I'm new to R and have started writing a medium-size project. Even though it will be distributed as part of an application, I've decided to make a package out of it to make the organisation neater.
How do I handle the fact that the DESCRIPTION file needs Version and Date fields, when I'm using version control? I wouldn't want to change that file with every git commit.
Is there a standard Makefile somewhere for this?
Further, I'm not completely clear on how I'd do this and still be able to use the package while developing.
If you use the devtools package you don't have to build and install your package after each edit - just use load_all() and the job is done in your working session, so you can test your changes (ideally with the testthat package).
I wrote an RPub about it: http://www.rpubs.com/geospacedman/lazydevtools
You still get the option to build a package source tarball for distribution.
Note that git doesn't promote a mechanism for automatically updating bits of files with every commit, like the $id$ thing in SVN. Linus himself said it was 'idiotic' and 'stupid':