[R-pkg-devel] Directing package feedback to Github issues

[Bruce Hoff]

Hi:

The official instructions for writing an R package (https://cran.r-project.
org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html) states, in part,

"The mandatory ‘Maintainer’ field should give a *single* name followed by a
*valid* (RFC 2822) email address in angle brackets.... For a CRAN package
it should be a *person*, not a mailing list and not a corporate entity: do
ensure that it is valid and will remain valid for the lifetime of the
package."


It seems like user feedback for a package (e.g. bug reports and feature
requests) to the maintainer would best be provided in terms of issues
opened in an issue tracking system rather than an email sent to a "person,
not a mailing list".  A prominent example is Github issue tracking, where
the Github repository for the issues could be the same issue.

Is there an accepted approach among R package authors to direct users of a
package to an issue tracking system?

Thank you,

Bruce Hoff
Sage Bionetworks

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