% File src/library/utils/man/package.skeleton.Rd
% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2007 R Core Development Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{package.skeleton}
\alias{package.skeleton}
\title{Create a Skeleton for a New Source Package}
\description{
  \code{package.skeleton} automates some of the setup for a new source
  package.  It creates directories, saves functions and data to
  appropriate places, and creates skeleton help files and a
  \file{Read-and-delete-me} file describing further steps in packaging. 
}
\usage{
package.skeleton(name = "anRpackage", list, environment = .GlobalEnv,
	         path = ".", force = FALSE, namespace = FALSE,
                 code_files = character())
}
\arguments{
  \item{name}{character string: the directory name for your package.}
  \item{list}{character vector naming the \R objects to put in the
    package.}
  \item{environment}{if \code{list} is omitted and \code{code_files} is
    empty, the contents of this environment are packaged.}
  \item{path}{path to put the package directory in.}
  \item{force}{If \code{FALSE} will not overwrite an existing
    directory.}
  \item{namespace}{a logical indicating whether to add a name space for
    the package.}
  \item{code_files}{a character vector with the paths to R code files to
    build the package around.}
}
\value{
  used for its side-effects.
}
\details{
  The package sources are placed in subdirectory \code{name} of
  \code{path}.
  
  This tries to create filenames valid for all OSes known to run R.
  Invalid characters are replaced by \samp{\_}, invalid names are
  preceded by \samp{zz}, and finally the converted names are made unique
  by \code{\link{make.unique}(sep = "_")}.  This can be done for code
  and help files but not data files (which are looked for by name).
  Also, the code and help files should have names starting with an ASCII
  letter or digit, and this is checked and if necessary \code{z}
  prepended.

  If \code{code_files} are given, these are copied over to the package
  code directory (so that non-function code objects are not converted to
  data sets), and the corresponding help files are generated.

  When you are done, delete the \file{Read-and-delete-me} file, as it
  should not be distributed.
}

\references{
  Read the \emph{Writing R Extensions} manual for more details.

  Once you have created a \emph{source} package you need to install it:
  see the \emph{R Installation and Administration} manual,
  \code{\link{INSTALL}} and \code{\link{install.packages}}.
}
\seealso{
  \code{\link{prompt}}
}

\examples{
require(stats)
## two functions and two "data sets" :
f <- function(x,y) x+y
g <- function(x,y) x-y
d <- data.frame(a=1, b=2)
e <- rnorm(1000)
\dontshow{
  owd <- getwd()
  setwd(tempdir())
}
package.skeleton(list=c("f","g","d","e"), name="mypkg")
\dontshow{ setwd(owd) }
}
\keyword{file}
\keyword{utilities}