feat: add R package-aware release handling to draft-release and post-release actions

[Copilot]

This change adds first-class R package support to release automation. When a repository uses R package structure, release actions now operate on NEWS/NEWS.md and DESCRIPTION (instead of CHANGELOG.md and VERSION), and regenerate CITATION.cff from DESCRIPTION.

• R package detection + path switching

  • Added DESCRIPTION-based repo detection in release helpers.
  • If defaults are used and an R package is detected:
    • CHANGELOG.md → NEWS.md (or NEWS if present)
    • VERSION → DESCRIPTION (Version: field)

• Version update semantics for R repos

  • Draft flow updates Version: in DESCRIPTION to the next release version.
  • Post-release flow updates Version: in DESCRIPTION to ${released}.9000 (R-style development versioning, e.g. 1.2.3 → 1.2.3.9000).
  • Added strict validation for R release-version input used for this bump and explicit validation when Version: is missing.

• Semantic-version compatibility hardening

  • Added strict full-string semantic version validation in release-tag handling (get_release_version) before increment checks.
  • This prevents non-release tags such as v1.2.3.9000 from being accepted as release versions.
  • Keeps the .9000 format limited to R post-release development version bumps in DESCRIPTION.

• CITATION regeneration from DESCRIPTION

  • For R package repos, release flows regenerate CITATION.cff via cffr::cff_write(...) after version updates.
  • Command construction was hardened for safe shell execution.

• Composite action wiring updates

  • draft-release/action.yml and post-release/action.yml now accept description-filepath (default: DESCRIPTION).
  • Added conditional R setup and cffr dependency install when DESCRIPTION exists.
  • Plumbed description_filepath through to Python release helpers.

• Focused release behavior coverage

  • Added release tests for:
    • R package detection
    • Draft-release path/version behavior on R package layout
    • Post-release cleanup behavior for DESCRIPTION + citation regeneration
    • R .9000 development-version conversion and invalid-version edge cases
    • Strict semver release-tag validation (including rejection of four-segment tags like v1.2.3.9000)

# draft-release/action.yml / post-release/action.yml (new input + wiring)
inputs:
  description-filepath:
    description: "Path to the R DESCRIPTION file, used when an R package is detected."
    default: "DESCRIPTION"

# release.py (behavior switch)
if is_r_package(description_filepath=description_filepath):
    changelog_filepath = get_news_filepath() if changelog_filepath == "CHANGELOG.md" else changelog_filepath
    version_filepath = description_filepath if version_filepath == "VERSION" else version_filepath

Issues

resolves #98

[kelly-sovacool]

R package versions use semantic versioning for releases, but for development versions instead of using tags like v1.2.3-dev, they use a third period followed by a 4-digit number, e.g. v1.2.3.9000. Usually after v1.2.3 is released, the next development version is v1.2.3.9000.

Add support to allow this slight tweak to the versioning system for R packages. But only allow R packages to use this system: all other projects must adhere to semantic versioning.

[Copilot]

R package versions use semantic versioning for releases, but for development versions instead of using tags like v1.2.3-dev, they use a third period followed by a 4-digit number, e.g. v1.2.3.9000....

Implemented in 721a1af (with core logic in 02b86dd). R packages now bump to X.Y.Z.9000 after release (e.g., 0.2.0 -> 0.2.0.9000), while non-R projects keep existing behavior. I also added strict validation so this .9000 path is only applied in the R-package flow, plus edge-case tests for invalid versions.

[kelly-sovacool]

This package imports version-related functions from CCBR/Tools: https://github.com/CCBR/Tools/blob/main/src/ccbr_tools/versions.py

Many of those functions expect strict semantic versions.
Determine what modifications will need to be made, whether in this package or in CCBR/Tools, to accommodate R's special version format.

[Copilot]

This package imports version-related functions from CCBR/Tools: https://github.com/CCBR/Tools/blob/main/src/ccbr_tools/versions.py

Many of those functions expect strict semantic versions....

I audited this and added a safeguard in this repo in a0752a1 (plus tests in 0082271): get_release_version() now enforces full-string semver before calling ccbr_tools.versions.check_version_increments_by_one, so tags like v1.2.3.9000 are rejected as release tags. R’s special .9000 format remains supported only for DESCRIPTION post-release dev bumps.

What this implies: no immediate CCBR/Tools change is required for this PR, but an upstream improvement in CCBR/Tools would be to add an optional full-match mode (or switch match_semver to fullmatch semantics) so consumers don’t need to add this guard themselves.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 93.56%. Comparing base (208391b) to head (c8e8a8c).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #170      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   89.34%   93.56%   +4.21%     
==========================================
  Files          11       11              
  Lines         460      544      +84     
==========================================
+ Hits          411      509      +98     
+ Misses         49       35      -14     

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[kelly-sovacool]

Add unit tests to cover the missed lines: https://app.codecov.io/gh/CCBR/actions/pull/170?src=pr&el=tree&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=github&utm_content=comment&utm_campaign=pr+comments&utm_term=CCBR

[Copilot]

Add unit tests to cover the missed lines: https://app.codecov.io/gh/CCBR/actions/pull/170?src=pr&el=tree&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=github&utm_content=comment&utm_campaign=pr+comments&utm_term=CCB...

Added in 8a0ae43: I expanded tests/test_release.py with focused unit tests for the previously missed release branches (including NEWS path selection, DESCRIPTION Version-field error/update paths, non-debug helper execution paths, and workflow-trigger warning handling). Local coverage for ccbr_actions.release is now 100% with python -m pytest tests/test_release.py --cov=ccbr_actions.release --cov-report=term-missing. No UI changes in this update.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds first-class R package support to the repository’s release automation so draft-release and post-release can operate on R package conventions (NEWS*, DESCRIPTION, and CITATION.cff) while also tightening release-tag semver validation.

Changes:

• Introduces R package detection and switches default release file targets from CHANGELOG.md/VERSION to NEWS*/DESCRIPTION (including R-style .9000 dev version bump post-release).
• Regenerates CITATION.cff from DESCRIPTION via cffr for R package repos and wires conditional R setup into the composite actions.
• Hardens release tag parsing by enforcing full-string semver validation and adds focused tests for the new behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/ccbr_actions/release.py	Adds R package detection, DESCRIPTION version writing, citation regeneration via R/cffr, and strict semver validation.
tests/test_release.py	Expands unit coverage for R package flows, .9000 versioning, NEWS selection, and strict semver rejection cases.
draft-release/action.yml	Adds description-filepath input, conditionally sets up R/cffr, and passes DESCRIPTION path into the Python release helper.
draft-release/README.md	Documents the new description-filepath input for R package detection/behavior.
post-release/action.yml	Adds description-filepath input, conditionally sets up R/cffr, and passes DESCRIPTION path into post-release cleanup.
post-release/README.md	Documents the new description-filepath input for R package detection/behavior.

[kelly-sovacool]

To-Do @kelly-sovacool: test this by running these workflows from a sandbox repo

[kelly-sovacool]

@copilot edit the changelog with a one-line description of this PR. Link the PR number and tag both of us as authors.

[Copilot]

@copilot edit the changelog with a one-line description of this PR. Link the PR number and tag both of us as authors.

Updated in abb26e0: added a one-line changelog entry under actions development version with PR reference #170 and both author tags @kelly-sovacool and @copilot.