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[R-pkg-devel] How to refer to COPYRIGHTS and AUTHORS extra files in DESCRIPTION

5 messages · git demont, Gábor Csárdi, Robert M. Flight +1 more

Original
git demont
# 
Hi all,

Sorry for asking again, but I got absolutely no advice on how to
correctly refer to extra copyrights and authors files in package
DESCRIPTION.
I know this can be considered as impolite and I don't want to do so.
So, I waited one week until sending the present message and I promise I
will not send another to ask for the same thing after this one.

Best,
Yohann
On Mon, Jun 29, 2020 at 4:04 PM git demont <git.demont at gmail.com> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

  
  


  


    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Gábor Csárdi
    

    

      
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HI,

here is an example from a package that was accepted relatively recently:
https://github.com/r-lib/presser/blob/master/DESCRIPTION#L8-L11

Gabor

        
On Tue, Jul 7, 2020 at 6:30 PM git demont <git.demont at gmail.com> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Robert M. Flight
    

    

      
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Yohann,

Here is a description of the strategy I used a couple of years ago.

https://rmflight.github.io/post/licensing-r-packages-that-include-others-code/

-Robert

        
On Tue, Jul 7, 2020 at 1:52 PM G?bor Cs?rdi <csardi.gabor at gmail.com> wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

        

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Ahmadou Dicko
    

    

      
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Hi Yohann,

I had a similar situation with my first package.
I used Author + Maintainer field instead Authors at R and I added the
inst/AUTHORS to Author and my email to the Maintainer field.
In the list of author names (and I have a lot of them in cgal4h), make sure
that you also define the different roles (i.e ctb, cph, etc).
You can access the metadata here and the Gitlab repository there

https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=cgal4h

Hope it helps.

Ahmadou

        
On Tue, Jul 7, 2020 at 5:30 PM git demont <git.demont at gmail.com> wrote:

        

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

        

  
    

      
      
    

  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      git demont
    

    

      
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Thank you Ahmadou, Robert and G?bor,

In package 'presser'  G?bor used no dedicated AUTHORS file but use
'comment' and 'role' tag of Authors at R to mention their contribution and
refer to further comments in file (e.g.  inst/credits/redoc.md, src/md5.h)

Robert, also described a strategy using Authors at R

Ahmadou, used something similar to what I have done in the 'IFC' package I
want to submit on CRAN, with extra AUTHORS and COPYRIGHTS files found in
inst/ directory of its 'cgal4h' package. Then, he used "Author: file
inst/AUTHORS" and "Copyright: file inst/COPYRIGHTS" in DESCRIPTION file to
refer to these files.

In 'RcppMsgPack' package, I was using as an example in my 1st message,
extra AUTHORS and COPYRIGHTS files found in 'inst/' directory were also
used.
DESCRIPTION file contains:
- Author: Travers Ching and Dirk Eddelbuettel; the authors and contributors
of MsgPack
- Copyright: file inst/COPYRIGHTS

So, as far as I understand from your replies, there seems to be no general
rule on how to do it.
But it seems that when Author: or Copyright: is used in DESCRIPTION and
refer to a file then 'inst/' directory should be prepend to the file name
(e.g.  Copyright: file inst/COPYRIGHTS)

In next submission I will use in DESCRIPTION:
Authors at R and have a 'inst/AUTHORS' file
Copyright: file inst/COPYRIGHTS  and have a 'inst/COPYRIGHTS' file
Description: <the description of my 'IFC' package> + See file 'COPYRIGHTS'
and file 'AUTHORS' for a list of copyright holders and authors

Thanks a lot for your help,
Yohann

On Tue, Jul 7, 2020 at 7:56 PM Ahmadou Dicko <dicko.ahmadou at gmail.com>
wrote: