[R-pkg-devel] Changing a package's name

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 13/06/2017 7:29 AM, Michael Dewey wrote:
> Dear David
>
> It is your package and you can choose the name you prefer. If you feel
> uncomfortable with the current one then change it. I do not think anyone
> else's opinion is relevant unless a package author picks a name that all
> right thinking people would find offensive.

However, CRAN's opinion is relevant if you want them to distribute it 
for you.  Name changes cause extra work for them so please don't do it 
unnecessarily, and if you do think it's necessary, explain your 
reasoning to them when you submit.

Duncan Murdoch

>
> On 11/06/2017 14:51, David Hugh-Jones wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> A short while ago I released the "huxtable" package for writing HTML and
>> LaTeX tables:
>> https://www.github.com/hughjonesd/huxtable
>>
>> The name seemed cute to me, but I later found out that to Americans it has
>> special associations. The Huxtables were the family in the Cosby show. That
>> would be fine, except that Bill Cosby is now on trial for one case of rape,
>> and there are accusations of many other cases.
>>
>> So, two questions:
>>
>> * Do you think I should change the name?
>>
>> Comments welcome from Americans and others on this difficult cultural issue.
>>
>> * If I do, what's the best and least disruptive way to do it? Bear in mind
>> that I have a couple of thousand users.
>>
>> My first thought would be to release an update which gives a warning about
>> the future change when the package is loaded; then release a package with
>> the new name and continue development on this branch.
>>
>> David
>>
>> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
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>