Runtime: Provide release notes per package and per version for all packages published on nuget.org

[evil-shrike]

Currently there's the lack of transparency what is going on with corefx packages published on nuget.org.
For example, in VS with my solution I open "Manage NuGet Packages for solution" and on "Updates" tab I can see that there's an update for System.Data.SqlClient. I have 4.4.0 but there's a newer 4.4.2 already.
Cool. Of cause I'll install it but I wonder what have changed.
There's no link to package page on nuget.org in VS UI btw. So I open nuget.org and search for System.Data.SqlClient. On package's page I can see the section "Release Notes" with this link - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=799421
It targets to https://github.com/dotnet/core/blob/master/release-notes/1.1/1.1.0-preview1.md
Mm. Kind of obsolete.
Nothing more.

[magol]

I have the same question when a new version is released.

[karelz]

@weshaggard @leecow are there any plans here?

[madelson]

Related to https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/23570

[weshaggard]

I'm not aware of any plans but I agree it would be nice, although it is a fair amount of data collection and coordination with our releases which are generally handled by our PM team @leecow @richlander @terrajobst.

[karelz]

Maybe all we need to do is to update the FWD link to point to the latest? Would that be sufficient middle ground?

[weshaggard]

That would be a step in the right direction but it sounds like what folks are after are release notes for individual packages which I don't think we really maintain currently.

[leecow]

The latest incarnation of the release notes includes packages that have changed as well as commit shas.

What to link from the nuget.org pages is another question entirely. The problem with updating and fwlink is that the current release notes will have nothing to do with most packages as they haven't changed.

[madelson]

@leecow would it be so hard to maintain a release notes md file for each package which highlights the changes for each version?

[leecow]

@madelson, not with appropriate processes and automation in place ;-) Will put it on the plate to figure out what this might look like to properly cover the ~170 packages and native libs included in NETCore.App as a starting point.

[johnkors]

The problem with updating and fwlink is that the current release notes will have nothing to do with most packages as they haven't changed.

Why do you release versions without changes..?

[johnkors]

Related scenario: I find something not working with System.Data.SqlClient in the latest version, but when I google I find a merged PR on GitHub addressing the issue. In what versions is the fix?

Example: https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/pull/27523
Today, I have to ask a corefx dev: https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/27686#issuecomment-370871977

Do you have any way for me to find out myself what version contains the fix, so I don't have to bother a maintainer..?

[karelz]

@johnkors for major versions, you can use the milestone to tell which version it is in. For latest version that of course means daily build / recent pre-release Preview build.

[weshaggard]

@leecow @terrajobst @richlander is there anything we plan to do to improve this in 2.1 release?

[leecow]

I would very much like to begin producing aggregated change lists for every package as part of the build pipeline but need to discuss how this could be implemented.

[weshaggard]

This is more a release management thing and not really code changes so marking Post-ZBB.

[weshaggard]

@leecow @terrajobst is this something we plan to do in 2.1?