Is the tag created by Paul Hatch's semantic-version the same as a GitHub Release?

[Rod-at-DOH]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Actions Runner

Discussion Details

I have started learning how to use Paul Hatch's semantic-version (I'm working with version 5.4.0). From what I've been able to gather, a GitHub Release is a specialized Git Tag. The GitHub Release is done in the github.com web interface. Late last week I got my first instance of a GitHub Tag created using paulhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0. I see that it is categorized as a tag, not a release. Does that really matter, or should I just think of what paulhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0 generates as a release that looks like a tag?

[Gecko51]

They're not the same thing. A Git tag is just a named pointer to a specific commit. paulhatch/semantic-version creates one of those, nothing more.

A GitHub Release is built on top of a tag. It adds a release page in the UI, release notes, downloadable assets, and shows up in the "Releases" section of your repo. It's a GitHub-layer concept, not a git concept.

Does it matter? Depends on what you need. For CI/CD purposes like triggering a workflow on tag push or injecting a version string into a build artifact, the tag alone is fine. If you want a proper Releases page with binaries and changelogs, you'd create a release from that tag separately.

A common pattern that works well:

- uses: paulhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0
  id: version
  # ... your config

- uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
  with:
    tag_name: v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}
    generate_release_notes: true

That gives you the semantic tag AND a proper GitHub Release pointing to it. Without the second step, you'll have a tag but the Releases section of your repo stays empty.

[Rod-at-DOH]

WOW! I am glad I asked! Thank you for your description of the difference between the two!! As I said, I've got Paul Hatch's semantic-version to create a tag. The softprops/action-gh-release is new to me. I'll have to look into it. From what you've said I presume semantic-version will not allow us to add a .zip file of the build to the tag, but perhaps softprops/action-gh-release will allow us to add a .zip file of the deployed app to the release. Is that correct?

Addendum

The thought occurred to me that if semantic-version could include the .zip of the deployed application into the git tag it generates, then maybe that would be good enough. So long as it incorporates all that we need (the body of the PR, the .zip of the deployed app). Is that possible? Or is softprops/action-gh-release the better option for doing that?

[Rod-at-DOH]

Hey @Gecko51 I've got a question for you. I was able to try to use the softprops/action-gh-release@v2 but when I looked at my workflow as it is, this is what I've got (a snippet from my workflow):

            - name: Determine semantic version
              id: tagger
              uses: paulhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0
              with:
                  tag_prefix: 'v'
                  major_pattern: 'MAJOR'
                  minor_pattern: 'MINOR'
                  version_format: '${major}.${minor}.${patch}'
            - name: Print Semantic Version
              run: |
                echo "Semantic Version: ${{ steps.tagger.outputs.version }}"

            - name: Create GitHub Release
              if: contains(fromJson('["feature/get-semantic-version-numbers"]'), github.ref_name)
              run: |
                git tag ${{ steps.tagger.outputs.version }}
                git push origin ${{ steps.tagger.outputs.version }}

I'm wondering if I should get rid of the "Create GitHub Release" step, replacing it with the softprops/action-gh-release?

[Rod-at-DOH]

Additional info. I decided to comment out the code I have with step named "Create GitHub Release", and I put in your softprops/action-gh-release@v2 code. I ran it, to completion. There are 2 things I noticed:

• The new tag it created is called "1.0.3", not "v1.0.3".
• It replaced the previous files that I did 5 days ago! This really surprises me! Why did it do that? How do I prevent it from doing that?

[sumitkumar2374]

1. Git Tag (Created by the Action):

The paulfhatch/semantic-version action primarily calculates the next version number and creates a Git Tag (e.g., v1.2.3 ).

• A tag is just a "pointer" to a specific commit in your history.

• It exists within the Git repository itself.

• It does not automatically include release notes, binaries, or assets.

2. GitHub Release:

A GitHub Release is a GitHub-specific feature that sits "on top" of a Git Tag.

• It requires a Git Tag to exist first.

• It provides a UI on GitHub to download source code (.zip , .tar.gz ).

• It allows you to attach Compiled Assets (like .exe , .apk , or bundles ).

• It includes a Changelog or Release Notes.

How to create a Release from the Tag?

If you want to automatically turn the tag created by this action into a full GitHub Release, you should use an additional step in your workflow (like softprops/action-gh-release ):

- name: Determine Version
  id: semver
  uses: paulfhatch/semantic-version@v5.4.0
  with:
    tag_prefix: "v"

- name: Create GitHub Release
  uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
  with:
    tag_name: ${{ steps.semver.outputs.version_tag }}
    generate_release_notes: true
  env:
    GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}