Suggestion: help(<package name>)

Henrik Bengtsson writes:

Hi,
I would like to suggest a standard where all packages provide an Rd page 
with the same name (or aliased) as the name of package so that 
help(<package name>) or ?<package name> is always here. This especially 
of interest to large packages with a large package index. This page 
could explain the package in general and gives some hints on how to 
start - not like extensive vignettes, but just to get started, e.g. list 
the "most important" functions.  This page could typically contain 
information that is in the DESCRIPTION file (which contains valuable 
information hardly every accessed by a general user), such as who is the 
maintainer, how to report bugs and so on.

How would this be different from the results of

	help(package = <package name>)

?
Thanks for that. I was not aware of this one; I like how DESCRIPTION is 
included and how the index is divided in functions and dataset, e.g. 
help(package=MASS). May I also suggest that the CITATION file is 
included here, e.g. help(package=foreign).

My suggestion differ in the sense that 1) additional information may be 
included such as which functions are "main" functions and which are of 
less interest, and 2) that it would show up in the HTML index page too.

An automated solution such as help(package=<name>) is of course easier 
to maintain. Part of Rd files can be generated this way too, but I did 
not want to get too complicated in my suggestions.

/Henrik
-k

If you think the above is a good idea, then, would it even be useful to 
enforce the existance of such a Rd page in R CMD check?

Henrik Bengtsson

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Suggestion: help(<package name>)

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