v1.4.0

• DESCRIPTION objects created with the !new command now omit LazyData: true
  to match new CRAN checks (#105, @malcolmbarrett)

• description$write() now writes out the file in the correct encoding
  (#109).

• Authors@R fields are now formatted differently when normalizing a
  DESCRIPTION file (#78).

• New description$get_list(), description$set_list() and
  corresponding desc_get_list() and desc_set_list() values to query
  and create comma separated fields (#86).

Breaking change

• desc_get_field() gains a boolean squish_ws parameter to normalize
  whitespace within the retrieved value. It defaults to the value of trim_ws
  (TRUE by default). Example with desc's current DESCRIPTION:

  Old behaviour:

  > desc::desc_get_field("Description")
  [1] "... DESCRIPTION files.\n    It is intended for packages ..."

  New behaviour:

  > desc::desc_get_field("Description")
  [1] "... DESCRIPTION files. It is intended for packages ..."

  If you want the old behaviour, just set squish_ws = FALSE.