Add version changed for API changes

[taldcroft]

I find it useful (as done in e.g. numpy) to have the version when things changed or were added in the narrative / API docs. E.g. in relevant places we would see a comment like "Default time scale for epoch times like J2000 changed from UTC to TT in version 3.2". The point being that the change log is not where most people wind up when learning about a function or method.

@mhvk points out this is done with a sphinx directive .. versionchanged: in numpy. Is that something astropy could just start using as a matter of policy?

(This was a by-product of discussion in #8600).

EDIT by @pllim and @bsipocz : Preferably, this is to be done in small batches, like one PR for a single version release for a single subpackage. And only as far as as 2.0 and not earlier.

[bsipocz]

Yes please, I very much appreciate this info in the API docs, makes it so much easier to track down when something was introduced.

I would also suggest that adding this to the API docs retrospect this is an excellent package-novice issue implementation wise but a good way to get the to know the codebase and dev process.

[pllim]

Since this is marked as "novice" and "good first issue", would be nice to give some ideas on how to grep for the doc texts that need this extra directive.

[bolt25]

I'm new here and would like to start contributing, can anyone help me get started with the process?

[nikita-0209]

Hi, I am a student. I want to work on this issue as a step to familiarise the project. Can anyone guide me on how to access and edit the API docs?

[mhvk]

@nikita-0209 - I'm not sure this is quite appropriately labelled as novice, but the idea would be that you go through CHANGES.rst, starting at the version now being prepared for release (4.1), check where new features are introduced and then add .. versionchanged: 4.1 in the relevant docstring of the function or class. I would start with just making a PR for a single case, as we may well have to introduce that actual directive.

I should add that since we are just before feature freeze, few of us will have time to help right now, so if the above does not suffice, please wait for a few days and ping again early next week...

[bsipocz]

@mhvk - this is labelled as package-novice as one needs only go through the changelog/history and add a comment for the docstrings, so not no internal knowledge of astropy is needed.

[shubham00jain]

@mhvk @astrojuanlu Hi! I would like to work on this issue. I saw in changes.rst that astropy.config was listed under New Features, now do I need to add .. versionchanged: 4.1 or .. versionchanged: 4.2 ?And in which file do I need to add this? Thanks!

[tactipus]

Hi everyone! @astrojuanlu @shubham00jain @mhvk @taldcroft still need help on this?

[NathanMuniz18]

hello guys, can i try help on this?

[astrofrog]

At this point the package is large enough and there have been enough versions that we will probably need to find a way to automate this rather than doing by hand.

[NathanMuniz18]

It's my first time contributing in open source, how can I help you guys in this issue?