Re: reading NEWS from installed package

[Carnë Draug]

On 3 November 2011 17:16, Olaf Till <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 12:30:47PM +0000, Carnė Draug wrote:
>>
>> I have modified the news function so one can also access the NEWS file
>> from installed package (patch
>> https://savannah.gnu.org/patch/index.php?7660).
>>
>> I have one question however. Currently there is no standard to where a
>> package should have its NEWS file (when it does). The only thing I see
>> is that the pkg function looks for a ChangeLog file at the root of the
>> package and if it exists, places it into the 'packinfo' of that
>> package. By looking into all the packages in octave-forge, I see two
>> cases:
>>
>>   * a ChangeLog file in the root of the package
>>   * a NEWS file in the doc directory
>>
>> My changeset supports the second case but could easily be modified for
>> other another behavior (even to try both cases). I prefer the idea of
>> the NEWS file to be consistent with octave (but not sure if it would
>> go in the doc or in the root of the package).
>>
>
> The GNU coding standards don't seem to prescribe a place for the NEWS
> file. But since the common practice for software packages seems to be
> a NEWS file in the root directory and, if present, manuals and
> examples in a subdirectory (e.g. 'doc'), I think we should also choose
> to place the NEWS file in the root directory (along with a possibly
> present ChangeLog). It is probably better to move the NEWS file in the
> control package one level up than to let the package manager look for
> it in different directories (of which 'doc' is only one possibility).
>
> What do you mean by 'consistent with Octave'? The style of the NEWS
> file?

I meant both naming the file NEWS (instead of ChangeLog) and placing
it in the root directory of the package (and leave docs for manuals
and whatever).

Carnë