如果我想升级一个 CRAN 存在的 R 包（从 0.2.0 到 0.2.1），我是否需要删除 R 包中的“CRAN-RELEASE”？

Question

I find that there is a CRAN-RELEASE file inside package after I first time release the package.

It said "This package was submitted to CRAN on 2020-07-25. Once it is accepted, delete this file and tag the release (commit ...)."

Since I already has version 0.2.0 for the package on CRAN, but do need to release up-version later (eg 0.2.1) on CRAN, do I need to keep that CRAN-RELEASE file or should I delete it? Will it affect anything?

Also, what is the second half sentence means "tag the release (commit ...)". Is that means I need to do something such as

Answer 1

I also wondered about the phrase "tag the release", but then I found section 20.7 of Wickham and Bryan's R-packages book, and it became clear.

For reference: there it says this (let's let a 'couple' mean 'three' ;-) )

Once your package has been accepted by CRAN, you have a couple of technical tasks to do:

• If you use GitHub, go to the repository release page. Create a new release with tag version v1.2.3 (ie “v” followed by the version of your package). Copy and paste the contents of the relevant NEWS.md section into the release notes.
• If you use git, but not GitHub, tag the release with git tag -a v1.2.3.
• Add the .9000 suffix to the Version field in the DESCRIPTION to indicate that this is a development version. Create a new heading in NEWS.md and commit the changes.