Package version release notes (reference)

[bearmannl]

Description of the new feature/enhancement

It would be great if the individual versions of packages could include a reference to the release notes of the package version. Ideally winget should be able to display the release notes, but for starters a reference to the actual release notes would be great.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

I would propose an additional field in the manifest to store a URL link to the release notes of the version.

[denelon]

@bearmannl could you give a couple of examples?

Currently the winget show command shows a subset of the metadata for the installer.

We've been discussing a "more verbose" view of the manifest data based on the locale the user is in. I believe I've seen a couple of examples in the PackageUrl field, but sometimes this just links to a marketing page on the publisher's site.

[bearmannl]

Yeah, sure. Not all are perfect, but here goes:

• With programs like Telegram Desktop it could reference the generic changelog page: https://desktop.telegram.org/changelog
• For packages based on GitHub releases it could reference the specific version, like: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/tag/v7.2.0-preview.7
• Blog posts that reference changes in a specific release, like https://blog.postman.com/whats-new-in-postman-7-24/
• Or even feature announcements that are known to match specific version release: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-june-2021-feature-summary/

Any of those URLs added to the package would allow a user to quickly check what's new. For instance, as a user of winget this morning I saw a new version upgrade of Power BI was available. Then I used a search engine to track down the release notes by searching for 'Power BI Desktop + the version number'.

If winget references that URL, a user would not have to use a search engine to match the version to the release notes. Optionally of course, as not every package will have release notes for every version.

Let me know if that helps!

[denelon]

Perfect, that's exactly what I was looking for.

We're looking at the 1.1 manifest schema, this might make it in.

Something like "PackageVersionReleaseNotesUrl"

[denelon]

How about including this in locale files:

ReleaseNotes: This release includes several bug fixes.
ReleaseNotesUrl: https://contoso.com/awesomeapp/1.0.4/releasenotes.html

[bearmannl]

How about including this in locale files:

ReleaseNotes: This release includes several bug fixes.
ReleaseNotesUrl: https://contoso.com/awesomeapp/1.0.4/releasenotes.html

That's awesome, gives everyone the flexibility to mix & match however they see fit or require.

---

Edit:
PS. Maybe have wingetcreate exclude these properties in an update? Or prompt for new input. Otherwise, it might defeat the purpose 😉

[denelon]

winget-cli/schemas/JSON/manifests/v1.1.0/manifest.defaultLocale.1.1.0.json

Lines 147 to 156 in 5a97e26

	"ReleaseNotes": {
	"type": [ "string", "null" ],
	"minLength": 1,
	"maxLength": 10000,
	"description": "The package release notes"
	},
	"ReleaseNotesUrl": {
	"$ref": "#/definitions/Url",
	"description": "The package release notes url"
	},

#1427

[denelon]

This will be enabled when the winget-pkgs repository accepts the 1.1 schema during validation.