Use changelogs/current/ as entries-layout current sentinel (without dropping current.yaml parsing)

[Copilot]

In entries-layout repos, changelog discovery still depended on changelogs/current.yaml to identify the in-flight version. This change switches current-version discovery to changelogs/current/ while intentionally preserving current.yaml as the current changelog parse path (for date handling in the follow-up PR).

• AChangelogs current discovery (entries-layout only)

  • paths now uses current_dir_path instead of appending current_path when _entries_layout is true.
  • changelog_paths now derives current directly from project.version.base_version and maps it to current_dir_path, while still loading historical versions from changelogs/*.*.*.yaml.
  • Legacy single-yaml behavior is unchanged.

• Preserve current changelog parse path

  • In entries layout, current changelog detection no longer relies on current.yaml.
  • The instantiated current AChangelog still receives current_path (changelogs/current.yaml) as its _path, so existing get_data_from_entries(..., yaml_path=...) behavior remains intact.

• envoy.code.check messaging update

  • Updated duplicate-current error text to remove the assumption that current.yaml is the sole current representation.
  • Message now describes changelogs/<version>.yaml coexisting with changelogs/current/ for the in-flight changelog.

• Test updates

  • Added/updated tests for entries-layout paths and changelog_paths behavior.
  • Added coverage for current-changelog instance path selection in entries layout.
  • Updated exact expected duplicate-current error string.

# entries-layout branch
if self._entries_layout:
    historical_paths = self.project.path.glob(CHANGELOG_PATH_GLOB)
    current_version = _version.Version(self.project.version.base_version)
    return {
        **{self._version_from_path(path): path for path in historical_paths},
        current_version: self.current_dir_path,
    }

Original prompt

Background

In envoyproxy/envoy we are migrating the changelog layout from a single changelogs/current.yaml to a per-entry directory layout under changelogs/current/<section>/<area>__<slug>.rst (see envoyproxy/envoy#45093 and envoyproxy/envoy#45095).

The medium-term goal is to remove changelogs/current.yaml entirely. Right now the toolshed changelog code in py/envoy.base.utils/envoy/base/utils/abstract/project/changelog.py still depends on current.yaml in two distinct ways:

1. As the sentinel that identifies "the current changelog" — it's appended to paths, and _version_from_path special-cases path.stem == "current" to mean "use the project version".
2. As the store for the release date (Pending / May 19, 2026).

This PR addresses (1) only. The date relocation is a follow-up PR.

Goal

Make changelogs/current/ (the directory) the sole sentinel for the in-flight version in entries-layout mode, so the yaml file is no longer required to identify which version is "current". The yaml file may still be read for date — that's PR 2's problem.

Scope (entries-layout only)

All behavioral changes below MUST be gated on _entries_layout being true. Repos still on the single-yaml layout (no changelogs/current/ directory) MUST be completely unaffected.

Required changes

py/envoy.base.utils/envoy/base/utils/abstract/project/changelog.py

In AChangelogs:

• paths (currently appends self.current_path unconditionally): when _entries_layout is true, do NOT append self.current_path. The current version's "path" should be represented by self.current_dir_path instead. Non-entries layout: unchanged.

• changelog_paths / _version_from_path: in entries-layout mode, derive the current version directly from self.project.version.base_version rather than parsing it from path.stem == "current". One way:

  • Build changelog_paths as {historical versions from *.*.*.yaml glob} ∪ {current_version: current_dir_path} when _entries_layout.
  • Leave the non-entries path unchanged so path.stem == "current" keeps working there.
  • _version_from_path can keep its current behavior; the entries-layout branch just doesn't need it for the current entry.

• AChangelog.path (used by get_data / get_data_from_entries): for the current changelog in entries-layout mode, path should still point at current.yaml for now (so date reading in get_data_from_entries keeps working until PR 2). Only the discovery of "which version is current" stops depending on the yaml file's existence. Concretely: _path passed to the current Changelog instance in entries mode should remain current_path (the yaml), even though it was discovered via the directory. This keeps PR 1 a pure refactor of discovery.

py/envoy.code.check/envoy/code/check/abstract/changelog.py

• The check_version error message currently reads:

  "Duplicate current version file. Only current.yaml should exist for the current version ({version})"

  Update wording so it does not assume current.yaml is the sole representation. Suggested:

  "Duplicate current version file. A changelogs/{version}.yaml exists alongside the in-flight current changelog ({version})"

  The underlying duplicate_current detection logic does not need to change — it just compares the changelog's version against the project version. Only the user-facing string needs updating.

Tests

Update / add tests as needed. Key spots:

• py/envoy.base.utils/tests/test_abstract_project_changelogs.py
  • Any test that asserts paths includes current_path unconditionally needs an entries-layout variant where it instead includes current_dir_path.
  • Tests for changelog_paths / _version_from_path should cover the entries-layout branch.
• py/envoy.code.check/tests/test_abstract_changelog.py
  • test_changelogstatus_check_version asserts the exact error string — update to match the new wording.

Add at least one new test exercising the entries-layout discovery path so it doesn't regress.

Non-goals (explicitly out of scope)

• Do not move the date out of current.yaml. get_data_from_entries should keep reading date from yaml_path for now.
• Do not change write_current / write_date / write_version / is_pending / changes_for_commit behavior. They still touch current.yaml. PR 2 will address those.
• Do not remove CHANGELOG_CURRENT_PATH, current_path, or rel_current_path. Still in use.
• Do not touch CHANGELOG_URL_TPL — historical synced changelogs continue to live at current.yaml on tagged refs.
• Do not change behavior for repos without a changelogs/current/ directory.

Acceptance criteria

• Removing changelogs/current.yaml from an envoy checkout that has a changelogs/current/ directory still allows toolshed to:
  • enumerate changelogs and identify the current version
  • buil...

This pull request was created from Copilot chat.

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