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+Python-Markdown 2.0 Release Notes
+=================================
+
+We are happy to release Python-Markdown 2.0, which has been over a year in the 
+making. We have rewritten significant portions of the code, dramatically 
+extending the extension API, increased performance, and added numerous 
+extensions to the distribution (including an extension that mimics PHP Markdown
+Extra), all while maintaining backward compatibility with the end user API in
+version 1.7.
+
+Backwards-incompatible Changes
+------------------------------
+
+While Python-Markdown has experienced numerous internal changes, those changes 
+should only affect extension authors. If you have not written your own 
+extensions, then you should not need to make any changes to your code. 
+However, you may want to ensure that any third party extensions you are using
+are compatible with the new API.
+
+The new extension API is fully documented in [[writing_extensions]]. Below is a
+summary of the significant changes:
+
+* The old home-grown NanoDOM has been replaced with ElementTree. Therefore all
+  extensions must use ElementTree rather than the old NanoDOM.
+* The various processors and patterns are now stored with OrderedDicts rather 
+  than lists. Any code adding processors and/or patterns into Python-Markdown 
+  will need to be adjusted to use the new API using OrderedDicts.
+* The various types of processors available have been either combined, added, 
+  or removed. Ensure that your processors match the currently supported types.
+
+What's New in Python-Markdown 2.0
+---------------------------------
+
+Thanks to the work of Artem Yunusov as part of GSoC 2008, Python-Markdown uses
+ElementTree internally to build the (X)HTML document from markdown source text.
+This has resolved various issues with the older home-grown NanoDOM and made
+notable increases in performance.
+
+Artem also refactored the Inline Patterns to better support nested patterns 
+which has resolved many inconsistencies in Python-Markdown's parsing of the 
+markdown syntax.
+
+The core parser had been completely rewritten, increasing performance and, for 
+the first time, making it possible to override/add/change the way block level
+content is parsed.
+
+Python-Markdown now parses markdown source text more closely to the other 
+popular implementations (Perl, PHP, etc.) than it ever has before. With the
+exception of a few minor insignificant differences, any difference should be
+considered a bug, rather than a limitation of the parser.
+
+The option to return HTML4 output as apposed to XHTML has been added. In 
+addition, extensions should be able to easily add additional output formats.
+
+As part of implementing markdown in the Dr. Project project (a Trac fork), among
+other things, David Wolever refactored the "extension" keyword so that it
+accepts either the extension names as strings or instances of extensions. This
+makes it possible to include multiple extensions in a single module.
+
+Numerous extensions are included in the distribution by default. See
+[[available_extensions]] for a complete list.
+
+See the [[change_log]] for a full list of changes.
+