st: new package -project- available from SSC

[Robert Picard <picard@netbox.com>]

Thanks to Kit Baum, a new package -project- is now available from SSC.
To install, type:

ssc install project

Up to now, -project- had been available under "limited distribution"
from my web site. Installing the same package from different sources
will confuse Stata so type:

ado uninstall project

before installing from SSC.

-project- automates the execution of do-files, skipping do-files with
unchanged dependencies. With -project-, you accumulate and organize
all Stata code related to a project, from the early data management
steps to the final analysis, in a web of interconnected do-files, all
managed from a master do-file. Each time you build a project (i.e. run
the master do-file), -project- knows what has changed and only runs
do-files that are affected by these changes.

With -project-, all do-files are logged automatically. Stata's current
working directory is dynamically changed to match the directory of the
current do-file. Files in the do-file's directory can always be
accessed by file name while files elsewhere can be accessed using a
file path that is relative to the project's main directory. Since full
path names are not used, the whole project directory can be moved or
shared with someone else without having to edit any file paths.

One of -project-'s most important features is the replication task
which can verify that project results can be replicated by comparing
all files created by the project (data, tables, graphs, log files,
etc.) against those produced by a replication run. Project files can
be listed in various ways, backed up, and shared with others.
-project- can also clean up the project directory by moving files not
linked to the project to an archive directory.

A toy project that runs some examples from the version 12 Stata
reference manuals is included in the ancillary files. -project-
requires Stata version 9.2 or higher. A smaller toy project that runs
with Stata 9 is also included.

-project- has been discussed several times recently on Statalist:

http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-07/msg00664.html
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-07/msg00730.html
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-07/msg00731.html
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-07/msg00743.html
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-07/msg00850.html
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-07/msg00869.html
http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2013-08/msg00516.html

Robert
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