Why do plugin changelogs not have dates?

  • I have wondered this for a long time.
    Why not show the date of the latest revision of a plugin right next to or underneath the version number?
    This would be so helpful to me to check when a particular plugin was updated and I can see how many updates were made in the past few months (for example).
    It just seems logical to me to have this information.
    Maybe I am missing something? Or there is some reason that this is not done.
    I really think it would be helpful and should be added.
    Just my thoughts.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Changelogs aren’t dynamically generated. They actually come from a static changelog.txt file, wherein the developer can enter anything, even dates. For example: https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/jetpack/changelog/ from https://plugins.svn.www.ads-software.com/jetpack/tags/4.3.1/changelog.txt

    Unfortunately, some developers don’t do that, but there’s really no way to force them to currently.

    • This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by James Huff. Reason: whoops, forgot part of the example
    Thread Starter soflaweb

    (@soflaweb)

    I just thought there would be some template that is followed.
    I see JetPack does it correctly. It only makes sense to have the date of the version update along with the number and description.
    I guess I am the only one that gets bothered by this.
    The truth is, as long as everything is working fine, I never have to worry about it. But as soon as something goes haywire, then I start digging and it would be nice to know if the plugin was recently updated and then updated again a few days later (to possibly fix a known issue for example).
    Just a suggestion.
    Not really sure how to get this out to the developers. I guess when I make my first plugin I will make sure to include the dates in the changelog. ??

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    I recommend just requesting in a support thread on each plugin you use which doesn’t provide dates in its changelogs.

    In each plugin’s listing at https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/ there’s a “Support” tab where you can file a request.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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