattern = /^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|ci|chore|build)(?:$[^$]+\))?!?:\s.+/;

if (!conventionalCommitPattern.test(prTitle)) {

const normalizedPrTitle = prTitle.trim();

// Conventional Commits format: type[optional scope][optional !]: description

// Examples:

// feat: add new feature

// feat!: breaking change

// feat(scope): add feature with scope

// feat(scope)!: breaking change with scope

const conventionalCommitPattern = /^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|ci|chore|build)(?:$[^$]+\))?!?:\s*\S.*$/;

if (!conventionalCommitPattern.test(normalizedPrTitle)) {

Copilot · 2026-04-12T09:36:06Z

+const ALLOWED_TYPES = ['feat', 'fix', 'docs', 'style', 'refactor', 'perf', 'test', 'ci', 'chore', 'build'];
+
+const prTitle = process.env.PR_TITLE;
+if (!prTitle) {
+  console.error('Error: PR_TITLE environment variable not set');
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+// Conventional Commits format: type[optional scope][optional !]: description
+// Examples:
+//   feat: add new feature
+//   feat!: breaking change
+//   feat(scope): add feature with scope
+//   feat(scope)!: breaking change with scope
+const conventionalCommitPattern = /^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|ci|chore|build)(?:\([^\)]+\))?!?:\s.+/;
+


ALLOWED_TYPES duplicates the type list embedded in conventionalCommitPattern, which can drift if one is updated without the other. Consider building the regex from ALLOWED_TYPES (and updating the comment/error text) so there is a single source of truth for allowed types.

Copilot · 2026-04-12T09:36:06Z

+## Release Notes
+
+Release notes are automatically generated from commit history using Conventional Commits metadata. When you tag a release, the changelog is derived from commits since the last version, categorized by type:
+- **feat** → Features
+- **fix** → Bug Fixes
+- **perf** → Performance Improvements
+- **docs** → Documentation
+
+Commits marked with `!` or containing `BREAKING CHANGE:` are highlighted as breaking changes.
+


This doc states release notes are "automatically generated from commit history using Conventional Commits metadata", but the current release workflow uses ncipollo/release-action with omitBody: true and no generateReleaseNotes option, so no notes are actually generated from commits. Please either update the workflow to generate release notes accordingly or adjust this section to match current release automation.

Copilot · 2026-04-12T09:36:07Z

+
+### Release Notes
+
+Every pull request's commit message (following Conventional Commits) is automatically used to generate release notes. There is no manual changelog to maintain.


This section says PR titles are validated, but later claims "Every pull request's commit message ... is automatically used to generate release notes". There’s no commit-message validation added here and the current release workflow doesn’t generate notes from Conventional Commits, so this is misleading. Please align the text with what CI/release automation actually enforces (PR title only) or add the missing automation.

Suggested change

Every pull request's commit message (following Conventional Commits) is automatically used to generate release notes. There is no manual changelog to maintain.

Pull request titles should follow Conventional Commits, as described above. This is what our CI validates.

Copilot · 2026-04-12T09:36:07Z

+- `feat(profiles)!: remove deprecated car profile option`
+- `feat(api)!: change response format` (breaking change with scope)
+
+**Breaking Changes:** Use the `!` suffix before the colon (e.g., `feat!:`) or add a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer in the PR description.


The guidance says breaking changes can be indicated with a BREAKING CHANGE: footer in the PR description, but the CI check introduced here only validates the PR title and won’t verify that footer exists. Either remove that PR-description footer guidance or enhance the check to validate github.event.pull_request.body as well.

Suggested change

**Breaking Changes:** Use the `!` suffix before the colon (e.g., `feat!:`) or add a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer in the PR description.

**Breaking Changes:** Use the `!` suffix before the colon in the pull request title (e.g., `feat!:`).

Address review feedback on PR #7469: - Pass PR title via env variable instead of shell assignment (safer) - Build regex from ALLOWED_TYPES to avoid duplication - Require non-whitespace description (reject 'feat: ') - Update CONTRIBUTING.md to clarify PR-title-only validation - Update PR template to remove CHANGELOG.md entry requirement - Add Conventional Commits section to docs/releasing.md Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

DennisOSRM marked this pull request as ready for review April 12, 2026 09:30

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 12, 2026 09:30

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of DennisOSRM April 12, 2026 09:33 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Apr 12, 2026

View reviewed changes

DennisOSRM force-pushed the feat/conventional-commits-enforcement branch from 2a3b342 to df6a5bb Compare April 12, 2026 10:44

DennisOSRM enabled auto-merge (squash) April 12, 2026 11:19

DennisOSRM disabled auto-merge April 12, 2026 11:30

DennisOSRM merged commit eec4d76 into master Apr 12, 2026
23 checks passed

DennisOSRM deleted the feat/conventional-commits-enforcement branch April 12, 2026 11:30

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feat: enforce Conventional Commits for PR titles and retire CHANGELOG.md#7469

feat: enforce Conventional Commits for PR titles and retire CHANGELOG.md#7469
DennisOSRM merged 1 commit intomasterfrom
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		run: \|
		PR_TITLE="${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}" node ./scripts/check_pr_title.js


		### Release Notes

		Every pull request's commit message (following Conventional Commits) is automatically used to generate release notes. There is no manual changelog to maintain.

	Every pull request's commit message (following Conventional Commits) is automatically used to generate release notes. There is no manual changelog to maintain.
	Pull request titles should follow Conventional Commits, as described above. This is what our CI validates.

	Breaking Changes: Use the `!` suffix before the colon (e.g., `feat!:`) or add a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer in the PR description.
	Breaking Changes: Use the `!` suffix before the colon in the pull request title (e.g., `feat!:`).

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DennisOSRM commented Apr 12, 2026

Summary

Changes

CI Enhancements

Code Changes

Documentation Updates

Benefits

Testing

Example PR Titles

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