ODP-5569: Enable creating releases even if the 'previous' tag does not exist #8

JeffreySmith · 2025-11-24T17:08:47Z

We ran into an issue while creating releases for 3.2.3.4-{2,3} where some repositories do not have a valid 'previous' tag, while some did. Certain components have been added to 3.2.3.4-{2,3} that were not previously there in 3.2.3.3-{2,3}, so when a release was created, those components' releases failed instead of being created but without the release notes.

This commit adds a --skip-missing-tag cli flag to allow ignoring failures in the release note generation code and attempt to create the release without them.

This has been tested both for a single repository and a group with at least one repository missing the previous tag, as well as checking that this did not break any previous functionality.

Not all of our repositories always have the matching previous tag, so while creating a new release, these components would fail due to the missing previous tag. This tag is used for generating release notes; rather than always have them fail, a cli option has been added `skip-previous-tag` which allows you to skip generating release notes for repositories where they cannot be generated.

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds a --skip-missing-tag flag to enable creating releases even when the previous tag doesn't exist in some repositories. This addresses a scenario where new components added to version 3.2.3.4-{2,3} don't have tags from 3.2.3.3-{2,3}, allowing releases to be created without release notes rather than failing entirely. The PR also includes widespread refactoring to replace .to_string() calls with .clone() for performance optimization when working with String types.

Key Changes:

Added --skip-missing-tag CLI flag that allows release creation without requiring the previous tag to exist
Modified release creation logic to gracefully handle missing previous tags by creating releases with empty release notes
Refactored numerous .to_string() calls to .clone() across the codebase for better performance
Updated documentation with examples of the new flag usage

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 12 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/cli.rs	Added `skip_missing_tag` boolean field and made `previous_release` optional when this flag is present
src/github/release.rs	Modified release creation to handle missing previous tags gracefully, added error handling logic and comments, fixed typo in comment
src/github/match_args.rs	Updated to pass `skip_missing_tag` parameter to release functions and handle optional `previous_release`
README.md	Added documentation explaining the `--skip-missing-tag` flag with usage examples
src/github/tag.rs	Refactored `.to_string()` to `.clone()` for String types
src/github/pr.rs	Refactored `.to_string()` to `.clone()` for String types
src/github/fork.rs	Refactored `.to_string()` to `.clone()` for String types
src/github/branch.rs	Refactored `.to_string()` to `.clone()` for String types
src/github/backup.rs	Refactored `.to_string()` to `.clone()` for String types
src/slack/post_message.rs	Refactored `.to_string()` to `.clone()` for webhook_url parameter
src/error.rs	Refactored `.to_string()` to `.clone()` for error message handling
Cargo.toml	Bumped version from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1
Cargo.lock	Updated version lock to 1.0.1

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src/github/release.rs

src/error.rs

Copilot · 2025-11-26T17:13:17Z

src/cli.rs

    /// The previous release tag. This is used to generate the changelog
-    #[arg(short, long)]
-    pub previous_release: String,
+    #[arg(short, long, required_unless_present = "skip_missing_tag")]


The CLI allows previous_release to be omitted when skip_missing_tag is true (via required_unless_present), but the documentation example (README.md line 383) still shows both flags being used together. Based on the PR description indicating that "some repositories do not have a valid 'previous' tag," the intention seems to be handling missing tags in specific repos, not omitting the previous release parameter entirely.

When previous_release is None and defaults to an empty string (line 553), it will be passed to generate_release_notes() which attempts to fetch a tag with an empty name, causing unclear failures. Consider either:

Keeping previous_release as required (removing required_unless_present), or

Handling empty/None previous_release explicitly in the release functions by skipping tag comparison entirely when it's not provided.

Suggested change

#[arg(short, long, required_unless_present = "skip_missing_tag")]

#[arg(short, long, required = true)]

Copilot · 2025-11-26T17:13:17Z

src/github/branch.rs

+                let old_text_dash = &old_text.clone().replace('.', "-");
+                let new_text_dash = &new_text.clone().replace('.', "-");


The .clone() call is unnecessary here. The .replace() method takes &self and returns a new String, so calling .clone() before .replace() creates an unnecessary intermediate copy. Since old_text and new_text are already owned String values, you can simply use &old_text.replace('.', "-") and &new_text.replace('.', "-").

Suggested change

let old_text_dash = &old_text.clone().replace('.', "-");

let new_text_dash = &new_text.clone().replace('.', "-");

let old_text_dash = &old_text.replace('.', "-");

let new_text_dash = &new_text.replace('.', "-");

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 12 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

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Copilot · 2025-11-26T17:46:07Z

src/github/match_args.rs

        ReleaseCommand::Create(create_cmd) => {
            let repository = create_cmd.repository.as_ref();
+            let skip_missing_previous_tag = create_cmd.skip_missing_tag;
+            let previous_release = create_cmd.previous_release.clone().unwrap_or_default();


[nitpick] Using .unwrap_or_default() on previous_release results in an empty string "" being passed to the release creation functions when no previous release is specified. While this works because the error is caught and handled when skip_missing_tag is true, it would be clearer to use a more explicit empty tag placeholder like "NONE" or to handle the Option<String> directly throughout the call chain. This would make the code's intent more obvious and avoid attempting to fetch a tag with an empty name.

README.md

Copilot · 2025-11-26T17:46:08Z

src/github/release.rs

+        let release_notes = if let Ok(notes) = release_notes {
+            notes
+        } else if ignore_previous_tag {
+            eprintln!(
+                "The previous tag '{previous_tag}' does not exist. Attempting to create a release for '{owner}/{repo}' without release notes."
+            );
+            ReleaseNotes {
+                name: current_tag.to_string(),
+                body: String::new(),
+            }
+        } else {
+            return Err(GitError::NoSuchTag(previous_tag.to_string()));


The error handling on lines 241-253 catches any error from generate_release_notes, not just errors related to missing previous tags. This means that if there's a network error, API error, or the current tag doesn't exist, the function will still proceed to create a release without notes when ignore_previous_tag is true. Consider checking the specific error type and only ignoring GitError::NoSuchTag errors for the previous tag, while propagating other errors.

Suggested change

let release_notes = if let Ok(notes) = release_notes {

notes

} else if ignore_previous_tag {

eprintln!(

"The previous tag '{previous_tag}' does not exist. Attempting to create a release for '{owner}/{repo}' without release notes."

);

ReleaseNotes {

name: current_tag.to_string(),

body: String::new(),

}

} else {

return Err(GitError::NoSuchTag(previous_tag.to_string()));

let release_notes = match release_notes {

Ok(notes) => notes,

Err(GitError::NoSuchTag(tag)) if ignore_previous_tag && tag == previous_tag => {

eprintln!(

"The previous tag '{previous_tag}' does not exist. Attempting to create a release for '{owner}/{repo}' without release notes."

);

ReleaseNotes {

name: current_tag.to_string(),

body: String::new(),

}

}

Err(e) => return Err(e),

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 12 out of 13 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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src/github/release.rs

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

JeffreySmith added 3 commits November 24, 2025 11:40

ODP-5569: Fix linter warnings

dd1a492

ODP-5569: Bump version

a247e86

JeffreySmith requested a review from prabhjyotsingh November 24, 2025 17:08

ODP-5569: Fix formatting

5de02ef

prabhjyotsingh requested a review from Copilot November 26, 2025 17:09

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of prabhjyotsingh November 26, 2025 17:09 View session

Copilot finished reviewing on behalf of prabhjyotsingh November 26, 2025 17:12

Copilot AI reviewed Nov 26, 2025

View reviewed changes

prabhjyotsingh and others added 2 commits November 26, 2025 12:21

Update src/github/release.rs

d01db24

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update src/error.rs

40612ce

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

prabhjyotsingh approved these changes Nov 26, 2025

View reviewed changes

ODP-5569: Clean up some clones and improve docs

60ef30e

JeffreySmith requested a review from Copilot November 26, 2025 17:42

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of JeffreySmith November 26, 2025 17:42 View session

Copilot finished reviewing on behalf of JeffreySmith November 26, 2025 17:45

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JeffreySmith and others added 2 commits November 26, 2025 12:51

Update README.md

b141db7

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Cleaned up displaying errors

6910bfd

JeffreySmith requested a review from Copilot November 26, 2025 19:33

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of JeffreySmith November 26, 2025 19:33 View session

Copilot finished reviewing on behalf of JeffreySmith November 26, 2025 19:36

Copilot AI reviewed Nov 26, 2025

View reviewed changes

src/github/release.rs Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

Update src/github/release.rs spelling

f665def

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

prabhjyotsingh merged commit 77e15a6 into main Nov 26, 2025
5 checks passed

prabhjyotsingh deleted the ODP-5569 branch November 26, 2025 20:00

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	#[arg(short, long, required_unless_present = "skip_missing_tag")]
	#[arg(short, long, required = true)]

		let old_text_dash = &old_text.clone().replace('.', "-");
		let new_text_dash = &new_text.clone().replace('.', "-");

ODP-5569: Enable creating releases even if the 'previous' tag does not exist #8

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