Add an example trailer to changelog API docs
What does this MR do?
The changelog API documentation does a great job of showing how to use the endpoint itself and customize the generated changelog file. However while we mention you have to use a specific Git trailer and link to the Git documentation for those, it's unclear that you can simply add the trailer to the end of your commit message to include the commit in the changelog.
A customer wrote in confused about what the trailer had to be and how to use it, and while looking through the documentation myself I was equally confused. Neither of us had used Git trailers much before, and we agreed a small commit message example showing how to add your trailer to the message would have got us on the right track a little faster!
Related issues
Here's the (internal only) Zendesk ticket where you can see the customer and I figure it out together: https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/204251
We ended up looking at this feedback issue to clarify a lot of our confusion: gitlab-com/gl-infra/delivery#1546 (closed)
Author's checklist (required)
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Follow the Documentation Guidelines and Style Guide. - If you have Developer permissions or higher:
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Ensure that the product tier badge is added to doc's h1
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Apply the documentation label, plus: - The corresponding DevOps stage and group labels, if applicable.
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development guidelines when changing docs under
doc/development/*
,CONTRIBUTING.md
, orREADME.md
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development guidelines and Documentation guidelines when changing docs under
development/documentation/*
. - development guidelines and Description templates (.gitlab/*) when creating/updating issue and MR description templates.
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Assign the designated Technical Writer.
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Do not add the feature, frontend, backend, ~"bug", or database labels if you are only updating documentation. These labels will cause the MR to be added to code verification QA issues.
When applicable:
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Update the permissions table. -
Link docs to and from the higher-level index page, plus other related docs where helpful. -
Add the product tier badge accordingly. -
Add GitLab's version history note(s). -
Add/update the feature flag section.
Review checklist
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1. Primary Reviewer
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Review by a code reviewer or other selected colleague to confirm accuracy, clarity, and completeness. This can be skipped for minor fixes without substantive content changes.
2. Technical Writer
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Technical writer review. If not requested for this MR, must be scheduled post-merge. To request for this MR, assign the writer listed for the applicable DevOps stage. -
Ensure docs metadata are present and up-to-date. -
Ensure Technical Writing and documentation are added. -
Add the corresponding docs::
scoped label. -
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For suggestions that you are confident don't need to be reviewed, change them locally and push a commit directly to save others from unneeded reviews. For example:
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this is a typpo
. - Minor issues, like single quotes instead of double quotes, Oxford commas, and periods.
For more information, see our documentation on Merging a merge request.
3. Maintainer
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Review by assigned maintainer, who can always request/require the above reviews. Maintainer's review can occur before or after a technical writer review. -
Ensure a release milestone is set. -
If there has not been a technical writer review, create an issue for one using the Doc Review template.