Dist::Zilla::Plugin::NextRelease(3pm)

NAME
Dist::Zilla::Plugin::NextRelease - update the next release number in your changelog

VERSION
version 6.037

SYNOPSIS
In your dist.ini:

  [NextRelease]

In your Changes file:

  {{$NEXT}}

DESCRIPTION
Tired of having to update your Changes file by hand with the new version and release date / time each time you release your distribution? Well, this plugin is for you.

Add this plugin to your dist.ini, and the following to your Changes file:

  {{$NEXT}}

The "NextRelease" plugin will then do 2 things:

•   At build time, this special marker will be replaced with the version and the build date, to form a standard changelog header. This will be done to the in-memory file - the original Changes file won't be updated.

•   After release (when running "dzil release"), since the version and build date are now part of your dist's history, the real Changes file (not the in-memory one) will be updated with this piece of information.

The module accepts the following options in its dist.ini section:

filename
    the name of your changelog file; defaults to Changes

update_filename
    the file to which to write an updated changelog to; defaults to the "filename"

format
    sprintf-like string used to compute the next value of "{{$NEXT}}"; defaults to "%-9v %{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ssZZZZZ VVVV}d%{ (TRIAL RELEASE)}T"

time_zone
    the timezone to use when generating the date; defaults to local

user_stash
    the name of the stash where the user's name and email address can be found; defaults to %User

The module allows the following sprintf-like format codes in the "format":

%v  The distribution version

"%{-TRIAL}T"
    Expands to -TRIAL (or any other supplied string) if this is a trial release, or the empty string if not. A bare %T means "%{-TRIAL}T".

"%{-TRIAL}V"
    Equivalent to "%v%{-TRIAL}T", to allow for the application of modifiers such as space padding to the entire version string produced.

"%{CLDR format}d"
    The date of the release. You can use any CLDR format supported by DateTime. You must specify the format; there is no default.

%U  The name of the user making this release (from "user_stash").

%E  The email address of the user making this release (from "user_stash").

%P  The CPAN (PAUSE) id of the user making this release (from -Releaser plugins; see [UploadToCPAN]).

%n  A newline

%t  A tab

PERL VERSION
This module should work on any version of perl still receiving updates from the Perl 5 Porters. This means it should work on any version of perl released in the last two to three years. (That is, if the most recently released version is v5.40, then this module should work on both v5.40 and v5.38.)

Although it may work on older versions of perl, no guarantee is made that the minimum required version will not be increased. The version may be increased for any reason, and there is no promise that patches will be accepted to lower the minimum required perl.

SEE ALSO
Core Dist::Zilla plugins: AutoVersion, PkgVersion, PodVersion.

Dist::Zilla roles: AfterRelease, FileMunger, TextTemplate.

AUTHOR
Ricardo SIGNES 😏 <cpan@semiotic.systems>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2026 by Ricardo SIGNES.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.