[Bioc-devel] Requirment for a Vignette

[Robert Gentleman]

Aedin Culhane wrote:
> Dear All,
> May I ask a little query?
> 
> Increasingly, there are Bioconductor packages (many core) without a 
> vignette. 

   I hope not. It is a requirement, and no less of one for core packages 
than for anyone else.  But it is a requirement only for release, not 
devel.  Operationally, we do not take submissions that are not for 
release, so all submissions must have vignettes. But many of the core 
related packages in devel may not have one, and most new ones are 
unlikely to have one until very close to release, when we finalize the 
API we are going to support for the next release.

   We (the core developers) do use the bioc-devel repository as a way to 
share ideas so that things there are often very intermediate, and we 
expect anyone working off of that to be aware of the risks involved in 
using software under active development.

  In just a few days you will see the manifest for the 2.1 release 
change, and all packages that are not scheduled for release will be 
dropped. Once that happens, we will look for missing vignettes, but you 
could send me (either on or off list) a set of the packages that you 
have found without them, and I will start pushing on people to produce 
something.

   But as I am sure you are aware someone can easily circumvent any 
technical requirement we impose, so the only really reliable way to push 
on a developer to provide good documentation, is for their users to ask 
for more.  That also provides some feedback to the developer that their 
code is being used, so that more development effort is of benefit.

  best wishes
    Robert



> 
> In my own work, I have found several BioC package tutorials/vignettes 
> invaluable.  They assisted me learn Bioconductor, but additional they 
> provide one with a understanding of the objective of a package and a 
> grasp of the order and procedures required to execute its many functions.
> 
> Has the requirement for a package vignette in Bioconductor packages 
> slackened? 
> 
> Thanks a million
> Aedin
> 
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> 

-- 
Robert Gentleman, PhD
Program in Computational Biology
Division of Public Health Sciences
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
1100 Fairview Ave. N, M2-B876
PO Box 19024
Seattle, Washington 98109-1024
206-667-7700
rgentlem at fhcrc.org