Submit to CRAN

[pearsonca]

Submit imuGAP to CRAN with a GitHub Actions-based release pipeline (coatless-actions/cran-submission is the example @pearsonca cited; treating it as the leading candidate until told otherwise). Covers prep, release CI/CD, NEWS hygiene, and Zenodo DOI minting.

Current state

• R CMD check --as-cran passes 0 warnings (9-cell matrix on main).
• DESCRIPTION still has roxygen2 boilerplate (Description: What the package does (one paragraph).), version 0.0.0.9000.
• No NEWS.md, no cran-comments.md, no CITATION.cff / .zenodo.json.
• No git tags. pkgdown site live. Zenodo tracking activated (per @pearsonca's comment above) — no DOI yet, Zenodo only mints on GitHub releases.

Work breakdown

1. DESCRIPTION polish — real Description:, bump Version: to 0.1.0.
2. NEWS.md (the R-ecosystem changelog convention; renders as "Changelog" in pkgdown and is the file CRAN's news check looks for) — initial # imuGAP 0.1.0 entry summarizing what shipped.
3. cran-comments.md — first-submission notes for CRAN reviewers (this is the comment field coatless-actions POSTs to the CRAN portal).
4. CITATION.cff — generate via cffr::cff_write(); picks up Carl + Claire's ORCIDs from Authors@R so Zenodo passes citations through to ORCID.
5. .github/workflows/cran-submission.yaml — GitHub Actions workflow wired on release: prereleased + workflow_dispatch with a confirmation: "CONFIRM" guard, error-on: warning. Implementation defaults to coatless-actions/cran-submission unless we go custom.
6. NEWS ↔ version sync check (per @pearsonca's question) — small workflow step asserting NEWS.md has a heading matching DESCRIPTION's Version: on release tags.
7. Cut v0.1.0 pre-release — triggers workflow → CRAN sends maintainer confirmation email → @pearsonca clicks → review.
8. After CRAN accepts — convert pre-release to full release (Zenodo mints DOI), add CRAN + DOI badges to README, double-check imugap-map's Remotes: ACCIDDA/imuGAP is gone (appears already absent on inspection).

Open questions for @pearsonca

• cran-comments.md: happy for us to draft a starting template, but the reviewer-facing voice is yours to set.
• NEWS sync check: hard-fail the release workflow if NEWS lacks the version heading, or just warn?
• First release version: v0.1.0 (dev → first public, conventional) or v1.0.0 (signal API stability)?

Out of scope

Patch / update releases. Captured in separate issues once we're on CRAN.

[pearsonca]

Maybe also some NEWS.md related CI/CD checks for releases?

[WestonVoglesonger]

Note: once imuGAP is accepted to CRAN, remove the Remotes: ACCIDDA/imuGAP field from the imugap-map DESCRIPTION file (it's only needed while imuGAP is GitHub-only).

[pearsonca]

n.b. i have activated zenodo tracking for this repo (doesn't trigger DOI generation yet, but now that capability is available)

[WestonVoglesonger]

@pearsonca — rewrote the issue body with a concrete work breakdown for the CRAN push, based on a read of coatless-actions/cran-submission's workflow and the current state of main (R CMD check green, but DESCRIPTION/NEWS/cran-comments/CITATION all still TBD). Three open questions at the bottom of the body for your steer before we start opening PRs.

[pearsonca]

cran-comments.md: happy for us to draft a starting template, but the reviewer-facing voice is yours to set.

draft please, then let's have @csmith701 do detailed content.

NEWS sync check: hard-fail the release workflow if NEWS lacks the version heading, or just warn?

eeeeeeehhhhhh, warn?

First release version: v0.1.0 (dev → first public, conventional) or v1.0.0 (signal API stability)?

conventional - I think we want some public feedback before signalling API stable.