[Bioc-devel] Update policy on experiment data and annotation packages

[Julian Gehring]

Hi,

What is the consensus on updating data in experiment data and annotation 
packages?

The bioc website [1] does not state any differences between the two 
package types in terms of updating their content.  From the bioc core, I 
have the information that (a) experimental data packages should 
represent 'frozen' data and not get updated over release cycles, while 
(b)  annotation packages should get updated with every release cycle. 
Should we add this information to the website?

I'm curious what this means for experimental data that accumulates over 
time, i.e. data from big consortia, as represented by e.g. 
'curatedOvarianData', 'SomaticCancerAlterations', and others.  Should 
one create create a new package with each release cycle (indicating the 
data version in the package name, as the 'SNPlocs*' packages) to ensure 
reproducibility?  Or update an annotation package with each release, and 
try to ensure backwards compatibility within the package itself?

Best wishes
Julian

----
[1] http://bioconductor.org/developers/package-guidelines/#package-types