Note: this file is in reversed chronological order (bottom to top).


December 23, 2020:
 - BRLTTY 6.2 released:
   General changes:
      Problems related to the system waking up from suspend have been resolved.
      The format of the DESCCHAR command's output has been improved.
      The representation of any Unicode braille pattern can now be overridden.
      Prompt patterns no longer fall back to the default algorithm.
      The +route modifier now works for block commands.
      The Scroll-aware Cursor Navigation preference has been added.
      The Start Selection with Routing Key preference has been added.
      The Frank Audiodata braille device is now supported.
      The Java bindings have been significantly enhanced.
   Alva braille driver changes:
      Satellite models:
         The Left/Right pads have been respectively renamed to Speech/Nav.
         The CLIP_COPY and CLIP_APPEND commands have been bound.
   Hedo braille driver changes:
      Detection of The MobilLine model via USB has been improved.
   Seika braille driver changes:
      The left space bar has been remapped to being the Meta (left alt) key.
   XWindow braille driver changes:
      X clipboard support has been added.
   AtSpi2 screen driver changes:
      Cursor routing problems have been resolved.
   BrlAPI changes:
      The version is now 0.8.1 (it was 0.8.0).
      A problem with reading raw keycodes has been fixed.
      The server now also listens for localhost connections via IPV6.
      Byte reordering is now done for watched parameter values.
      Setting the computer braille cell size is no longer strict.
      Reading the RENDERED_CELLS parameter now works.
      These have been added for getting the underlying file descriptor:
         brlapi_getFileDescriptor()
         brlapi__getFileDescriptor(handle)
         BRLAPI_INVALID_FILE_DESCRIPTOR
      These parameters have been renamed:
         BRLAPI_PARAM_BOUND_COMMAND_CODES -> BRLAPI_PARAM_BOUND_COMMAND_KEYCODES
         BRLAPI_PARAM_COMMAND_SHORT_NAME  -> BRLAPI_PARAM_COMMAND_KEYCODE_NAME
         BRLAPI_PARAM_COMMAND_LONG_NAME   -> BRLAPI_PARAM_COMMAND_KEYCODE_SUMMARY
         BRLAPI_PARAM_DEVICE_KEY_CODES    -> BRLAPI_PARAM_DEFINED_DRIVER_KEYCODES
         BRLAPI_PARAM_KEY_SHORT_NAME      -> BRLAPI_PARAM_DRIVER_KEYCODE_NAME
         BRLAPI_PARAM_KEY_LONG_NAME       -> BRLAPI_PARAM_DRIVER_KEYCODE_SUMMARY
      And their corresponding parameter types have also been renamed:
         brlapi_param_commandCode_t      -> brlapi_param_commandKeycode_t
         brlapi_param_commandShortName_t -> brlapi_param_commandKeycodeName_t
         brlapi_param_commandLongName_t  -> brlapi_param_commandKeycodeSummary_t
         brlapi_param_keyCode_t          -> brlapi_param_driverKeycode_t
         brlapi_param_keyShortName_t     -> brlapi_param_driverKeycodeName_t
         brlapi_param_keyLongName_t      -> brlapi_param_driverKeycodeSummary_t
   Linux security enhancements:
      BRLTTY can now run as an unprivileged user.
      Some namespaces are now being isolated.
      A system call filter can be enabled.
      The --privilege-parameters command line option has been added.
      The privilege-parameters configuration file directive has been added.
      The --with-privilege-parameters configure option has been added.
      Full details in README.Linux (online at http://brltty.app/doc/Linux.html).
   Android changes:
      Finding user customization files in /sdcard/brltty/ has bee fixed.
      Text selection and host clipboard interactions have been implemented.
      The screen element ordering algorithm has been improved.
      Speech tracking has been implemented.
      Commands for each of the global actions have been added.
      Global actions can now also be performed via chords.
      Global actions for moving to the first/last screen element have been added.
      Navigation among the visible screen windows is now supported.
      A global action to show the window title has been added.
      A global action to show various device status indicators has been added.
      Support for structural web page navigation has been added.
   Systemd management changes:
      The brltty-device@.service instance unit has been added.
      BRLTTY is now run as an unprivileged user with perks.
      The BRLTTY instance is now stopped correctly on USB disconnect.
      A USB device management problem introduced in Systemd 247 has been fixed.
      BRLTTY's needed directories are now created (if necessary).
      The brlapi group is now assumed (e.g. for /etc/brlapi.key ownership).
   Upstart udev rules changes:
      The initctl command (rather than start and stop) is now used.
      The --quiet and --no-wait options are now used.
      The udev rules now restart the job on connect if it's already running.
   Polkit changes:
      Members of the brlapi group are now authorized.
      The rules/actions can now be (un)installed via the Polkit make file.
   Command installation changes:
      The brltty-config script has been renamed to brltty-config.sh.
      The brltty-prologue.sh script is now installed.
      The brltty-genkey script is now installed.

April 6, 2020:
 - BRLTTY 6.1 released:
   New commands:
      REFRESH: rewrite the whole braille display (some drivers).
