diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto_release.yml b/.github/workflows/auto_release.yml
index e028483..c25a80d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/auto_release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/auto_release.yml
@@ -1,84 +1,90 @@
 name: "Auto release"
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 env:
   HONEYCOMB_WRITEKEY: 7f3c63a70eecc61d635917de46bea4e6 
   HONEYCOMB_DATASET: litmus tests
   CHANGELOG_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
 jobs:
   auto_release:
     name: "Automatic release prep"
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
 
     steps:
     - name: "Honeycomb: Start recording"
       uses: puppetlabs/kvrhdn-gha-buildevents@pdk-templates-v1
       with:
         apikey: ${{ env.HONEYCOMB_WRITEKEY }}
         dataset: ${{ env.HONEYCOMB_DATASET }}
         job-status: ${{ job.status }}
 
     - name: "Honeycomb: start first step"
       run: |
         echo STEP_ID="auto-release" >> $GITHUB_ENV
         echo STEP_START=$(date +%s) >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
     - name: "Checkout Source"
       if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' }}
       uses: actions/checkout@v2
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
         persist-credentials: false
 
     - name: "PDK Release prep"
       uses: docker://puppet/iac_release:ci
       with:
         args: 'release prep --force'
       env:
         CHANGELOG_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
     - name: "Get Version"
       if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' }}
       id: gv
       run: |
         echo "::set-output name=ver::$(jq --raw-output .version metadata.json)"
 
-    - name: "Commit changes"
+    - name: "Check if a release is necessary"
       if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' }}
+      id: check
+      run: |
+        git diff --quiet CHANGELOG.md && echo "::set-output name=release::false" || echo "::set-output name=release::true"
+
+    - name: "Commit changes"
+      if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' && steps.check.outputs.release == 'true' }}
       run: |
         git config --local user.email "${{ github.repository_owner }}@users.noreply.github.com"
         git config --local user.name "GitHub Action"
         git add .
         git commit -m "Release prep v${{ steps.gv.outputs.ver }}"
 
     - name: Create Pull Request
       id: cpr
       uses: puppetlabs/peter-evans-create-pull-request@v3
-      if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' }}
+      if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' && steps.check.outputs.release == 'true' }}
       with:
         token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         commit-message: "Release prep v${{ steps.gv.outputs.ver }}"
         branch: "release-prep"
         delete-branch: true
         title: "Release prep v${{ steps.gv.outputs.ver }}"
         body: |
           Automated release-prep through [pdk-templates](https://github.com/puppetlabs/pdk-templates/blob/main/moduleroot/.github/workflows/auto_release.yml.erb) from commit ${{ github.sha }}. 
           Please verify before merging:
           - [ ] last [nightly](https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/workflows/nightly.yml) run is green
           - [ ] [Changelog](https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/blob/release-prep/CHANGELOG.md) is readable and has no unlabeled pull requests
           - [ ] Ensure the [changelog](https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/blob/release-prep/CHANGELOG.md) version and [metadata](https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/blob/release-prep/metadata.json) version match
         labels: "maintenance"
 
     - name: PR outputs
-      if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' }}
+      if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'puppetlabs' && steps.check.outputs.release == 'true' }}
       run: |
         echo "Pull Request Number - ${{ steps.cpr.outputs.pull-request-number }}"
         echo "Pull Request URL - ${{ steps.cpr.outputs.pull-request-url }}"
 
     - name: "Honeycomb: Record finish step"
       if: ${{ always() }}
       run: |
         buildevents step $TRACE_ID $STEP_ID $STEP_START 'Finished auto release workflow'
diff --git a/.sync.yml b/.sync.yml
index 3abeb36..55e74f6 100644
--- a/.sync.yml
+++ b/.sync.yml
@@ -1,31 +1,33 @@
 ---
 ".gitlab-ci.yml":
   delete: true
 appveyor.yml:
   delete: true
 
 Gemfile:
   optional:
     ":development":
     - gem: github_changelog_generator
+Rakefile:
+  changelog_max_issues: 500
 spec/spec_helper.rb:
   mock_with: ":rspec"
   coverage_report: true
 .gitpod.Dockerfile:
   unmanaged: false
 .gitpod.yml:
   unmanaged: false
 .github/workflows/pr_test.yml:
   unmanaged: false
 .github/workflows/nightly.yml:
   unmanaged: false
 .github/workflows/spec.yml:
   checks: 'syntax lint metadata_lint check:symlinks check:git_ignore check:dot_underscore check:test_file rubocop'
   unmanaged: false
 .github/workflows/release.yml:
   unmanaged: false
 .github/workflows/auto_release.yml:
   unmanaged: false
 .travis.yml:
   delete: true
 changelog_since_tag: 'v8.0.0'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 9486ad0..54422c5 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,89 +1,90 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 require 'bundler'
 require 'puppet_litmus/rake_tasks' if Bundler.rubygems.find_name('puppet_litmus').any?
 require 'puppetlabs_spec_helper/rake_tasks'
 require 'puppet-syntax/tasks/puppet-syntax'
 require 'puppet_blacksmith/rake_tasks' if Bundler.rubygems.find_name('puppet-blacksmith').any?
 require 'github_changelog_generator/task' if Bundler.rubygems.find_name('github_changelog_generator').any?
 require 'puppet-strings/tasks' if Bundler.rubygems.find_name('puppet-strings').any?
 
