Allow commitMessageSuffix without an automatically inserted space

[paduszyk]

Tell us more.

I would like to configure Renovate commit messages so that they end with punctuation, for example:

Updated dependency lodash to v4.17.21.

I tried:

{
  "commitMessageAction": "Updated",
  "commitMessageSuffix": ".",
  "commitMessageLowerCase": "never"
}

However, this produces:

Updated dependency lodash to v4.17.21 .

There is an unwanted space before the period.

This commit-message style is used by Django, whose commit messages conventionally begin with a capitalized past-tense verb and end with a period. Supporting punctuation without an inserted space would make it possible to follow that convention using Renovate's non-deprecated commit-message configuration options.

Current behavior

The default commitMessage template places spaces between all message components, including before commitMessageSuffix:

{{{commitMessagePrefix}}} {{{commitMessageAction}}} {{{commitMessageTopic}}} {{{commitMessageExtra}}} {{{commitMessageSuffix}}}

Consequently, commitMessageSuffix cannot be used for punctuation without producing an extra space.

Expected behavior

There should be a supported way to append a suffix directly to the preceding component, so that:

{
  "commitMessageSuffix": "."
}

can produce:

Updated dependency lodash to v4.17.21.

Current workaround

The complete commitMessage template can be overridden:

{
  "commitMessage": "{{{commitMessagePrefix}}} {{{commitMessageAction}}} {{{commitMessageTopic}}} {{{commitMessageExtra}}}.",
  "commitMessageAction": "Updated",
  "commitMessageLowerCase": "never"
}

However, commitMessage is deprecated, and the documentation recommends customizing its individual components instead.

Possible solutions

One possible solution would be a configuration option controlling the separator before commitMessageSuffix. Alternatively, Renovate could support a punctuation-specific suffix or a template mechanism that permits suppressing the preceding space.

This may also warrant clarification in the documentation if the current spacing is intentional and will not be changed.

[paduszyk]

I also tried appending the period through commitMessageExtra:

{
  "commitMessageExtra": "{{ commitMessageExtra }}."
}

This does not work because commitMessageExtra cannot refer to its previously generated value while Renovate is rendering that same field. Configuring it replaces the existing template rather than wrapping or extending it.