      REFRESH_LINE: rewrite a specific braille line (some drivers).
      ROUTE_LINE: bring the cursor to a specific braille line.
   New braille drivers:
      Canute: A 40 column, 9 line display from Bristol Braille.
   BrlAPI braille driver changes:
      The version is now 0.8.0 (it was 0.7.0).
      Increase/decrease the client priority based on the screen content quality.
      A quality of "good" overrides Orca rendering - lower ones don't.
   HandyTech braille driver changes:
      Basic Braille Plus models are supported.
      The Easy Braille can be autodetected when using Bluetooth.
   HumanWare braille driver changes:
      The Brailliant BI 14 can be autodetected when using Bluetooth.
      The routing keys of the Brailliant BI 14 work.
      Four new models are supported:
         HumanWare BrailleOne
         APH Chameleon 20
         APH Mantis Q40
         NLS eReader
   Inceptor (BrailleMe) braille driver changes:
      Cursor positioning has been fixed.
      USB (NVDA mode) autodetection works.
      USB (NVDA mode) key bindings have been rationalized.
      Bluetooth (BrailleBack mode) key bindings have been rationalized.
   AtSpi2 screen driver changes:
      The BRLTTY and X clipboards are synchronized.
      Highlighted screen regions are supported.
      When a widget doesn't have text then its accessibility name is rendered.
      Set the screen content quality (for the BrlAPI braille driver) as follows:
         good: terminal widgets
         fair: text widgets (e.g. labels)
         poor: widgets that have descriptive text
         none: widgets that don't have a text interface
      The type= parameter now specifies which widgets override Orca rendering.
      type=default has been added (and is the new default).
      The default is to defer to Orca except for terminal widgets.
   Linux screen driver changes:
      The fallbackText= parameter has been added.
      Cursor routing when there are wide characters has been fixed.
      Cursor positioning when there are wide characters has been fixed.
   BrlAPI changes:
      UTF-8 character encoding is handled internally (no longer needs iconv).
      Large file descriptor numbers no longer cause a client to crash.
      The client and server protocol versions can be increased independently.
      Packets can contain up to 4096 (rather than 512) bytes.
      The brlapi__pause() function can be used to wait for an incoming event.
      A framework for setting, getting, and watching parameters has been added:
         brlapi_getParameterProperties()
         brlapi__getParameter()
         brlapi__getParameterAlloc()
         brlapi__setParameter()
         brlapi__watchParameter()
         brlapi__unwatchParameter()
      The brltty-clip command can be used to get/set the clipboard content.
   xbrlapi changes:
      Now backgrounds after successfully establishing the BrlAPI connection.
      The -n (--no-daemon) option disables backgrounding.
      The BRLTTY and X clipboards are synchronized.
   Text table changes:
      Defining the Unicode replacement character (U+FFFD) works properly.
      The fr-vs table supports the middle dot character.
   Contraction table changes:
      Undefined characters now fall back to their text table representations.
      The en-ueb-g2 table has been updated.
      The zh-tw-ucb table has been removed.
      Renamed French tables:
         fr-integral -> fr-g1
         fr-abrege -> fr-g2
      Renamed German tables:
         de-basis -> de-g0
         de-vollschrift -> de-g1
         de-kurzschrift -> de-g2
         de-kurzschrift-1998 -> de-1998
         de-kurzschrift-2015 -> de-2015
   Linux changes:
      The systemd and udev wrappers are now in /usr/lib/brltty/.
   Android changes:
      The Update Application button on the Actions screen works.
      Routing key #7 presents the Accessibility Actions for a screen element.
   Windows changes:
      A potential BrlAPI client/server communication deadlock has been fixed.
      Some .bat scripts have been renamed:
         install-brltty -> enable-brlapi
         uninstall-brltty -> disable-brlapi
         run-debug -> debug-brltty

February 22, 2019:
 - BRLTTY 6.0 released:
   General changes:
      Chords Dot4 + Dot6 + Dot8/Dot7 turn on/off typing Unicode braille patterns.
      Word wrap when panning to the left now works properly.
      Cursor tracking while word wrap is on has been fixed.
      Support for speaking the current line's indent has been added.
      Vertical screen scroll tracking is now supported.
      Command execution can now be delayed till all the keys have been released.
      Resources are no longer wasted checking non-braille USB devices.
      The eSpeak-NG speech driver has been added.
      BRLTTY can now run within an InitRamFS as a dracut module.
      The -Y [--start-message=] and -Z [--stop-message=] options have been added.
      The prompt-pattern configuration file directive has been added.
   Baum braille driver changes:
      The B2G key bindings have been significantly improved.
   HandyTech braille driver changes:
      Support for the Activator has been added.
      Key bindings now work correctly after returning from the internal mode.
   Hedo braille driver changes:
      Newer MobilLine models are now detected.
   HIMS braille driver changes:
      Shifted qwerty keyboard letters are now interpreted correctly.
   HumanWare braille driver changes:
      Bluetooth connection problems have been resolved.
      USB session initialization problems have been resolved.
