Transferring maintainership of an R package on CRAN

Question

I will be taking over the active development and maintaining of an R package on CRAN (of course with approval of the current maintainer). What are the necessary steps to make this happen / Should we proceed as follows?: (I assume only the current maintainer has the right to submit an updated version of the package, right?)

• I edit the description file of the package, specifically the maintainer information
• The current maintainer updates the package on CRAN

Will that turn me into the active maintainer of the package?

edit: To clarify, I currently not an author listed in the package.

Matte

Answer 1

Speaking from experience, before CRAN will accept an update with a different maintainer, they will want to receive an e-mail from the current maintainer explaining the intention to change maintainers. This e-mail must come from the e-mail account listed in the DESCRIPTION file.

After CRAN has received that e-mail, you may edit the DESCRIPTION file to change the maintainer name and contact information, then submit to CRAN. I would include an explanation of the change of maintainer in your submission notes, as well as a reference to the e-mail sent to CRAN.

Custodian

Thanks! Does that include the case that I am currently "not even" an author of the package? Or would it be "better" if the current maintainer would submit the updated version of the package with edited DESCRIPTION file? – Matte

As long as CRAN receives advance notice that the maintainer is changing from the current maintainer, I don't think they care who the new maintainer is. In fact, the time that I transferred maintainership, I'm pretty sure the new maintainer hadn't been previously named in DESCRIPTION at all. – Custodian

You have to submit packages as the maintainer (the submission process is partially automated and relies on DESCRIPTION matching the person who is submitting the package). So if DESCRIPTION lists you as maintainer, you submit it. Add a note when you submit about the change and reference the email from the previous maintainer. – Hamal

Answer 2

I just changed maintainer address, and followed procedure answered by @Benjamin. I was asked simply to submit first with new address in DESCRIPTION file and then afterwards admin contacted me on previous listed maintainer email and asked me to confirm the transfer.

So the process is

• Submit first with new DESCRIPTION file
• Confirm submission on new email-address
• Answer confirmation-mail sent by admin to old email-address

Trevatrevah

Answer 3

As the previous maintainer, I recently transferred a package. Here are my notes for 2024:

• I emailed the CRAN administrators to inform them of upcoming changes, although I later realized this was not required (so start from the next step).
• The new maintainer should update the DESCRIPTION file with the following changes:
  • Roles: Move cre from the old maintainer to the new maintainer.
  • Maintainer name and email address.
  • Version number.
• The new maintainer should also add a cran-comments.md file to document the transfer of the package.
• The new maintainer should submit the package to CRAN using his/her email.
• I, as the previous maintainer, will receive an email and should confirm the transition.
• If there are any warnings or notes to address, they will be sent to the new maintainer, who should then fix and resubmit the package.
• The package will then be uploaded to CRAN, and the transition will be concluded.

Shiver