Open Source Release

A comprehensive workflow for managing releases, changelogs, cross-platform builds, and checksums.

This example assumes your project stores its version in source files such as Cargo.toml or package.json. If your project derives its version from Git tags, skip the version-bump task and treat the tag as the source of truth.

Complete Jakefile

# Open Source Project Jakefile
# ============================

@dotenv
@require GITHUB_TOKEN

# Project metadata
name = "myproject"
version = "1.0.0"
repo = "username/myproject"

# Cross-compilation targets
targets = "x86_64-linux aarch64-linux x86_64-macos aarch64-macos x86_64-windows"

# === Core Development ===

@default
task all: [build, test]
    echo "Development build complete!"

task build:
    @needs cargo
    @pre echo "Building {{name}} v{{version}}..."
    cargo build --release
    @post echo "Binary: target/release/{{name}}"

task test:
    @needs cargo
    @pre echo "Running tests..."
    cargo test --all
    @post echo "All tests passed!"

task lint:
    @needs cargo
    cargo clippy -- -D warnings
    cargo fmt --check

task format:
    @needs cargo
    cargo fmt

task check: [lint, test]
    echo "All checks passed - ready to commit!"

# === Documentation ===

@group docs
@description "Generate documentation"
task docs:
    @needs cargo
    cargo doc --no-deps --open

@group docs
@description "Build docs for publishing"
task docs-build:
    @needs cargo
    cargo doc --no-deps
    echo "Documentation built: target/doc/"

# === Release Pipeline ===

@group release
@description "Build release binaries for all platforms"
task release-build:
    @needs cross
    @pre echo "Building for all platforms..."
    mkdir -p dist
    @each {{targets}}
        echo "Building for {{item}}..."
        @if eq("{{item}}", "x86_64-windows")
            cross build --release --target {{item}}-gnu
            cp target/{{item}}-gnu/release/{{name}}.exe dist/{{name}}-{{item}}.exe
        @else
            cross build --release --target {{item}}
            cp target/{{item}}/release/{{name}} dist/{{name}}-{{item}}
        @end
    @end
    @post echo "All platforms built!"

@group release
@description "Generate SHA256 checksums"
task checksums: [release-build]
    @cd dist
        shasum -a 256 {{name}}-* > checksums.txt
    echo "Checksums: dist/checksums.txt"

@group release
@description "Create release archive"
task release-package: [checksums]
    @require VERSION
    @confirm "Create release package for v$VERSION?"
    mkdir -p releases/v$VERSION
    cp dist/* releases/v$VERSION/
    cp CHANGELOG.md releases/v$VERSION/
    cp LICENSE releases/v$VERSION/
    echo "Release packaged: releases/v$VERSION/"

# === Changelog Management ===

@group release
@description "Verify CHANGELOG has unreleased changes"
task changelog-check:
    @if exists(CHANGELOG.md)
        grep -q "## \[Unreleased\]" CHANGELOG.md && \
        grep -A 100 "## \[Unreleased\]" CHANGELOG.md | grep -q "^### " || \
        (echo "Error: No unreleased changes in CHANGELOG.md" && exit 1)
        echo "Changelog has unreleased changes - good!"
    @else
        echo "Error: CHANGELOG.md not found"
        exit 1
    @end

@group release
@description "Convert Unreleased to version entry"
task changelog-release:
    @require VERSION
    @needs sed
    @pre echo "Updating CHANGELOG.md for v$VERSION..."
    sed -i.bak "s/## \[Unreleased\]/## [Unreleased]\n\n## [$VERSION] - $(date +%Y-%m-%d)/" CHANGELOG.md
    rm CHANGELOG.md.bak
    @post echo "CHANGELOG.md updated"

# === Version Management ===

@group release
@description "Bump version in project files"
task version-bump:
    @require VERSION
    @confirm "Bump version to $VERSION?"
    sed -i.bak "s/^version = \".*\"/version = \"$VERSION\"/" Cargo.toml
    rm Cargo.toml.bak
    @if exists(package.json)
        npm version $VERSION --no-git-tag-version
    @end
    echo "Version bumped to $VERSION"

@group release
@description "Full release workflow"
task release: [check, changelog-check]
    @require VERSION
    @confirm "Release v$VERSION to GitHub?"

    # Prepare release
    echo "Preparing release v$VERSION..."
    jake version-bump VERSION=$VERSION
    jake changelog-release VERSION=$VERSION
    jake release-package VERSION=$VERSION

    # Git operations
    git add -A
    git commit -m "chore: release v$VERSION"
    git tag -a "v$VERSION" -m "Release v$VERSION"

    # Push
    git push origin main
    git push origin "v$VERSION"

    # Create GitHub release
    gh release create "v$VERSION" \
        --title "v$VERSION" \
        --notes-file CHANGELOG.md \
        releases/v$VERSION/*

    echo "Released v$VERSION!"

# === CI Helpers ===

@description "Run CI checks locally"
task ci: [lint, test, docs-build]
    echo "CI simulation passed!"

# === Cleanup ===

task clean:
    cargo clean
    rm -rf dist/
    rm -rf releases/
    echo "Cleaned all build artifacts"

Usage

jake                        # Build and test
jake check                  # Full quality checks
jake release-build          # Cross-compile all platforms
jake checksums              # Generate SHA256 checksums
VERSION=2.0.0 jake release  # Full release workflow
jake ci                     # Simulate CI locally

Key Features

Cross-Platform Builds

Uses @each to iterate over targets:

@each {{targets}}
    cross build --release --target {{item}}
@end

Changelog Automation

Validates and updates CHANGELOG.md following Keep a Changelog format:

task changelog-check:
    grep -q "## \[Unreleased\]" CHANGELOG.md

Complete Release Flow

The release task orchestrates the entire process:

Run quality checks
Validate changelog
Bump version numbers
Update changelog
Create Git tag
Push to GitHub
Create GitHub release with assets

Customization

Update the metadata at the top:

name = "myproject";
version = "1.0.0";
repo = "username/myproject";
targets = "x86_64-linux aarch64-linux x86_64-macos aarch64-macos";

If you derive your version from tags instead of source files, remove the version-bump task and create the release from the changelog plus the Git tag.