[Rd] Wish list

[Martin Maechler]

>>>>> "Duncan" == Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca>
>>>>>     on Sat, 06 Jan 2007 19:45:31 -0500 writes:

    Duncan> On 1/1/2007 1:28 AM, Gabor Grothendieck wrote:
    >> 7. documentation standards for packages - NEWS/ChangeLog
    >> (also should be accessible from CRAN page for package and
    >> should be included in built version of package) -
    >> package?mypackage

    Duncan> Just to let you know: I uploaded a revision of rgl
    Duncan> just a minute ago, and moved the ChangeLog file to a
    Duncan> place where it will be included when installed, and
    Duncan> available from the ?rgl or package?rgl help topic.

That's a good idea, but I think  "R CMD build" should try to do
this automatically,
and indeed try both 'NEWS' and 'ChangeLog'.

With something like the following as basic idea, 
ugly at the moment
(I'm using 'sh' syntax; assuming working directory is "just
 inside" the source package) :

 if [ ! -f inst/ChangeLog ]
 then
   if [ -f ChangeLog ]
   then
      if [ ! -d inst ] ; then mkdir inst ; fi
      mv ChangeLog inst

      <<< tar cfz .... etc build the   <pkg>_<version>tar.gz >>>

      mv inst/ChangeLog .
   fi
 fi

{{ yes, a proper solution would not use  'mv' and 'mv back' }}

For pkg authors on a Unix alike OS, a very simple
solution would be to simply always have the real file in  
   inst/ChangeLog
and have
   ln -s inst/ChangeLog .
such that niceities like "C-x 4 a" in Emacs for semi-automatic
ChangeLog updating still work.

----- 

BTW, I wonder if extending the list to also include files such
as "TODO" or "README" wouldn't make sense too, but probably not:
People really interested in a package's development look at the
package *source*, not the installed package.

    Duncan> Thanks for the suggestion.
    Duncan> Duncan Murdoch

yes, indeed.
Martin Maechler