# Generating a release definition

In a high velocity project operating on a trunk such as a #flxbl project and with substantial number of packages, manually generating release definition can be a chore. This can eased by using generating the release definition file automatically after every publish command.\
\
One can utilise [release config ](https://docs.flxbl.io/flxbl/sfp/development/defining-a-domain/release-config)along with release definition generate command to automate the process of generating release definitions.

```bash
# Community Edition
sfp releasedefinition:generate \
  --gitref main \
  --configfile config/release-config.yaml \
  --releasename "Release-2.0.0" \
  --directory releases \
  --branchname releasedefns

# sfp-pro Server Edition
sfp server releasedefinition:generate \
  --gitref HEAD \
  --configfile config/release-config.yaml \
  --releasename "Release-2.0.0" \
  --repository myorg/myrepo \
  --branch main
```

## Command Attributes

### Community Edition (sfp releasedefinition:generate)

| Flag                | Description                                                     | Required |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- |
| `-c, --gitref`      | Git reference (branch/tag/commit) to use for artifact selection | Yes      |
| `-f, --configfile`  | Path to the release configuration YAML file                     | Yes      |
| `-n, --releasename` | Name of the release for the definition                          | Yes      |
| `-b, --branchname`  | Repository branch to push the definition to                     | No       |
| `-d, --directory`   | Directory to write the release definition file                  | No       |
| `--nopush`          | Create definition locally without pushing to repository         | No       |
| `--forcepush`       | Force push changes to the repository branch                     | No       |
| `-m, --metadata`    | Additional metadata to include in the release definition        | No       |

### sfp-pro Edition (sfp server releasedefinition:generate)

| Flag                | Description                                                     | Required |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- |
| `-c, --gitref`      | Git reference (branch/tag/commit) to use for artifact selection | Yes      |
| `-f, --configfile`  | Path to the release configuration YAML file                     | Yes      |
| `-n, --releasename` | Name of the release for the definition                          | Yes      |
| `-b, --branch`      | Branch name for context (defaults to current branch)            | No       |
| `--repository`      | Repository identifier in the format org/repo                    | Yes      |
| `--skip-publish`    | Generate definition without publishing to server                | No       |
| `-m, --metadata`    | Additional metadata to include in the release definition        | No       |
| `--email`           | Email of the user generating the release                        | No       |

## How It Works

The command:

1. Reads the release configuration file to understand which packages to include
2. Uses the specified git reference to determine the latest artifact versions
3. Generates a release definition YAML with the correct versions
4. Either saves locally or publishes to the server/repository

For the community edition, if `--nopush` is not specified, the definition is pushed to the specified branch. For sfp-pro server edition, the definition is published to the server unless `--skip-publish` is used.