Add an explicit label to include issue in release notes

[johnsimons]

We have all been there where we run the release notes generator and certain issues appear in the release notes even though we do not want them to.

The current workaround is to either add internal refactoring or remove milestone association.

Workarounds

IMO these workarounds are not appropriate, removing a milestone from an issue that has been addressed in the about to be released version seems wrong, also even if an issue was not fixed but closed as Won't fix that to me should still be associated with a milestone, that is the timeline where we made that decision.
Adding an internal refactoring label so that the issue does not appear in the release notes seem strange too, IMO any "internal refactoring" we do is an "improvement".

Proposed solution

Create a new label called Include in Release Notes, straight to the point.
With this label I believe we do not need an internal refactoring label.
This label puts us in control of what is shown in the release notes and what is not in a much more clear way.

[SeanFeldman]

Support this suggestion. It will allow a fine tuning for release notes w/o loosing milestones or proper labels we have to do now.

In addition to that, PBot will stop bugging on issues that are not marked as Include in Release Notes reducing number of pings caretakers are receiving.

[mauroservienti]

Supposing, correct me if I am wrong, that most of the issues should be included in RN, shouldn't it be Exclude from Release Notes? so that everything is included except what we want to really exclude.

To me it is less prone to errors.

[johnsimons]

That is a good point @mauroservienti, I don't mind either way

[johnsimons]

@Particular/engineers
Is anyone opposed to go ahead with this change ?

[SimonCropp]

@johnsimons

Supposing, correct me if I am wrong, that most of the issues should be included in RN, shouldn't it be Exclude from Release Notes

Isnt this effectively what we have now?

[johnsimons]

It is similar @SimonCropp, but not exactly.
We currently have 2 possible workarounds to exclude issues, with this change we have an explicit way to exclude issues that is not tied to milestones or classification labels.

I am also not sure if having the Exclude from Release Notes instead of Include in Release Notes as proposed originally is the right way to go. My gut feeling is to be explicit all the time to be on the safe side.

[SimonCropp]

with this change we have an explicit way to exclude issues that is not tied to milestones

if the issue is not tied to a milestone then remove it from the milestone. no change required.

[johnsimons]

That is not what I meant @SimonCropp, what I mean is that we do not need to remove the milestone from an issue just because we do not want it to be include in the release notes, I've tried to explain the core reason for this change in the initial description, is the initial description not clear enough ? How can I improve it ?

[SimonCropp]

@johnsimons your description is clear. but the requirement is already met. it seems like a redundant feature

[johnsimons]

@SimonCropp I tend to disagree with that, otherwise the workarounds mentioned would not be required.

The proposal is to make this process easy to follow and more intuitive for anyone, do you consider the current process friendly ?

[gbiellem]

I like the fact that adding something to a milestone defaults it to being in the release notes and I don't see another label as necessary.

@johnsimons makes a good point regarding "won't fix" and timelines but i think it would weird to see these appear in the release notes in any form - Perhaps allow them to be in the milestone but just filter them out of the release notes

[SimonCropp]

also even if an issue was not fixed but closed as Won't fix that to me should still be associated with a milestone

This makes no sense to me. anything decided to not be fixed make no more sense being in one milestone or another. if we "wont fix" an issue it should be removed from the milestone.

[johnsimons]

@gbiellem regarding:

Perhaps allow them to be in the milestone but just filter them out of the release notes

I like that, so the Won't fix label gets excluded from release notes

[SimonCropp]

@johnsimons No. we are not putting "wont fix" issues in milestones