 def changelog_user
   return unless Rake.application.top_level_tasks.include? "changelog"
   returnVal = nil || JSON.load(File.read('metadata.json'))['author']
   raise "unable to find the changelog_user in .sync.yml, or the author in metadata.json" if returnVal.nil?
   puts "GitHubChangelogGenerator user:#{returnVal}"
   returnVal
 end
 
 def changelog_project
   return unless Rake.application.top_level_tasks.include? "changelog"
 
   returnVal = nil
   returnVal ||= begin
     metadata_source = JSON.load(File.read('metadata.json'))['source']
     metadata_source_match = metadata_source && metadata_source.match(%r{.*\/([^\/]*?)(?:\.git)?\Z})
 
     metadata_source_match && metadata_source_match[1]
   end
 
   raise "unable to find the changelog_project in .sync.yml or calculate it from the source in metadata.json" if returnVal.nil?
 
   puts "GitHubChangelogGenerator project:#{returnVal}"
   returnVal
 end
 
 def changelog_future_release
   return unless Rake.application.top_level_tasks.include? "changelog"
   returnVal = "v%s" % JSON.load(File.read('metadata.json'))['version']
   raise "unable to find the future_release (version) in metadata.json" if returnVal.nil?
   puts "GitHubChangelogGenerator future_release:#{returnVal}"
   returnVal
 end
 
 PuppetLint.configuration.send('disable_relative')
 
 if Bundler.rubygems.find_name('github_changelog_generator').any?
   GitHubChangelogGenerator::RakeTask.new :changelog do |config|
     raise "Set CHANGELOG_GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable eg 'export CHANGELOG_GITHUB_TOKEN=valid_token_here'" if Rake.application.top_level_tasks.include? "changelog" and ENV['CHANGELOG_GITHUB_TOKEN'].nil?
     config.user = "#{changelog_user}"
     config.project = "#{changelog_project}"
     config.since_tag = "v8.0.0"
+    config.max_issues = 500
     config.future_release = "#{changelog_future_release}"
     config.exclude_labels = ['maintenance']
     config.header = "# Change log\n\nAll notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org)."
     config.add_pr_wo_labels = true
     config.issues = false
     config.merge_prefix = "### UNCATEGORIZED PRS; LABEL THEM ON GITHUB"
     config.configure_sections = {
       "Changed" => {
         "prefix" => "### Changed",
         "labels" => ["backwards-incompatible"],
       },
       "Added" => {
         "prefix" => "### Added",
         "labels" => ["enhancement", "feature"],
       },
       "Fixed" => {
         "prefix" => "### Fixed",
         "labels" => ["bug", "documentation", "bugfix"],
       },
     }
   end
 else
   desc 'Generate a Changelog from GitHub'
   task :changelog do
     raise <<EOM
 The changelog tasks depends on recent features of the github_changelog_generator gem.
 Please manually add it to your .sync.yml for now, and run `pdk update`:
 ---
 Gemfile:
   optional:
     ':development':
       - gem: 'github_changelog_generator'
         version: '~> 1.15'
         condition: "Gem::Version.new(RUBY_VERSION.dup) >= Gem::Version.new('2.3.0')"
 EOM
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/metadata.json b/metadata.json
index 4b63f98..3e7d2b3 100644
--- a/metadata.json
+++ b/metadata.json
@@ -1,44 +1,44 @@
 {
   "name": "puppetlabs-apt",
   "version": "8.1.0",
   "author": "puppetlabs",
   "summary": "Provides an interface for managing Apt source, key, and definitions with Puppet",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "source": "https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-apt",
   "project_page": "https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetlabs-apt",
   "issues_url": "https://tickets.puppetlabs.com/browse/MODULES",
   "dependencies": [
     {
       "name": "puppetlabs/stdlib",
       "version_requirement": ">= 4.16.0 < 8.0.0"
     }
   ],
   "operatingsystem_support": [
     {
       "operatingsystem": "Debian",
       "operatingsystemrelease": [
         "8",
         "9",
         "10"
       ]
     },
     {
       "operatingsystem": "Ubuntu",
       "operatingsystemrelease": [
         "14.04",
         "16.04",
         "18.04",
         "20.04"
       ]
     }
   ],
   "requirements": [
     {
       "name": "puppet",
       "version_requirement": ">= 6.0.0 < 8.0.0"
     }
   ],
   "template-url": "https://github.com/puppetlabs/pdk-templates.git#main",
-  "template-ref": "heads/main-0-g2381db6",
-  "pdk-version": "2.1.0"
+  "template-ref": "heads/main-0-g51828b4",
+  "pdk-version": "2.2.0"
 }