[Bioc-devel] kosher to expand & improve vignette after release?

[Robert Gentleman]

I want to second Martin's comment.  In my experience, working on
enhancing the vignette is always useful,
but it almost always points out some weaknesses in implementation that
need to be fixed or improved.  You
really don't want to put those into release, but rather into devel
where they get a bit of time to mature...


On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 8:08 PM, Martin Morgan <mtmorgan at fhcrc.org> wrote:
> On 04/13/2011 11:03 AM, Steve Lianoglou wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 12:53 PM, Paul Shannon
>> <pshannon at systemsbiology.org>  wrote:
>>>
>>> Is it permitted (tolerated? welcomed? discouraged?) to enhance and extend
>>> my package's vignette after the release?
>>
>> I know that if I were a user of your package, I'd very much
>> *encourage* you to do so :-)
>
> Hi Paul -- changes to release are meant to be bug fix only, so if the
> vignette contains a bug then fixing it would be appropriate.
>
> In the more usual context of code, one reason is stability, for user and
> other package code that depends on the release. Another set of reasons
> involve simplicity for the developer, and the freedom that the devel branch
> provides for trying things out that you might end up being unsatisfied with.
>
> These seem to apply, though less convincingly, to the vignette as well --
> e.g., the user expects to refer to the vignette and find the same thing from
> one week to the next (that little gem of wisdom that is now only one of an
> abundance), and those really clever ideas for conveying how the package can
> be used can turn out, after a few weeks' reflection, to be a little
> esoteric.
>
> So the answer is to reflect very carefully on changes introduced to the
> release branch, with the firm aim of correcting errors.
>
> Martin
>
>
>>
>> -steve
>>
>
>
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>
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>
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-- 
Robert Gentleman
rgentlem at gmail.com