8 The NEWS file
A NEWS
file should be included to keep track of changes to the code from one version to the next.
It can be a top level file or in the inst/
directory.
Only one NEWS
file should exist in the repository.
The following are acceptable locations and formats:
location | format |
---|---|
./inst/NEWS.Rd |
\(\LaTeX\) |
./inst/NEWS |
formatted text see ?news
|
./inst/NEWS.md |
markdown |
./NEWS.md |
markdown |
./NEWS |
formatted text see ?news
|
Specifics on formatting can be found on the help page for ?news
.
Bioconductor uses the NEWS
file to create the semi-annual release announcement.
It must include list elements and cannot be a plain text file.
An example format:
Changes in version 0.99.0 (2018-05-15)
+ Submitted to Bioconductor
Changes in version 1.1.1 (2018-06-15)
+ Fixed bug. Begin indexing from 1 instead of 2
+ Made the following significant changes
o added a subsetting method
o added a new field to database
After you install your package, the following can be run to see if the NEWS
is properly formatted:
utils::news(package="<name of your package>")
The output should look similar to the following:
Changes in version 1.1.1 (2018-06-15):
o Fixed bug. Begin indexing from 1 instead of 2
o Made the following significant changes
o added a subsetting method
o added a new field to database
Changes in version 0.99.0 (2018-05-15):
o Submitted to Bioconductor
If you get something like the following there are formatting errors that need to be corrected:
Version: 0.99.0
Date: 2018-05-15
Text: Submitted to Bioconductor
Version: 1.1.1
Date: 2018-06-15
Text: Fixed bug. Begin indexing from 1 instead of 2
Version: 1.1.1
Date: 2018-06-15
Text: Made the following significant changes o added a subsetting
method o added a new field to database