What logs and metrics are most useful for Semantic versioning?

When implementing semantic versioning (SemVer) in your development and DevOps processes, monitoring the right logs and metrics is essential. This helps to ensure that your software is stable, reliable, and easily maintainable across different versions. Below are some of the most useful logs and metrics for effectively managing semantic versioning:

Useful Logs

  • Change Logs: Document the changes made in each version, including new features, bug fixes, and breaking changes.
  • Error Logs: Monitor logs for errors that occur during deployments or in production, particularly after releases that introduce breaking changes.
  • Access Logs: Track usage data for features that were added or modified in new versions, helping to gauge user adoption.

Useful Metrics

  • Release Frequency: Measure how often new versions are released to understand your team's deployment cadence.
  • Deployment Failure Rates: Track the percentage of deployments that fail, particularly after major version changes which might introduce breaking functionality.
  • User Feedback Ratings: Gather feedback metrics from users, especially for new features or changes to existing functionalities.

Example Code

// Example of a function to log version changes function logVersionChange($version, $changes) { $logEntry = "Version: " . $version . " | Changes: " . json_encode($changes) . "\n"; file_put_contents('version_changes.log', $logEntry, FILE_APPEND); } // Example usage logVersionChange('1.2.0', ['Added new login feature', 'Fixed bug in payment process']);

semantic versioning logs metrics change logs error logs access logs release frequency deployment failure rates user feedback