How do I use semantic-version to create a new release with the correct new tag?

[Rod-at-DOH]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Actions Runner

Discussion Details

We're working on changing how we deploy to different Windows servers, from our GitHub Self-hosted Runner Windows server. Recently I came across Paul Hatch's Semantic-version v5.4.0. This is what I believe we need to use; however, I am struggling to make it work. I've search for examples and have come across one on Medium.com which looked promising, but I still don't get it. I'm starting how simple, but still aren't getting it. Here's what I've got so far:

name: Semantic Versioning Workflow

on:
   workflow_dispatch: # manual
    
jobs:
    Find-Version-Numbers:
        runs-on: self-hosted
        steps:
            - name: Checkout files
              uses: actions/checkout@v6
              with:
                  fetch-depth: 0 # Fetch all history for all branches and tags
            - name: Determine semantic version
              id: tagger
              uses: paulhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0
              with:
                  tag_prefix: 'v'
                  major_pattern: 'MAJOR'
                  minor_pattern: 'MINOR'
                  version_format: 'v${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${PATCH}'
            - name: Print Semantic Version
              run: |
                echo "Semantic Version: ${{ steps.tagger.outputs.version }}"

That last step, Print Semantic Version just prints "v..", which isn't helpful.

I could use help, please.

[syedsafeer]

Hi @Rod-at-DOH, you are incredibly close! The issue is simply a case-sensitivity typo in your version_format string.

The action expects the template variables to be strictly lowercase (${major}, ${minor}, ${patch}). Because you used uppercase, the action didn't recognize them, replaced them with nothing, and left you with just the literal v and the dots (which is why you see v..).

Also, since you have already set tag_prefix: 'v', you don't need to hardcode another v inside the version_format string, otherwise you might end up with double v's (like vv1.0.0) when using tag outputs.

Here is the corrected step:

YAML
- name: Determine semantic version
id: tagger
uses: paulhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0
with:
tag_prefix: 'v'
major_pattern: 'MAJOR'
minor_pattern: 'MINOR'
version_format: '${major}.${minor}.${patch}'
Now, ${{ steps.tagger.outputs.version }} will correctly print 1.0.0 (or your current version), and ${{ steps.tagger.outputs.version_tag }} will give you the full v1.0.0.

(If this fixes your workflow, please Mark as Answer.)

[Rod-at-DOH]

WOW, was that all it was? The 'v' not being in the version_format wasn't something I expected. And making MAJOR and MINOR lowercase is something I hadn't thought of. Well, I hope this question will help other newbies.

Thank you!!

[syedsafeer]

Glad it worked out!

[dipak-wagh]

name: Versioning

on:
push:
branches:
- main

jobs:
version:
runs-on: self-hosted # since you're using Windows self-hosted runner

steps:
  - name: Checkout code
    uses: actions/checkout@v4

  - name: Generate semantic version
    id: version
    uses: paulhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0
    with:
      tag_prefix: "v"
      major_pattern: "BREAKING CHANGE"
      minor_pattern: "feat"
      format: "${major}.${minor}.${patch}"

  - name: Print version
    run: echo "Version is ${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"

[ANovelForStudy]

The problem is case sensitivity in version_format. Use lowercase ${major}.${minor}.${patch} instead of uppercase. Also remove the extra v since tag_prefix: 'v' already adds it.

Corrected:

version_format: '${major}.${minor}.${patch}'