Re: reading NEWS from installed package

[Olaf Till]

On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 12:30:47PM +0000, Carnë Draug wrote:
> Hi
> 
> 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).
> 
> Carnë

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?

Olaf