[ISSUE]: 6.3.0 diag flag not working

[peschmae]

Prerequisites

• I have written a descriptive issue title
• I have searched issues to ensure it has not already been reported

GitVersion package

GitVersion.CmdLine

GitVersion version

6.3.0

Operating system

macOS

What are you seeing?

When running gitversion with the /diag flag, no diag output is logged.

$ gitversion -diag
{
  "AssemblySemFileVer": "4.0.0.0",
  "AssemblySemVer": "4.0.0.0",
  "BranchName": "main",
  "BuildMetaData": null,
  "CommitDate": "2025-05-02",
  "CommitsSinceVersionSource": 55,
  "EscapedBranchName": "main",
  "FullBuildMetaData": "Branch.main.Sha.58ee094bf82d3d5fd265f49b86e9b39a499f723c",
  "FullSemVer": "4.0.0",
  "InformationalVersion": "4.0.0+Branch.main.Sha.58ee094bf82d3d5fd265f49b86e9b39a499f723c",
  "Major": 4,
  "MajorMinorPatch": "4.0.0",
  "Minor": 0,
  "Patch": 0,
  "PreReleaseLabel": "",
  "PreReleaseLabelWithDash": "",
  "PreReleaseNumber": null,
  "PreReleaseTag": "",
  "PreReleaseTagWithDash": "",
  "SemVer": "4.0.0",
  "Sha": "58ee094bf82d3d5fd265f49b86e9b39a499f723c",
  "ShortSha": "58ee094",
  "UncommittedChanges": 0,
  "VersionSourceSha": "819c687a914b4567faf9fa647bd9d0aa14df909e",
  "WeightedPreReleaseNumber": 60000
}

What is expected?

Diag output is shown exactly like in 6.2.0

$ gitversion-6.2.0 -diag
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:69] Please run `git log --graph --format="%h %cr %d" --decorate --date=relative --all --remotes=*` to see the git graph. This can help you troubleshoot any issues.

INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:69] Working directory: <REPO_PATH>
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:70] Project root is: <REPO_PATH>
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:70] DotGit directory is: <REPO_PATH>/.git
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:70] Branch from build environment:
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:77] Using latest commit on specified branch
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:80] Getting tagged semantic versions. TagPrefix:  and Format: Strict
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:84] Running against branch: main ('58ee094' - chore: promote external-secrets v1beta1 to v1)
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:84] -< Begin: Fetching the base versions for version calculation... >-
  INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:84] -< Begin: Calculating base versions for 'main' >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:84] -< Begin: [Using 'ConfiguredNextVersionVersionStrategy' strategy] >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:84] -< End: [Using 'ConfiguredNextVersionVersionStrategy' strategy] (Took: 0.29ms) >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:84] -< Begin: [Using 'MainlineVersionStrategy' strategy] >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:85] -< End: [Using 'MainlineVersionStrategy' strategy] (Took: 0.23ms) >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:85] -< Begin: [Using 'MergeMessageVersionStrategy' strategy] >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:87] -< End: [Using 'MergeMessageVersionStrategy' strategy] (Took: 23.71ms) >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:87] -< Begin: [Using 'TaggedCommitVersionStrategy' strategy] >-
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:87] -< Begin: Getting tagged semantic versions on branch 'refs/heads/main'. TagPrefix:  and Format: Strict >-
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:87] -< End: Getting tagged semantic versions on branch 'refs/heads/main'. TagPrefix:  and Format: Strict (Took: 0.85ms) >-
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] Git tag '3.1.1': Version increment '3.1.1' +semver 'Major' with label '' based on commit '819c687'.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] Git tag '3.1.0': Version increment '3.1.0' +semver 'Major' with label '' based on commit '88ae521'.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] Git tag '3.0.1': Version increment '3.0.1' +semver 'Major' with label '' based on commit '860266f'.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] Git tag '3.0.0': Version increment '3.0.0' +semver 'Major' with label '' based on commit '917fcee'.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '2.2.0' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '2.1.0' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '2.0.0' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '1.3.0' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '1.2.1' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '1.2.0' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '1.1.0' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
      INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] The tag '1.0.0' is skipped because it provides a lower base version than other tags.
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< End: [Using 'TaggedCommitVersionStrategy' strategy] (Took: 32.17ms) >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< Begin: [Using 'TrackReleaseBranchesVersionStrategy' strategy] >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< End: [Using 'TrackReleaseBranchesVersionStrategy' strategy] (Took: 0.22ms) >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< Begin: [Using 'VersionInBranchNameVersionStrategy' strategy] >-
    INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< End: [Using 'VersionInBranchNameVersionStrategy' strategy] (Took: 0.28ms) >-
  INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< End: Calculating base versions for 'main' (Took: 58.04ms) >-
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< End: Fetching the base versions for version calculation... (Took: 59.11ms) >-
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -------------------------------------------------------
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] Found multiple base versions which will produce the same SemVer (4.0.0-1), taking latest source for commit counting (Git tag '3.1.1')
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] Base version used: Git tag '3.1.1': Take '3.1.1' based on commit '819c687'.
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -------------------------------------------------------
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< Begin: Using continuous deployment workflow to calculate the incremented version. >-
  INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] 55 commits found between '819c687' - chore(chart): Bump chart version to 3.1.1 and '58ee094' - chore: promote external-secrets v1beta1 to v1
INFO [25-05-08 9:19:43:90] -< End: Using continuous deployment workflow to calculate the incremented version. (Took: 1.50ms) >-
Set Build Number for 'LocalBuild'.

