Keeping a changelog for humans

Goal

Give users and operators a document that answers "what changed between the version I run and the version I am about to install", written for people rather than generated from raw commits.

Prerequisites

Versioned releases and one person or role responsible for the release notes of each version.

Steps

1. Keep CHANGELOG.md at the repository root with the newest version first.
2. Maintain an Unreleased section; every change that affects users adds a line there when it is merged, not at release time.
3. Group entries under the Keep a Changelog headings: Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed, Security.
4. At release, rename Unreleased to the version and ISO date (## [1.4.0] - 2026-09-15) and link the version to the comparison view in the repository.
5. Mark yanked releases explicitly and keep their entries; a removed entry hides a fact operators need.

Expected result

Reading two headings is enough to decide whether an upgrade is safe and what to test. Deprecations are announced before removals.

Limits and test basis

Commit logs are not changelogs: they contain internal noise and lack the user's perspective. Generated changelogs from typed commits can seed entries but still need editing. The cited guide is a convention, not a standard; the value comes from consistency within one project.