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+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, and 3.1 out of the
+box. In fact, the same codebase installs on Python 3.1 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:
+
+* 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.
+
+* 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).
+
+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.