R devel - Sep 2010 - Suggestion: Add DESCRIPTION 'Date' to R CMD check log header

Hi,

in R CMD check, the version of the package being checked is reported, e.g.

Thu Sep  9 05:02:30 2010: Checking package R.utils (SVN revision 399) ...
* using log directory ?/srv/R/R.check/R-devel/PKGS/R.utils.Rcheck?
* using R version 2.12.0 Under development (unstable) (2010-09-07 r52876)
* using platform: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (64-bit)
* using session charset: UTF-8
* checking for file ?R.utils/DESCRIPTION? ... OK
* this is package ?R.utils? version ?1.5.2?
...

I'd like to request/suggest that the 'Date' in the DESCRIPTION file
is
also added, e.g.

* this is package ?R.utils? version ?1.5.2? ('2010-09-14')


WHY?
This would be particular useful when you work toward sites like
R-forge and Bioconductor when you may commit your day's work on
package when you update the 'Date' but you do not really want to
update the 'Version' because you're going to put in more work
tomorrow.  With the 'Date' information you'll be able to see what
"version" of your updates have been checked by the servers.  I
understand that this may be an odd process to follow even for devel
branches and you may argue that you should always bump the version
number whenever you do an SVN commit (e.g. '1.5.2.1' for temporary
commits).  Either way, I find it useful to see the date as well.

Thxs

Henrik

Hi Henrik
>>>>> "HB" == Henrik Bengtsson <hb at
stat.berkeley.edu>
>>>>>     on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:26:31 -0700 writes:
    HB> Hi,
    HB> in R CMD check, the version of the package being checked is reported,
e.g.

    HB> Thu Sep  9 05:02:30 2010: Checking package R.utils (SVN revision 399)
...
    HB> * using log directory ?/srv/R/R.check/R-devel/PKGS/R.utils.Rcheck?
    HB> * using R version 2.12.0 Under development (unstable) (2010-09-07
r52876)
    HB> * using platform: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (64-bit)
    HB> * using session charset: UTF-8
    HB> * checking for file ?R.utils/DESCRIPTION? ... OK
    HB> * this is package ?R.utils? version ?1.5.2?
    HB> ...

    HB> I'd like to request/suggest that the 'Date' in the
DESCRIPTION file is
    HB> also added, e.g.

    HB> * this is package ?R.utils? version ?1.5.2? ('2010-09-14')


    HB> WHY?
    HB> This would be particular useful when you work toward sites like
    HB> R-forge and Bioconductor when you may commit your day's work on
    HB> package when you update the 'Date' but you do not really want
to
    HB> update the 'Version' because you're going to put in more
work
    HB> tomorrow.  With the 'Date' information you'll be able to
see what
    HB> "version" of your updates have been checked by the servers.
I
    HB> understand that this may be an odd process to follow even for devel
    HB> branches and you may argue that you should always bump the version
    HB> number whenever you do an SVN commit (e.g. '1.5.2.1' for
temporary
    HB> commits).  Either way, I find it useful to see the date as well.

I agree that this is useful.
Of course, for all those cases, where there's no  "Date:",
nothing (i.e. no "()") should be written.

If you (or someone) provide patches against  R-devel
( https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk/ )
and they pass 'make check-all', I'd add this feature.

Martin