Packages in this directory are orphaned, i.e., have no active
maintainer.  Orphaned packages remain in the main CRAN packages section
as long as they pass "R CMD check" for the current release version of R.

Everybody is more than welcome to take over as maintainer of an orphaned
package.  Simply download the package sources, make changes if necessary
(respecting original author and license!) and resubmit the package to
CRAN with your name as maintainer in the DESCRIPTION file of the
package.


Possible reasons for orphanizing a package:

1) The current maintainer actively wants to orphanize the package,
   e.g., because he/she has no longer the time or interest to act as
   package maintainer.

2) The current maintainer does not answer to emails by the CRAN admins
   for longer periods of time.


The orphanizing process:

1) The package gets the special keyword "ORPHANED" as maintainer in
   the DESCRIPTION file, the patch level of the version number is
   increased.

2) The package is moved from $CRAN/src/contrib to
   $CRAN/src/contrib/Orphaned.

3) As long as the package cleanly passes "R CMD check" for the current
   release version of R, it additionally remains in $CRAN/src/contrib/.

4) The file $CRAN/src/contrib/Orphaned/PACKAGES.csv shows the date when
   the package was orphaned and the release version of R at that point
   in time.