An announcement (ANN) is a

Usenet Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...

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. Mailing lists are often rented or sold. If rented, the renter agrees to use the mailing list only at contra ...

e-mail Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

message sent to notify subscribers that a

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

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 i ...

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 not only discussion groups or conversations, but also a repository to publish articles, start ...

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. Mailing lists are often rented or sold. If rented, the renter agrees to use the mailing list only at contra ...

announcement recipients often have a name like "''toolname''-announce". In an announcement, the subject line 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 comprises the definitive list) * Resources: links to project pages of interest, such as homepage, where to download,

bug tracking system 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 used ...

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

plain text In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects ( floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a lim ...

form.

Example

Example announcement message subject line: 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