Release notes

A release note is not a git message. A git message records what a commit changed. A release note tells a future reader deciding whether to adopt this version three things: what shipped, why it shipped (the rationale a commit omits), and what it means for them (a code-change / impact analysis). Every release carries one, in every place the project records releases.

Core principle: if the note would be identical to your commit subject line, it fails. The value is the why and the impact — the parts git history does not carry.

The mechanical half, which is not this file