An announcement (ANN) is a

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...

mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

or e-mail message sent to notify subscribers that a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

project has made a new

release Release may refer to: * Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song * Legal release, a legal instrument * News release, a communication directed at the news media * Release (ISUP), a code to ident ...

version.

Newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinct ...

announcement recipients often have a name like "comp.''somegroup''.announce".

Mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

announcement recipients often have a name like "''toolname''-announce". In an announcement, the

subject line Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated formats ...

commonly contains the abbreviated prefix ANN: or NN''. The contents of an announcement usually contain a title line which contains the tool name, version, release name, and date. Additional contents often fall into the following message sections: * About: a short paragraph summary of the tool's purpose * Changes: a list of the highest impact changes since the last release (should be brief since the

changelog A changelog is a log or record of all notable changes made to a project. The project is often a website or software project, and the changelog usually includes records of changes such as bug fixes, new features, etc. Some open-source projects i ...

comprises the definitive list) * Resources: links to project pages of interest, such as homepage, where to download,

bug tracking system A bug tracking system or defect tracking system is a software application that keeps track of reported software bugs in software development projects. It may be regarded as a type of issue tracking system. Many bug tracking systems, such as those ...

, etc. Some additional, optional fields might include "Highlights", "Author(s)", "License", "Requirements", and "Release History". Announcement messages are usually sent in plain text form.

Example

Example announcement message

: ANN: fooutils 0.9.42 beta released Example announcement message contents:

Fooutils 0.9.42 Beta Released -- 2006 Feb 16

ANNOUNCING Fooutils v0.2.12beta, the first beta release. About Fooutils -------------- Fooutils are a set of utilities that... Changes ------- Improved the searching facility by including... Fixed bugs: #123, #456, ... Resources --------- Homepage: http://fooutils.org Documentation: http://fooutils.org/docs Download: http://fooutils.org/download Bug Tracker: http://fooutils.org/newticket Mailing Lists: http://lists.fooutils.org/

Example

See also

Further reading