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