Skip to content

Remove changelog PR step from desktop_auto_release.yml — orphaned PRs pile up #6561

@beastoin

Description

@beastoin

Problem

desktop_auto_release.yml creates a PR to sync desktop/CHANGELOG.json back to main after each release tag. When desktop pushes happen in quick succession, these PRs conflict on the same file and pile up. Currently 6 orphaned PRs open: #6521, #6523, #6529, #6539, #6547, #6550.

Root cause

The "Create and auto-merge PR to sync changelog back to main" step (lines ~275-311) creates a changelog/v{VERSION} branch per release. When two releases happen close together, the second PR conflicts with the first on CHANGELOG.json. Auto-merge fails due to: conflict state, Codemagic check failure on the PR, and branch protection requiring review.

Why the PR step is unnecessary

  • The workflow commits CHANGELOG.json and tags before creating the PR
  • Codemagic builds from the tag, not main — so it always has the correct changelog
  • Nothing reads the releases array from main's CHANGELOG.json — the workflow only reads unreleased, which devs populate in feature PRs
  • The unreleased array is cleared in the tag commit, so it's correct on the tag regardless of main

Fix

Delete the "Create and auto-merge PR to sync changelog back to main" step entirely from .github/workflows/desktop_auto_release.yml. This eliminates the orphaned PRs, the changelog/v* branches, and the race condition.

Note on authorship

These PRs show as authored by @beastoin because the workflow uses PAT_TOKEN (a personal access token) for gh pr create. GitHub attributes the PR to the token owner. The git commit uses github-actions[bot] but the PR creation uses the PAT identity.

Data source

Observed 6 open conflicting changelog PRs, 10+ successfully merged in last 48h. Pattern repeats on every rapid desktop release cycle.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    bugSomething isn't workingp3Priority: Backlog (score <14)

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions