NEWS.md

usethis (development version)

usethis 1.5.0

Git, GitHub (and GitLab)

usethis gains several functions to inspect and manipulate the Git situation for the current project = repository. We also provide more control and visibility into git2r's workings, especially around credentials (usethis uses git2r for all Git operations).

• git_sitrep() lets you know what's up with your Git, git2r and GitHub config (#328).

• git_vaccinate() vaccinates your global (i.e. user-level) git ignore file. It adds standard entries for R users, such as .Rhistory and .Rdata. This decreases the chance that you commit and push files containing confidential information (#469).

• git_remotes() and use_git_remote() are new helpers to inspect or modify Git remote URLs for the repo associated with the active project (#649).

• git_protocol() + use_git_protocol() and git_credentials() + use_git_credentials() are new helpers to summon or set Git transport protocol (SSH or HTTPS) or git2r credentials, respectively. These functions are primarily for internal use. Most users can rely on default behaviour. Use these helpers to intervene if git2r isn't discovering the right credentials (#653). usethis honors the usethis.protocol option, which allows you to express a general preference for SSH vs. HTTPS.

Other improvements and bug fixes:

• use_github() tries harder but also fails earlier, with more informative messages, making it less likely to leave the repo partially configured (#221).

• use_github() and create_from_github() gain a protocol argument (#494, @cderv).

• create_from_github() pulls from upstream master in a fork (#695, @ijlyttle).

• use_release_issue() creates a GitHub issue containing a release checklist, reflecting the standard practices of the tidyverse team (#338).

• use_github_release() creates a draft GitHub release using the entries in NEWS.md (#137).

• use_gitlab_ci() creates a gitlab-ci.yaml config file for GitLab CI (#565, @overmar).

• use_git_config() now invisibly returns the previous values of the settings.

• use_github_labels() has been rewritten be more flexible. You can now supply a repo name, and descriptions, and you can set colours/descriptions independently of creating labels. You can also rename existing labels (#290).

GitHub pull requests

We've added experimental functions to work with GitHub pull requests. They are aimed at both a maintainer (who may make, review, and modify pull requests) and a contributor (who may make or explore pull requests).

• git_sitrep() includes a section at the end aimed at describing "pull request readiness". Expect that to develop and expand.

• pr_init(), pr_fetch(), pr_push(), pr_pull(), pr_finish(), and pr_view() constitute the new family of helpers. They are designed to be smart about the significance of remotes with the standard names of origin and upstream and to facilitate both internal and external pull requests.

Partial file management

usethis gains tooling to manage part of a file. This is currently used for managing badges in your README and roxygen import tags:

• use_badge() and friends now automatically add badges if your README contains a specially formatted badge block (#497):

  <-- badge:start -->
  <-- badge:end -->
  

• use_tibble() and use_rcpp() automatically add roxygen tags to to {package}-package.R if it contains a specially formatted namespace block (#517):

  ## usethis namespace: start
  ## usethis namespace: end
  NULL

  Unfortunately this means that use_rcpp() no longer supports non-roxygen2 workflows, but I suspect the set of people who use usethis and Rcpp but not roxygen2 is very small.

Extending and wrapping usethis

• New proj_activate() lets you activate a project, either opening a new RStudio session (if you use RStudio) or changing the working directory (#511).

• proj_get() and proj_set() no longer have a quiet argument. The user-facing message about setting a project is now under the same control as other messages, i.e. getOption("usethis.quiet", default = FALSE) (#441).

• A new set of ui_*() functions makes it possible to give your own code the same user interface as usethis (#308). All use the glue and crayon and packages to power easy interpolation and formatting. There are four families of functions:

  • block styles: ui_line(), ui_done(), ui_todo(), ui_oops(), ui_info().
  • conditions: ui_stop(), ui_warn().
  • questions: ui_yeah(), ui_nope().
  • inline styles: ui_field(), ui_value(), ui_path(), ui_code().

• with_project() and local_project() are new withr-style functions to temporarily set an active usethis project. They make usethis functions easier to use in an ad hoc fashion or from another package (#441).

Tidyverse standards

These standards are (aspirationally) used by all tidyverse packages; you are welcome to use them if you find them helpful.

• Call use_tidy_labels() to update GitHub labels. Colours are less saturated, docs is now documentation, we use some emoji, and performance is no longer automatically added to all repos (#519). Repo specific issues should be given colour #eeeeee and have an emoji.

• Call use_logo() to update the package logo to the latest specifications: man/figure/logo.png should be 240 x 278, and README should contain <img src="man/figures/logo.png" align="right" height="139" />. This gives a nicer display on retina displays. The logo is also linked to the pkgdown site if available (#536).

• When creating a new package, use create_tidy_package() to start with a package following the tidyverse standards (#461).

• NEWS.md for the development version should use "(development version)" rather than the specific version (#440).

• pkgdown sites should now be built by travis and deployed automatically to GitHub pages. use_pkgdown_travis() will help you set that up.

• When starting the release process, call use_release_issue() to create a release checklist issue (#338).

• Prior to CRAN submission call use_tidy_release_test_env() to update the test environment section in cran-comments() (#496).

• After acceptance, try use_github_release() to automatically create a release. It's created as a draft so you have a chance to look over before publishing.

• use_vignette() includes the a standard initialisation chunk with knitr::opts_chunk$set(comment = "#>", collapse = TRUE) which should be used for all Rmds.

New functions not already mentioned

• use_devtools() (#624), use_conflicted() (#362), and use_reprex() (#465) help add useful packages to your .Rprofile.

• use_partial_warnings() helps the user add a standard warning block to .Rprofile (#64).

• edit_r_buildignore() opens .Rbuildignore for manual editing (#462, @bfgray3).

• use_lgpl_license() automates set up of the LGL license (#448, @krlmlr).

• use_ccby_license() adds a CCBY 4.0 license (#547, @njtierney).

• use_rcpp_armadillo() and use_rcpp_eigen() set up a package to use RcppArmadillo or RcppEigen, respectively (#421, @coatless, @duckmayr).

• use_c("foo") sets up src/ and creates src/foo.c (#117).

• use_covr_ignore() makes it easy to ignore files in test coverage (#434).

• use_pkgdown_travis() helps you set up pkgdown for automatic build-and-deploy from Travis-CI to GitHub Pages (#524).

• use_addin() does setup for RStudio addins (#353, @haozhu233).

• use_tutorial() creates a new interactive R Markdown tutorial, as implemented by the learnr package (@angela-li, #645).

• use_article() creates articles, vignettes that are automatically added to .Rbuildignore. These appear on pkgdown sites, but are not included with the package itself (#281).

• use_citation() creates a basic CITATION template and puts it in the right place (#100).

Other minor bug fixes and improvements

• write_union() appends the novel lines, but does not remove duplicates from existing lines (#583, @khailper).

• use_rcpp("foo") now creates src/foo.cpp (#117).

• use_data() gains a version argument and defaults to serialization format version 2 (#675).

• use_data_raw() accepts a name for the to-be-prepared dataset and opens a templated R script (#646).

• browse_github() now falls back to CRAN organisation (with a warning) if package doesn't have its own GitHub repo (#186).

• create_*() restore the active project if they error part way through, and use proj_activate() (#453, #511).

• edit_r_profile() and edit_r_environ() now respect environment variables R_PROFILE_USER and R_ENVIRON_USER, respectively (#480).

• use_description() once again prints the generated description (#287).

• use_description_field() is no longer sensitive to whitespace, which allows use_vignette() to work even if the VignetteBuilder field is spread over multiple lines (#439).

• use_logo() can override existing logo if user gives permission (#454). It also produces retina appropriate logos by default, and matches the aspect ratio to the http://hexb.in/sticker.html specification (#499).

• use_news_md() will optionally commit.

• use_package() gains a min_version argument to specify a minimum version requirement (#498). Set to TRUE to use the currently installed version (#386). This is used by use_tidy_eval() in order to require version 0.1.2 or greater of rlang (#484).

• use_pkgdown() is now configurable with site options (@jayhesselberth, #467), and no longer creates the docs/ directory (#495).

• use_test() no longer forces the filename to be lowercase (#613, @stufield).

• use_test() will not include a context() in the generated file if used with testthat 2.1.0 and above (the future release of testthat) (#325).

• use_tidy_description() sets the Encoding field in DESCRIPTION (#502, @krlmlr).

• use_tidy_eval() re-exports := (#595, @jonthegeek).

• use_tidy_versions() has source argument so that you can choose to use local or CRAN versions (#309).

• use_travis() gains an ext argument, defaulting to "org". Use ext = "com" for https://travis-ci.com (@cderv, #500).

• use_version() asks before committing.

• use_vignette() now has a title argument which is used in YAML header (in the two places where it is needed). The vignettes also lose the default author and date fields (@rorynolan, #445), and the R Markdown starter material. They gain a standard setup chunk.

• use_version("dev") now creates a standard "(development version)" heading in NEWS.md (#440).

• use_vignette() now checks if the vignette name is valid (starts with letter and consists of letters, numbers, hyphen, and underscore) and throws an error if not (@akgold, #555).

• restart_rstudio() now returns FALSE in RStudio if no project is open, fixing an issue that caused errors in helpers that suggest restarting RStudio (@gadenbuie, #571).

Dependency changes

• withr moves from Suggests to Imports.

• purrr and yaml are new in Imports.

usethis 1.4.0

File system

All usethis file system operations now use the fs package (#177). This should not change how usethis functions, but users may notice these features of fs-mediated paths:

• Paths are "tidy", meaning / is the path separator and there are never multiple or trailing /.
• Paths are UTF-8 encoded.
• A Windows user's home directory is interpreted as C:\Users\username (typical of Unix-oriented tools, like Git and ssh; also matches Python), as opposed to C:\Users\username\Documents (R's default on Windows). Read more in fs::path_expand().

Extending or wrapping usethis

These changes make it easier for others to extend usethis, i.e. to create workflow packages specific to their organization, or to use usethis in other packages.

• proj_path() is newly exported. Use it to build paths within the active project. Like proj_get() and proj_set(), it is not aimed at end users, but rather for use in extension packages. End users should use rprojroot or its simpler companion, here, to programmatically detect a project and build paths within it (#415, #425).

  • edit_file(), write_over(), and write_union() are newly exported helpers. They are mostly for internal use, but can also be useful in packages that extend or customize usethis (#344, #366, #389).

• use_template() no longer errors when a user chooses not to overwrite an existing file and simply exits with confirmation that the file is unchanged (#348, #350, @boshek).

• getOption("usethis.quiet", default = FALSE) is consulted when printing user-facing messages. Set this option to TRUE to suppress output, e.g., to use usethis functions quietly in another package. For example, use withr::local_options(list(usethis.quiet = TRUE)) in the calling function (#416, #424).

New functions

• proj_sitrep() reports current working directory, the active usethis project, and the active RStudio Project. Call this function if things seem weird and you're not sure what's wrong or how to fix it. Designed for interactive use and debugging, not for programmatic use (#426).

• use_tibble() does minimum setup necessary for a package that returns or exports a tibble. For example, this guarantees a tibble will print as a tibble (#324 @martinjhnhadley).

• use_logo() resizes and adds a logo to a package (#358, @jimhester).

• use_spell_check() adds a whitelist of words and a unit test to spell check package documentation during R CMD check (#285 @jeroen).

Other small changes and bug fixes

• usethis has a new logo! (#429)

• use_course() reports progress during download (#276, #380).

• use_git() only makes an initial commit of all files if user gives explicit consent (#378).

• create_from_github(): the repo argument is renamed to repo_spec, since it takes input of the form "OWNER/REPO" (#376).

• use_depsy_badge() is defunct. The Depsy project has officially concluded and is no longer being maintained (#354).

• use_github() fails earlier, with a more informative message, in the absence of a GitHub personal access token (PAT). Also looks for the PAT more proactively in the usual environment variables (i.e., GITHUB_PAT, GITHUB_TOKEN) (#320, #340, @cderv).

• The logic for setting DESCRIPTION fields in create_package() and use_description() got a Spring Cleaning. Fields directly specified by the user take precedence, then the named list in getOption("usethis.description") is consulted, and finally defaults built into usethis. use_description_defaults() is a new function that reveals fields found in options and built into usethis. Options specific to one DESCRIPTION field, e.g. devtools.desc.license, are no longer supported. Instead, use a single named list for all fields, preferably stored in an option named "usethis.description" (however,"devtools.desc" is still consulted for backwards compatibility). (#159, #233, #367)

Dependency changes

New Imports: fs, glue, utils

No longer in Imports: backports, httr, rematch2, rmarkdown (moved to Suggests), styler (moved to Suggests)

usethis 1.3.0

• usethis has a website: http://usethis.r-lib.org (#217). It includes an article with advice on system setup, for usethis and for R development more generally.

• edit_*() functions now return the target path, invisibly (#255).

• edit_git_ignore(scope = "user") prefers ~/.gitignore, but detects an existing ~/.gitignore_global, if it exists. If a new global gitignore file is created, it is created as ~/.gitignore and recorded in user's git config as the core.excludesfile (#255).

• create_from_github() gains several arguments and new functionality. The protocol argument lets user convey whether remote URLs should be ssh or https. In the case of "fork and clone", the original repo is added as upstream remote. It is now possible -- although rarely necessary -- to directly specify the GitHub PAT, credentials (in git2r form), and GitHub host (#214, #214, #253).

• use_github_labels() can create or update the colour of arbitrary GitHub issue labels, defaulting to a set of labels and colours used by the tidyverse packages, which are now exposed via tidy_labels(). That set now includes the labels "good first issue" and "help wanted" (#168, #249).

• appveyor_info() no longer reverses the repo's URL and image link. Corrects the markdown produced by use_appveyor_badge() (#240, @llrs).

• use_cran_badge() uses an HTTPS URL for the CRAN badge image (#235, @jdblischak).

• create_package() and create_project() return a normalized path, even if target directory does not pre-exist (#227, #228).

New functions

• use_git_config() can set user's Git name or email, globally or locally in a project/repo (#267).

• browse_github_pat() goes to the webpage where a GitHub user can create a personal access token (PAT) for the GitHub API. If the user configures a PAT, they can use functions like create_from_github() and use_github() to easily create and connect GitHub repos to local projects. (#248, #257, @jeroen, via @jennybc).

• use_version() increments the version of the active package, including an interactive chooser. use_dev_version() is now a special case wrapper around this. (#188, #223, @EmilHvitfeldt).

• use_tidy_github() creates a standard set of files that make a GitHub repository more navigable for users and contributors: an issue template, contributing guidelines, support documentation, and a code of conduct. All are now placed in a .github/ subdirectory (#165, @batpigandme).

• use_bioc_badge creates a Bioconductor badge that links to the build report (#271, @LiNk-NY).

• use_binder_badge() creates a badge indicating the repository can be launched in an executable environment via Binder (#242, @uribo).

usethis 1.2.0

New functions

• use_course() downloads a folder's worth of materials from a ZIP file, with deliberate choices around the default folder name and location. Developed for use at the start of a workshop. Helps participants obtain materials from, e.g., a DropBox folder or GitHub repo (#196).

• use_blank_slate() provides a way to opt in to an RStudio workflow where the user's workspace is neither saved nor reloaded between R sessions. Automated for scope = "project". Provides UI instructions for scope = "user", for now (#139).

• use_tidy_style() styles an entire project according to http://style.tidyverse.org (#72, #197 @lorenzwalthert).

• GitHub conventions common to tidyverse packages are enacted by use_tidy_contributing(), use_tidy_issue_template(), and use_tidy_support() (@batpigandme, #143, #166).

Other changes

• New projects that don't exhibit other obvious criteria for being a "project" will include a sentinel, empty file named .here, so they can be recognized as a project.

• Project launching and switching works on RStudio server (#115, #129).

• use_template() is newly exported, so that other packages can provide templating functions using this framework (@ijlyttle #120).

• use_readme_rmd() and use_readme_md() work, in a similar fashion, for projects that are and are not a package (#131, #135).

• use_readme_rmd() once again creates a pre-commit git hook, to help keep README.Rmd and README.md in sync (@PeteHaitch #41).

• Substantial increase in unit test coverage.

usethis 1.1.0

New helpers

• browse_github(), browse_github_issues(), browse_github_pulls(), browse_cran() and browse_travis() open useful websites related to the current project or a named package. (#96, #103).

• create_from_github() creates a project from an existing GitHub repository, forking if needed (#109).

• use_cc0_license() applies a CC0 license, particularly appropriate for data packages (#94)

• use_lifecycle_badge() creates a badge describing current stage in project lifecycle (#48).

• use_pkgdown() creates the basics needed for a pkgdown website (#88).

• use_r("foo") creates and edit R/foo.R file. If you have a test file open, use_r() will open the corresponding .R file (#105).

• use_tidy_versions() sets minimum version requirement for all dependencies.

Bug fixes and improvements

• use_dev_version() now correctly updates the Version field in a package description file. (@tjmahr, #104)

• use_revdep() now also git-ignores the SQLite database (#107).

• use_tidy_eval() has been tweaked to reflect current guidance (#106)

usethis 1.0.0

This is a new package that extracts out many functions that previously lived in devtools, as well as providing more building blocks so you can create your own helpers. As well as the many new helpers listed below, there are three main improvements to the package:

• More support for general R projects, other than packages.
• A notion of an "active" project that all commands operate on.
• Refined output.

usethis is gradually evolving towards supporting more general R "projects", not just packages. This is still a work in progress, so please let me know if you use a function that you think should work with projects but doesn't. You can also try out the new create_project() which creates a basic RStudio project.

The concept of the working directory and the "base path" have been refined. Rather than using an argument to specify the active project, all use_ functions now use a global active project setting, as returned by proj_get(). This is cached throughout a session, although it will be updated by create_package() and create_project(). You'll now get an clear error if you attempt to use_something() outside of a project, and create_something() will warn if you're trying to create inside an existing project.

The output from all usethis commands has been reviewed to be informative but not overwhelming. usethis takes advantage of colour (using crayon and RStudio 1.1) to help chunk the output and clearly differentiate what you need to do vs. what has been done for you.

New functions

• use_apl2_license() if you want to use the Apache 2.0 license.

• use_depsy_badge() allows including a Depsy badge (@gvegayon, #68).

• use_dev_package() works like use_package() but also adds the repo to the Remotes field (#32).

• use_github_labels() will automatically set up a standard set of labels, optionally removing the default labels (#1).

• use_pipe() creates a template to use magrittr's %>% in your package (#15).

• use_tidy_ci() which sets up travis and codecov using the tidyverse conventions (#14)

• use_tidy_description() puts description fields in a standard order and alphabetises dependencies.

• use_tidy_eval() imports and re-exports the recommend set of tidy eval helpers if your package uses tidy eval (#46).

• use_usethis() opens your .Rprofile and gives you the code to copy and paste in.

New edit functions

A new class of functions make it easy to edit common config files:

• edit_r_profile_user() opens .Rprofile
• edit_r_environ_user() opens .Renviron
• edit_r_makevars_user() opens .R/Makevars
• edit_git_config_user() opens .gitconfig
• edit_git_ignore_user() opens .gitignore
• edit_rstudio_snippets(type) opens ~/R/snippets/{type}.snippets

Updates

• use_coverage("codecov") now sets a default threshold of 1% to try and reduce false positives (#8).

• use_description() now sets ByteCompile: true so you can benefit from the byte compiler (#29)

• The license functions (use_mit_license(), use_apl2_license(), and use_gpl3_license()) save a copy of the standard license text in LICENSE.md, which is then added to .Rbuildignore. This allows you to follow standard licensing best practices while adhering to CRANs requirements (#10).

• use_package_doc() uses more modern roxygen2 template requires that less duplication.

• use_test() will use the name of the currently open file in RStudio if you don't supply an explicit name (#89).

• use_readme_rmd() now puts images in man/figures/ and no longer adds to .Rbuildgnore. This ensures that the rendered README.md will also work on CRAN (#16, #19). The first chunk now uses include = FALSE and is named setup (#19).

• use_revdep() creates structure for use with revdepcheck package, the preferred way to run revdepchecks. (#33)

Building blocks

• New use_badge() for adding any badge to a README. Now only prints a todo message if the badge does not already exist.

• use_directory() is now exported (#27).

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Functions which require code to be copied now automatically put the code on the clipboard if it is available (#52).

• create_package() no longer creates a dependency on the current version of R.

• use_build_ignore() now strips trailing /

• use_git() will restart RStudio if needed (and possible) (#42).

• use_github() now has an organisation parameter so you can create repos in organisations (#4).

• use_template() and use_test() now convert title to a slug that only contains lowercase letters, numbers, and -.

• use_vignette() now adds *.html and *.R to your .gitgnore so you don't accidentally add in compiled vignette products (#35).