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diff --git a/docs/release-2.1.0-alpha.md b/docs/release-2.1.0-alpha.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b05558 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/release-2.1.0-alpha.md @@ -0,0 +1,117 @@ +Python-Markdown 2.1.0-Alpha Release Notes +========================================= + +We are pleased to release Python-Markdown 2.1-Alpha which makes many +improvements on 2.0. In fact, we consider 2.1 to be what 2.0 should have been. +While 2.1 consists mostly of bug fixes, bringing Python-Markdown more inline +with other implementations, some internal improvements were made to the parser, +a few new builtin extensions were added, and HTML5 support was added. + +Please be aware that Python-Markdown 2.1-Alpha is *alpha* software and is not +considered production ready pending the release of 2.1-Final. + +Python-Markdown supports Python versions 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.1, and 3.2 out of +the box. In fact, the same codebase installs on Python 3.1 and 3.2 with no extra +work by the end user. + +Backwards-incompatible Changes +------------------------------ + +While Python-Markdown has received only minor internal changes since the last +release, there are a few backward-incompatible changes to note: + +* Support had been dropped for Python 2.3. No guarantees are made that the library +will work in any version of Python lower than 2.4. Additionally, while the library +had been tested with Python 2.4, consider Python 2.4 support to be depreciated. +It is not likely that any future versions will continue to support any version of +Python less than 2.5. Note that Python 3.0 is not supported due to a bug in its +2to3 tool. If you must use Python-Markdown with Python 3.0, it is suggested you +manually use Python 3.1's 2to3 tool to do a conversion. + +* Python-Markdown previously accepted positional arguments on its class and +wrapper methods. It now expects keyword arguments. Currently, the positional +arguments should continue to work, but the solution feels hacky and may be +removed in a future version. All users are encouraged to use keyword arguments +as documented in [[using_as_module]]. + +* Past versions of Python-Markdown provided module level Global variables which +controlled the behavior of a few different aspects of the parser. Those global +variables have been replaced with attributes on the Markdown class. +Additionally, those attributes are settable as keyword arguments when +initializing a class instance. Therefore, if you were editing the global +variables (either by editing the source or by overriding them in your code), +you should now set them on the class. See [[using_as_module]] for the options +available. + +* If you have been using the [[HeaderID]] extension to define custom ids on headers, +you will want to switch to using the new [[attr_list]] extension. The headerid +extension now only auto-generates ids on headers which have not already had +ids defined. Note that the [[extra]] extension has been switched to use attr_list +instead of headeris as it did previously. + +* Some code was moved into the `markdown.util` namespace which was previously +in the `markdown` namespace. Extension authors may need to adjust a few +import statements in their extensions to work with the changes. + +* The commandline script name was changed to `markdown_py`. The previous name +(`markdown`) was conflicting with people (and Linux package systems) who also +had markdown.pl installed on there system as markdown.pl's commandline script +was also named `markdown`. Be aware that installing Python-Markdown 2.1 +will not remove the old versions of the script with different names. You +may want to remove them yourself as they are unlikely to work properly. + +What's New in Python-Markdown 2.1 +--------------------------------- + +Three new extensions were added. [Attribute Lists](extensions/attr_list), which +was inspired by Maruku's feature of the same name, +[Newline to Break](extensions/nl2br), which was inspired by Github Flavored +Markdown, and [Smart Emphasis], which fills a hole in the Extra extension. + +HTML5 is now supported. All this really means is that new block level elements +introduced in the HTML5 spec are now properly recognized as raw HTML. As +valid HTML5 can consist of either HTML4 or XHTML1, there is no need to add a +new HTML5 searializers. That said, `html5` and `xhtml5` have been added as +aliases of the `html4` and `xhtml1` searializers respectively. + +An XHTML searializer has been added. Previously, ElementTree's XML searializer +was being used for XHTML output. With the new searliazer we are able to avoid +more invalid output like empty elements (i.e., `<p />`) which can choke +browsers. + +Improved support for Python 3.x. Now when running `setupy.py install` in +Python 3.1 or greater the 2to3 tool is run automatically. Note that Python 3.0 +is not supported due to a bug in its 2to3 tool. If you must use Python-Markdown +with Python 3.0, it is suggested you manually use Python 3.1's 2to3 tool to +do a conversion. + +Methods on instances of the Markdown class that do not return results can now +be changed allowing one to do `md.reset().convert(moretext)`. + +The Markdown class was refactored so that a subclass could define it's own +`build_parser` method which would build a completely different parser. In +other words, one could use the basic machinery in the markdown library to +build a parser of a different markup language without the overhead of building +the markdown parser and throwing it away. + +Import statements within markdown have been improved so that third party +libraries can embed the markdown library if they desire (licencing permitting). + +Added support for Python's `-m` command line option. You can run the markdown +package as a command line script. Do `python -m markdown [options] [args]`. +Note that this is only fully supported in Python 2.7+. Python 2.5 & 2.6 +require you to call the module directly (`markdown.__main__`) rather than +the package (`markdown`). This does not work in Python 2.4. + +The commandline script has been renamed to `markdown_py` which avoids all the +various problems we had with previous names. Also improved the commandline +script to accept input on stdin. + +The testing framework has been completely rebuilt using the Nose testing +framework. This provides a number of benefits including the ability to better +test the builtin extensions and other options available to change the parsing +behavior. See the [[test_suite]] documentation for details. + +Various bug fixes have been made, which are too numerous to list here. See the +[commit log](https://github.com/waylan/Python-Markdown/commits/master) for a +complete history of the changes.
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