New CTAN package: biblatex 0.1-beta

[CTAN Announcements]

Philipp Lehman writes:

> I've uploaded `biblatex.tar.gz' to the incoming directory of the UK 
> node. This is the initial public release of the biblatex package. I 
> suggest installing the package in macros/latex/contrib/biblatex. 
> Thank you very much.
> 
> ABOUT (this is also for the catalogue)
> 
> The biblatex package is a complete reimplementation of the
> bibliographic facilities provided by LaTeX in conjunction with
> BibTeX. It redesigns the way in which LaTeX interacts with BibTeX at
> a fairly fundamental level. With biblatex, BibTeX is only used to
> sort the bibliography and to generate labels. Instead of being
> implemented in BibTeX's style files, the formatting of the
> bibliography is entirely controlled by TeX macros. Good working
> knowledge in LaTeX should be sufficient to design new bibliography
> and citation styles. There is no need to learn BibTeX's postfix
> stack language. Just like the bibliography styles, all citation
> commands may be freely (re)defined.
> 
> Apart from the features unique to biblatex, this package also
> incorporates core features of the following packages: babelbib,
> bibtopic, bibunits, chapterbib, cite, inlinebib, mlbib, multibib,
> natbib, splitbib. There are also some conceptual parallels to the
> amsrefs package. The biblatex package supports split bibliographies,
> multiple bibliographies within one document, and separate lists of
> bibliographic shorthands. Bibliographies may be subdivided into
> parts (by chapter, by section, etc.) and/or segmented by topics (by
> type, by keyword, etc.). The package is fully localized and can
> interface with the babel package.
> 
> RELEASE NOTES
> 
> Please be advised that this package is in beta stage and released
> for testing only. The architecture of the package, including its
> BibTeX interface and even the entry type and field specifications,
> is under scrutiny and still subject to change. There are also
> several gaps in this manual. TeX distributors are urged not to
> consider this package while it is in beta. The version number will
> be stepped up to 1.0 as soon as it is considered suitable for
> distribution.

whew!  by agreement with the author, i've installed this major piece
of work in the LaTeX experimental tree, macros/latex/exptl/biblatex

explore the package on ctan via the catalogue:

http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/biblatex.html

thanks for the upload

Robin Fairbairns

For the CTAN team