How to update code used in a published paper without breaking reproducibility?

[cervenel]

Hi everyone,

I’m completely new to GitHub and I'm looking for some advice on the best way to handle version control for an academic project.

The Situation:
I have a repository containing a script used for an exhaustive parameter search to compute a function f(a,b,c). The code groups results by another function E(a,b,c) = i. Currently, the script simply checks whether there exists a combination of parameters satisfying E(a,b,c) = i such that f(a,b,c) > 0.

This specific version of the code is cited in a conference paper that has already been presented.

The Goal:
I now need to make a very minor update (just 1 or 2 lines) to the logic. Instead of just checking if f > 0, I want the code to output the "best" result found for each i.

The original version is "frozen" in the context of the published paper, I want to ensure that anyone reading the paper can still find and run the exact code used for those results, while still allowing the repository to show the new, improved version as the "main" code.

Should I simply overwrite the current file (because the change is really minor) and mention the change in the README?
Should I keep two separate files in the same folder (e.g., compute_check.py and compute_optimize.py)?
Or is there a "standard" GitHub feature (like Tags, Releases, or Branches) that is preferred for marking a version used in a specific publication?

I want to follow best practices for academic transparency and reproducibility. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

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