Auto-merge non-breaking vendor updates with improved messaging

[Copilot]

The vendor update workflow creates PRs for all dependency updates, including trivial patch/minor changes, and uses generic messaging that doesn't indicate severity or properly handle singular dependencies.

Changes

Auto-merge for non-breaking updates

• Minor/patch updates now commit directly to master, skipping PR creation
• Major version changes still create PRs with breaking change warnings
• Falls back to PR creation if direct push fails, with error details in logs

Semantic version analysis

• Detects major/minor/patch changes using version comparison
• Handles complex version strings (e.g., 2.52.0.windows.1) by extracting numeric components
• Treats unparseable versions as potentially breaking

Improved messaging

• PR titles: ⬆️ Update git-for-windows v2.52.0 (singular) vs ⬆️ Update 3 vendored dependencies (plural)
• Single dependency updates: Shows package name and version (e.g., "📦 Updated git-for-windows from 2.52.0.windows.1 to 2.53.0.windows.1") instead of generic "1 dependency" messages
• Change type indicators: ⚠️ major, ✨ minor, 🐛 patch, 🔄 unknown displayed as emojis in dependency table (removed redundant "Change Type" column)
• Single emoji usage throughout (📦) - removed double emoji for consistency
• Enhanced workflow summaries with contextual emojis throughout
• Collapsible changelog section: Major version updates include a <details> section with links to full changelog comparison and release notes

Example version comparison logic:

# Extracts numeric parts: "2.52.0.windows.1" → "2.52.0"
$parts = $version.Split('.') | Where-Object { $_ -match '^\d+$' } | Select-Object -First 4
$ver = [System.Version]::Parse($parts -join '.')

if ($newVer.Major -gt $oldVer.Major) {
    $changeType = "major"
    $hasBreakingChanges = $true
}

PR output examples

Multiple dependencies (collapsed view):

Multiple dependencies (expanded changelog for major updates):

Single dependency update:

Modified files:

• .github/workflows/vendor.yml - auto-merge logic, enhanced UI, changelog generation, and improved single dependency messaging
• scripts/update.ps1 - version analysis and environment variable exports

Original prompt

Improve pluralization for the update vendor CI/CD task; if there is only 1 vendored dependency, name that (also before/after version) instead of the current phrase that reads Updates to 1 vendored dependencies.

Also, improve the generated messages, in addition to that, use proper emojis where needed. We can look at depandabot's features for inspiration for our own tooling.

Lastly, if all the updated vendored dependencies are only minor (or more insignificant) and don't introduce breaking changes, the CI/CD workflow task can attempt to directly merge without needing a manual PR approve to avoid bothering the developers/maintainers. If this was unable to do so, you can warn about the unability to automatically merge/approve the PR in the step logs. It is prefered not to generate a PR in this case and automatically just push to master. If not, it should not break the current workflow where manual approves result in merging the PR.

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[DRSDavidSoft]

@copilot Please remove Change Type column as it is excessive, instead if the update is major, add a <details> with <summary> of changes below the table that contains the changelog between the old and new version

[Copilot]

Done in commit bf90303. Removed the "Change Type" column and added a collapsible <details> section below the table for major version updates with changelog and release notes links.

Example output with major update:

Collapsed view:

Expanded view:

The table now shows only Name, Old Version, and New Version columns with emoji indicators (⚠️ for major, ✨ for minor, 🐛 for patch). Major updates include a details section with links to the full changelog comparison and release notes.

[DRSDavidSoft]

@copilot Don't use multiple emoji icons, always use one.

Instead, if there is only an update to one dependency, use that name and version information, instead of 1 vendor updated message

[Copilot]

Done in commit e6fea0b. Removed double emoji logic and updated single dependency messages to show the dependency name and version.

Example output for single update:

The workflow now displays "📦 Updated git-for-windows from 2.52.0.windows.1 to 2.53.0.windows.1" instead of "📦 Automatically updated 1 dependency".

[DRSDavidSoft]

@copilot Likewise, instead of "Automatically updated 1 dependency" message, just state the name and version of the package instead.

[Copilot]

Done in commit e6fea0b. The PR body now shows the package name and version for single updates.

Example output:

For single updates, the heading displays "📦 Updated {name} from {old_version} to {new_version}" instead of the generic "Automatically updated 1 dependency" message.