Pango lineage designation dates

This repository attempts to collect the dates on which each Pango lineage was designated.

Unfortunately, there is no file in the pango-designation repo that mentions the date a lineage was added so we have to go dig into the git history (please tell me if there's a better way).

How to run

python get_designation_date.py

Possible approaches

• Find first mention in lineages.csv file, need to step through history commit by commit and see when a lineage was first mentioned
• First mention in lineage_notes.txt: use lineages that are present in lineages.csv as basis for search
• First mention in commit message: use lineages in lineages.csv as basis for search

Try all of the above and use the earliest date. Expect that designation will be earliest.

Issues

lineages.csv only started in February 2021, before need another source of truth

Output

• lineage_designation_dates.csv - CSV file with lineage, date, commit hash and designation release it was first part of

Uses

• Put as coloring on Nextclade reference trees