Patchnotater

Patchnotater is a role or system responsible for recording and communicating patch notes for software patches, updates, and version releases. The term can refer to a human responsible for writing release notes or to automated tooling that generates such notes.

In practice, patchnotaters compile, organize, and publish notes that describe changes, fixes, improvements, and any breaking changes. They collaborate with developers, QA teams, product managers, and technical writers to ensure accuracy, completeness, and appropriate tone.

Typical workflow involves collecting change details from commit messages, issue trackers, and pull request descriptions; classifying items by audience; structuring notes into sections (what’s new, fixed, known issues, and upgrade instructions); and publishing to release portals or documentation sites.

Patches may be documented manually or generated by automated patchnotating tools that parse repository data, apply templates, and publish to repositories or websites. Some teams maintain a dedicated release-notes repository or use CI/CD pipelines to refresh documentation.

The practice improves user understanding of updates, supports compliance and audit trails, and can reduce support load. Challenges include keeping notes timely, filtering sensitive information, avoiding vague or duplicate entries, and aligning terminology across products.

See also: changelog, release notes, release management, changelog automation.