Set Output Variables for 'LocalBuild'.
{
  "AssemblySemFileVer": "4.0.0.0",
  "AssemblySemVer": "4.0.0.0",
  "BranchName": "main",
  "BuildMetaData": null,
  "CommitDate": "2025-05-02",
  "CommitsSinceVersionSource": 55,
  "EscapedBranchName": "main",
  "FullBuildMetaData": "Branch.main.Sha.58ee094bf82d3d5fd265f49b86e9b39a499f723c",
  "FullSemVer": "4.0.0",
  "InformationalVersion": "4.0.0+Branch.main.Sha.58ee094bf82d3d5fd265f49b86e9b39a499f723c",
  "Major": 4,
  "MajorMinorPatch": "4.0.0",
  "Minor": 0,
  "Patch": 0,
  "PreReleaseLabel": "",
  "PreReleaseLabelWithDash": "",
  "PreReleaseNumber": null,
  "PreReleaseTag": "",
  "PreReleaseTagWithDash": "",
  "SemVer": "4.0.0",
  "Sha": "58ee094bf82d3d5fd265f49b86e9b39a499f723c",
  "ShortSha": "58ee094",
  "UncommittedChanges": 0,
  "VersionSourceSha": "819c687a914b4567faf9fa647bd9d0aa14df909e",
  "WeightedPreReleaseNumber": 60000
}

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run gitversion /diag using 6.3.0 release => no output
2. Run gitversion /diag using 6.2.0 release => diag output

RepositoryFixture Test

No response

Output log or link to your CI build (if appropriate).

[MTomBosch]

As a workaround just use the log file cli arg together with /verbosity Verbose. The log file then contains the same content.

[adzyk]

command:

gitversion /diag /verbosity Verbose 

not contains diagnostic messages

$ gitversion /diag /verbosity Verbose
{
  "AssemblySemFileVer": "0.2.0.0",
  "AssemblySemVer": "0.2.0.0",
  "BranchName": "master",
  "BuildMetaData": null,
  "CommitDate": "2025-07-15",
  "CommitsSinceVersionSource": 51,
  "EscapedBranchName": "master",
  "FullBuildMetaData": "Branch.master.Sha.f9e27e9f43d693331f26a9894df2299d351afac7",
  "FullSemVer": "0.2.0",
  "InformationalVersion": "0.2.0+Branch.master.Sha.f9e27e9f43d693331f26a9894df2299d351afac7",
  "Major": 0,
  "MajorMinorPatch": "0.2.0",
  "Minor": 2,
  "Patch": 0,
  "PreReleaseLabel": "",
  "PreReleaseLabelWithDash": "",
  "PreReleaseNumber": null,
  "PreReleaseTag": "",
  "PreReleaseTagWithDash": "",
  "SemVer": "0.2.0",
  "Sha": "f9e27e9f43d693331f26a9894df2299d351afac7",
  "ShortSha": "f9e27e9",
  "UncommittedChanges": 114,
  "VersionSourceSha": "2a60b2da2c27bd44578a2d5298a51a01e65cef13",
  "WeightedPreReleaseNumber": 60000
}
$ gitversion /version
6.3.0+Branch.main.Sha.74ac886dbb8f9bf037a0a7cc19f5f04f03e691c9

[fteotini]

Can confirm the issue

[otac0n]

Still an issue in 6.4.0

[asbjornu]

In normal working conditions, the expected output from GitVersion is a full and valid JSON document. Writing log messages to stdout would break this.

I’m not sure what we can do about this without a complete rearchitecture of the CLI as planned for v7, which will involve major breaking changes.

[otac0n]

@asbjornu can you please answer these two question?

1. What was the reason for the breaking change from 6.2 -> 6.3?
2. Why is it still documented as a feature when running dotnet-gitversion -? then?

/diag Runs GitVersion with additional diagnostic information
(requires git.exe to be installed)

[reenx]

With
"gitversion -output file -verbosity Diagnostic"
the output is still only the json object with versions. I do not see any diagnostic information.
We regularly use the diagnostic information to figure out why a wrong version is calculated. I understand your statement about writing log messages to stdout. But this is existing behaviour. And behaviour that we rely on.
If it is changed fine. But then update the documentation and supply guidence on how we can get this information. The verbose flag does not work at all. Am I missing an option?

[asbjornu]

1. What was the reason for the breaking change from 6.2 -> 6.3?

@otac0n, sorry, I was not aware that this was a breaking change in 6.2 (I assumed it was introduced in 6.0). That definitely requires investigation and correction of some sort!

3. Why is it still documented as a feature when running dotnet-gitversion -? then?>

Good question. Seems like an oversight. Pull requests fixing this (preferably with a test to protect against further regressions) are more than welcome! 🙏🏼

[D3-LucaPiombino]

With "gitversion -output file -verbosity Diagnostic" the output is still only the json object with versions. I do not see any diagnostic information. We regularly use the diagnostic information to figure out why a wrong version is calculated. I understand your statement about writing log messages to stdout. But this is existing behaviour. And behaviour that we rely on. If it is changed fine. But then update the documentation and supply guidence on how we can get this information. The verbose flag does not work at all. Am I missing an option?

Yep, we also rely heavily on this for the same reason.

Today as a workaround we need to run gitversion twice (one time with /diag and another with the normal output) as sometimes it's not easy to repro an issue and we always want to have the logs for convenience.

[HHobeck]

Okay great. Thank you for reporting this issue. @peschmae and others: Could you please find the root cause and create a pull request?