Description

This is a relatively new feature of Gitlab where you can create a project access token that further creates a bot user that allows you to interact with the git repo and gitlab API. See more here:
https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/settings/project_access_tokens.html#project-access-tokens

I'm trying to use it but I think the problem is the Git username for Gitlab is hardcoded

https://github.com/relekang/python-semantic-release/blob/20d79a51bffa26d40607c1b77d10912992279112/semantic_release/vcs_helpers.py#L230

Possible implementation

1. Look for an optional GITLAB_BOT_USER environment variable so the project access tokens are entirely optional
2. Or, make everyone migrate to project access tokens for Gitlab and force an "actor" to be specified like is currently done for Github. Or just default to the format that Gitlab says: project_{CI_PROJECT_ID}_bot where CI_PROJECT_ID is a predefined environment variable available in the Gitlab jobs.