build(release): compare final changelog against previous stable tag

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -41,6 +41,28 @@ jobs:
         with:
           go-version-file: src/go.mod
 
+      - name: Select Previous Stable Tag For Final Releases
+        run: |
+          current_tag="${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
+          if [[ "$current_tag" == *-* ]]; then
+            echo "prerelease tag detected: $current_tag"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          previous_stable_tag="$(
+            git tag --list 'v*' --sort=-version:refname |
+              grep -Fxv "$current_tag" |
+              grep -Ev -- '-' |
+              head -n 1
+          )"
+
+          if [[ -n "$previous_stable_tag" ]]; then
+            echo "using previous stable tag: $previous_stable_tag"
+            echo "GORELEASER_PREVIOUS_TAG=$previous_stable_tag" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          else
+            echo "no previous stable tag found"
+          fi
+
       - name: Run GoReleaser
         uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v7
         with:

RELEASING.md

@@ -67,4 +67,4 @@ The resulting artifacts will be generated under `src/dist/`.
 
 If you use tags like `v1.2.3-rc1`, GoReleaser will mark the GitHub release as a prerelease.
 
-If you want the final `v1.2.3` release notes to compare cleanly against the previous stable release, avoid keeping old `rc` tags around longer than needed.
+For a final tag like `v1.2.3`, the release workflow forces GoReleaser to compare against the previous stable tag instead of the latest `rc` tag. This keeps the final changelog focused on stable-to-stable changes.