moving release.config.js to .config folder not reading configuration correctly. version 23.0.0

[coderatchet]

Current behavior

When running a release, the config is not being picked up even though the breaking changes section says explicitly that i should move the release.config.js file into the .config folder.

with a file .config/release.config.js containing a branch configuration:

module.exports = {
  branches: ['main'],
  // ...
}

When running semantic-release, it has an error saying it must have 1-3 release branches configured:

A minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 release branches are required in the branches configuration (https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release/blob/master/docs/usage/configuration.md#branches).

This may occur if your repository does not have a release branch, such as master.

Your configuration for the problematic branches is [].

To Reproduce:

Have a basic node library with a minimum release.config.js file in the .config folder and branches configured to ['main']

run the semantic-release --dry-run (with local repo and branches if necessary)

This works fine if the release.config.js file is in the project's root directory, which is also unexpected behaviour

Expected behavior

Expect for the release to pick up the correct .config/release.config.js file as described in the breaking-changes of version 23.0.0

semantic-release version

23.0.0

CI environment

buildkite

Plugins used

commit-analyzer, release-notes-generator, npm, github, git

semantic-release configuration

module.exports = {
  branches: ['main'],
  dryRun: false,
  repositoryUrl: 'https://github.com/XXX',
  plugins: [
    [
      '@semantic-release/commit-analyzer',
      {
        releaseRules: [{ type: 'chore', scope: 'deps', release: 'patch' }],
      },
    ],
    [
      '@semantic-release/release-notes-generator',
      {
        preset: 'conventionalcommits',
        presetConfig: {
          types: [
            { type: 'feat', section: 'Features' },
            { type: 'fix', section: 'Bug Fixes' },
            { type: 'build', section: 'Dependencies' },
            { type: 'chore', hidden: true },
            { type: 'docs', hidden: true },
            { type: 'style', hidden: true },
            { type: 'refactor', hidden: true },
            { type: 'perf', section: 'Performance Improvements' },
            { type: 'test', hidden: true },
            { type: 'ci', hidden: true },
          ],
        },
      },
    ],
    '@semantic-release/npm',
    '@semantic-release/github',
    [
      '@semantic-release/changelog',
      {
        changelogFile: 'CHANGELOG.md',
      },
    ],
    [
      '@semantic-release/git',
      {
        assets: ['package.json', 'yarn.lock', 'CHANGELOG.md'],
        message: 'chore(release): ${nextRelease.version} [skip ci]\n\n${nextRelease.notes}',
      },
    ],
  ],
};

CI logs

ERELEASEBRANCHES The release branches are invalid in the branches configuration.

  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] A minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 release branches are required in the branches configuration (https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release/blob/master/docs/usage/configuration.md#branches).
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release]
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] This may occur if your repository does not have a release branch, such as master.
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release]
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] Your configuration for the problematic branches is [].
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release]
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] AggregateError:
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] SemanticReleaseError: The release branches are invalid in the branches configuration.
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] at default (file:///opt/app/node_modules/semantic-release/lib/get-error.js:6:10)
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] at file:///opt/app/node_modules/semantic-release/lib/branches/index.js:45:19
  | [2024-01-23T06:04:30Z] [ci:release] at Array.reduce ()

[travi]

could you switch to using a .releaserc.js instead? if so, does that result in different behavior? this breaking change is the result of upgrading cosmiconfig, as mentioned in our release notes. could you raise an issue there to get a better understanding of what might be causing your issue?

[travi]

sorry, there are enough variables to this that i should have been more clear.

i've never used a release.config.js with semantic-release, so i admit that i'm not entirely clear on where the disconnect is. the way i read the migration instructions from cosmiconfig, i thought moving an existing release.config.js from the root of the repo into the .config/ directory would be enough to adjust to the change.

i have used a .releaserc.js in some cases where i need the config to be dynamic and need the .js format. that file should be able to stay in the root of the repo instead of going in the .config/ directory (but note the . at the beginning of the file. unless you have a specific reason for the *.config.js filename format, i think the .releaserc.js alternative should accomplish the same outcome.

could you try moving the alternative name back to the repo root and add the . to the beginning of the file. interested to at least confirm that it would be an option to get back to working.

[mirkolenz]

I just had the same issue when upgrading to semantic release v23: I moves the config to .config/release.config.js and got the error about not having defined any branches. I stumbled upon this discussion and changed the file name to .releaserc.js and everting seems to be working just fine. Maybe it would be a good idea to adjust the manual and remove the instructions about release.config.js until a solution has been found? Thanks for maintaining this excellent piece of software and being responsive about questions like these ❤️

[travi]

Thank you for sharing the confirmation. Happy to review a PR with that adjustment.

[mirkolenz]

Great, I will give it a shot! Should I just remove mentions of the release.config.js file altogether?

Another question while I am at it: Does semantic-release support the files .releaserc.mjs and .releaserc.ts as well? I just skimmed over the cosmicconfig repo and saw that they mention support for these files. If this is possible, I would add that information to the docs as well.

[travi]

we use cosmicconfig directly, so any formats that it enables should be available to users of semantic-release. given that, maybe it is better to link to the cosmiconfig docs for that info rather than trying to replicate in the semantic-release docs?

[amenella]

Hi, I'm facing the same issue since upgrade to v23.

My setup is a GitlabCI pipeline (in a monorepo) which is launching the semantic-release cli using some args (specific for each subrepo - defined by the CI pipeline) and a dynamic JS config for semantic-release (which contains common parameters such as plugins etc...)

Historically, the config was named release.config.js and located at the root of the monorepo, since upgrade to v23, I tried with release.config.cjs, .releaserc.js, .config/.releaserc.js and none of them is working (therefore semantic-release is considering its default config including npm/github plugins).

Everything is working fine with v22, so I'm sticking with this version for the moment.

[amenella]

hi, thanks @travi for your answer, the context of the monorepo seems not related with the current issue (the semantic-release config is located at the root of the repo like any "normal" setup)

but maybe you were refering to the fact that we are using both a config and cli params at the same time (thus semantic-release is favoring cli params over config)?

anyway, it is working for us with v22, we'll stay on this one for the moment

[gojanpaolo]

We're also in a monorepo and only v22 worked.
Opened a ticket on semantic-release-monorepo.

[gojanpaolo]

EDIT: Workaround below didn't actually work

This seemed to work on our end with v23.
In root package.json

{
  ...
  "scripts": {
    ...
    "semantic-release": "yarn lerna exec --stream \"yarn semantic-release -e $(pwd)/release.config.js\""
  }
}

The relevant part is passing -e $(pwd)/release.config.js to semantic-release.

[gojanpaolo]

The workaround with -e flag didn't actually work because v23 is not calling semantic-release-monorepo plugin. We downgraded to v22 for now.

e.g. for analyzeCommits step, v23 does this

[semantic-release] › ℹ  Start step "analyzeCommits" of plugin "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer"
[semantic-release] [@semantic-release/commit-analyzer] › ℹ  Analyzing commit: ...

And with v22

[semantic-release] › ℹ  Start step "analyzeCommits" of plugin "[Function: semantic-release-monorepo]"
[semantic-release] [[Function: semantic-release-monorepo]] › ℹ  Start step "analyzeCommits" of plugin "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer"

[peikk0]

This is also discussed in #3163

[iamstarkov]

it probably should be a proper issue/bug instead of community discussion

[alper98]

Can confirm that v22 works, but v23 doenst.

It doesnt recognize any of my configuration files, no matter the extension or the location of the file.

[bradennapier]

Have y'all tried .cjs that still works for me in root directory (havent tried moving to .config directory)

release.config.cjs