R Community Feedback on Package Badging Program

The R Consortium is interested in feedback from package authors, contributors, and maintainers regarding the use of the Linux Foundation Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII) "best practices" badge program.

With over 12,000 R packages on CRAN alone, the choice of which package to use for a given task is challenging. While summary descriptions, documentation, download counts and word-of-mouth may help direct selection, a standard assessment of package quality can greatly help identify the suitability of a package for a given (non-)commercial need. Providing the R Community of package users an easily recognized “badge” indicating the level of quality achievement will make it easier for users to know the quality of a package along several dimensions. In addition, providing R package authors and maintainers a checklist of "best practices" can help guide package development and evolution, as well as help package users as to what to look for in a package.

The R Consortium is exploring the benefits of recommending that R package authors, contributors, and maintainers adopt the Linux Foundation (LF) Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII) "best practices" badge. This badge provides a means for Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects to highlight to what extent package authors follow best software practices, while enabling individuals and enterprises to assess quickly a package's strengths and weaknesses across a range of dimensions. The CII is a voluntary, self-certification, at no cost. An easy to use web application guides users in the process.

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* 1. For how many years have you been developing packages with R?

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* 2. How many packages have you authored and published to CRAN over your career?

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* 3. How many packages have you authored and published to CRAN over the past 12 months?

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* 4. Were you previously familiar with the Linux Foundation CII Badge Program?

Yes, I've used it.

Yes, I've read about it.

Yes, I've heard about it.

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* 5. Do you believe the CII Badge Program will benefit the R Community?

Yes. R package developers

Yes, R package users

Yes, both R package developers and users

Why?

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* 6. Do you have any concerns about the R Consortium recommending to use the CII Badge Program for the R Community?

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* 7. Do you have any recommendations for how the R Community could best take advantage of the CII Badge Program?

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* 8. Please rate how beneficial you feel the following aspects of the CII Badge Program are.

	Not beneficial	Neutral	Somewhat beneficial	Highly beneficial	Don't know
Licensing	Licensing Not beneficial	Licensing Neutral	Licensing Somewhat beneficial	Licensing Highly beneficial	Licensing Don't know
Documentation	Documentation Not beneficial	Documentation Neutral	Documentation Somewhat beneficial	Documentation Highly beneficial	Documentation Don't know
Change control	Change control Not beneficial	Change control Neutral	Change control Somewhat beneficial	Change control Highly beneficial	Change control Don't know
Software quality	Software quality Not beneficial	Software quality Neutral	Software quality Somewhat beneficial	Software quality Highly beneficial	Software quality Don't know
Security	Security Not beneficial	Security Neutral	Security Somewhat beneficial	Security Highly beneficial	Security Don't know
Code Analysis (static / dynamic)	Code Analysis (static / dynamic) Not beneficial	Code Analysis (static / dynamic) Neutral	Code Analysis (static / dynamic) Somewhat beneficial	Code Analysis (static / dynamic) Highly beneficial	Code Analysis (static / dynamic) Don't know

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* 9. Are you willing to complete a CII Badge Program questionnaire for the packages you are responsible for?

Yes

Maybe

If not, why?