diff --git a/contrib/git.nwchem/generate_changelog.sh b/contrib/git.nwchem/generate_changelog.sh
index 8237f48f1f..9aedbb8c3e 100755
--- a/contrib/git.nwchem/generate_changelog.sh
+++ b/contrib/git.nwchem/generate_changelog.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash -f
+#!/usr/bin/env bash 
 #git log v6.8...v6.8-release --oneline --reverse
 #args are tag1 and tag2
-git log $1...$2 --oneline --reverse
+#or branches, eg:
+#$1 origin/hotfix/release-7-0-0
+#$2  origin/release-7-2-0
+git log $1..$2 --oneline --reverse --no-merges --pretty="- %s (%as:%an)" | grep -v "ci skip" | grep -v "travis skip" | uniq|more