Write useful release notes

Start from the behavior you can observe. The minor release notes show the new option, default behavior, compatibility, and a copy-paste upgrade example.

Consumers need consequences and migration steps more than a list of commit messages. The useful target is not encyclopedic coverage. Make one deliberate choice, observe its consequences, and know which requirement would make you revise it.

It is tempting to generate a changelog that names files but never explains user-visible behavior. That trades a clear decision for an assumption you will eventually have to debug. The stronger move is to organize notes around added, changed, fixed, deprecated, and security impact with concrete migration guidance. Make the boundary explicit in code and in the project notes.

Tie the decision back to the larger job: Maintain the package as a promise to consumers, with explicit support, measured changes, and a retirement path. Record enough evidence that another developer can repeat the result without relying on your memory.

Write release notes for one patch, minor, and major change to the utility and ask a consumer to predict the work required. Repeat it once with an invalid or hostile condition and write down the boundary the failure revealed.