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Releasing

Releases are driven entirely by Git tags — there are no version numbers in the source code. Pushing a tag to main triggers the release workflow automatically.

How it works

  1. A tag (e.g. v1.2.0) is pushed to main
  2. The release.yml workflow triggers
  3. Tests run; if they pass, a self-contained barebill.exe is published for win-x64
  4. A GitHub Release is created with the .exe attached and release notes auto-generated from merged PR titles

The binary has the tag version stamped into it (visible in About barebill) — no manual .csproj edits needed.

Versioning scheme

barebill uses Semantic Versioning:

Increment When to use
Major (v2.0.0) Breaking change to data schema or fundamentally different behaviour
Minor (v1.1.0) New feature shipped to users
Patch (v1.0.1) Bug fix or minor tweak with no new feature

Tags always use the v prefix: v1.0.0, v1.1.0, v1.0.1.

Step-by-step: creating a release

1. Confirm main is ready

git checkout main
git pull
dotnet test src/WorkTracking.slnx

All tests must pass before tagging.

2. Decide the version number

Look at the last tag to determine what changed since then:

git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline

Apply the versioning rules above.

3. Create and push the tag

git tag v1.1.0
git push origin v1.1.0

That's it — the release workflow handles everything else.

4. Verify the release

  • Go to Actions and confirm the Release workflow passes
  • Go to Releases and check that barebill.exe is attached and the release notes look correct

Fixing a bad release

If a release needs to be pulled:

  1. Delete the release on GitHub (Releases → Edit → Delete)
  2. Delete the tag locally and remotely: 
    git tag -d v1.1.0
git push origin :refs/tags/v1.1.0
  3. Fix the issue, merge a PR to main, then re-tag

Release notes

Release notes are auto-generated from merged PR titles since the previous tag. This means your PR titles matter — use the standard prefix format:

Prefix Appears under
feat: New Features
fix: Bug Fixes
docs: Documentation

If a PR title needs to be corrected after merge, edit it on GitHub before tagging — the release notes are generated at tag time.