      The BrailleNote Touch routing keys now work.
      The BI 32 joystick now works.
      BI 14 USB detection has been fixed.
   MDV braille driver changes:
      Binding changes have been made so that F10 now does exit the menu.
   ViaVoice speech driver changes:
      The driver has finally been revived.
      Speech tracking has been implemented.
      The configure option --with-viavoice has been removed.
   Linux screen driver changes:
      Full Unicode support is finally available (no more 512 character limit).
      Among many other benefits, Unicode braille patterns now automatically render.
      This capability only works if a 4.19 (or later) kernel is being used.
      The unicode=no driver parameter can be used to revert to the older behaviour.
   AtSpi2 screen driver changes:
      The default is now to only read terminal screens.
      Determining which widget is currently active has been fixed.
      BRLTTY is now automatically stopped when the session is closed.
   BrlAPI changes:
      The version is now 0.7.0 (it was 0.6.7).
      The server now starts immediately rather than when the braille driver starts.
      The following new client functions have been added:
         void brlapi_getLibraryVersion(int *major, int *minor, int *revision)
         void brlapi__setClientData(brlapi_handle_t *handle, void *data)
         void *brlapi__getClientData(brlapi_handle_t *handle)
         int brlapi__readKeyWithTimeout(brlapi_handle_t *handle,
                                        int milliseconds,
                                        brlapi_keyCode_t *code)
      xbrlapi now maps unmapped keysyms to temporary keycodes.
   Text table changes:
      The se (Northern Sami) table has been added.
      New directives: ifGlyph, ifNotGlyph, ifCell, ifNotCell
   Contraction table changes:
      A table for the German 2015 standard [de-kurzschrift-2015] has been added
      (the de-kurzschrift-1998 table should now be used for the 1998 standard).
      New directives: cldr, replace
      The cldr directive has been added to tables for languages that have defined
      annotations: af, de, en, es, fr, ko, nl, pt, sw, th, zu
      (you also need to install your distribution's CLDR annotations package).
   Android changes:
      The Android device is now kept awake while navigating internal screens
      (help, the preferences menu, a frozen screen, etc).
      New braille-friendly widget representations:
         Check Boxes: ⣏ ⣹ (not checked), ⣏⠶⣹ (checked)
         Radio Buttons: ⢎ ⡱ (not selected), ⢎⠶⡱ (selected)
         Switches: ⢸⣭⡇ (off), ⢸⣛⡇ (on)
      A notification showing the braille device and its state has been added.
      Support for the Accessibility button (Android 8 or later) has been added.
      The Actions screen has been added - you can get to it by:
         Global Action #5 (emulate the F5 keyboard key)
         Tapping the (new) notification.
         Clicking the (new) Accessibility button.
      Routing keys beyond an element's text are now associated with that element.
      Routing key #6 now does a context click (for elements that support it).
      The algorithm that decides which elements to render has been much improved.
      The list renderer now orders elements much more sensibly.
      The accuracy of left, right, up, and down navigation has been improved.
      Support for range controls has been added (adjust with the scroll actions).
      Bluetooth connections are no longer tried:
         If the Android device doesn't have a Bluetooth adapter.
         If the Android device's Bluetooth adapter is disabled.
         While the Android device is searching for new Bluetooth devices.

February 5, 2018:
 - BRLTTY 5.6 released:
   General updates:
      BRLTTY has been relicensed to the LGPL (from the GPL).
      Better cursor routing handling of status line updates and vertical scrolling.
      The Track Screen Scroll setting has been added.
      The Word Wrap setting has been added.
      Panning left when using a contraction table now word wraps.
      Typing dismisses an alert message.
      The test for when INFO does text maximization instead has been fixed.
      Overrides are now applied when the preferences haven't yet been saved.
      The Inceptor braille driver (from Innovision) has been added.
   The Baum braille driver:
      On models with B9 and B10 by the joystick, both are interpreted as Space.
      Input packet handling for Pronto! V3 models has been fixed.
   The EuroBraille braille driver:
      Improved autodetection when using Bluetooth.
      The Esytime braille keyboard can be used over Bluetooth and USB.
      For Esytime models, B5 has been renamed to B8.
   The HIMS braille driver:
      The Smart Beetle is now recognized when using Bluetooth.
   The HumanWare braille driver:
      The BrailleNote Touch is recognized when using USB.
   BrlAPI changes:
      The version is now 0.6.7 (it was 0.6.6).
      The brlapi_getModelIdentifier() function has been added to the API.
      The default character set is now based on the user's locale.
      Sessions would occasionally hang when connecting.
      PolKit authentication is no longer attempted when it isn't available.
      Reading raw key codes no longer uses key ranges.
   Text tables:
      The lt (Lithuanian) table has been updated.
      The uk (Ukrainian) table has been added.
   Contraction tables:
      The fr-abrege (French) table has been updated.
      The lt (Lithuanian) table has been added.
      Support has been added for LibLouis tables.
      brltty-ctb's output is now UTF-8 (rather than ASCII).
   Key tables:
      The ifPlatform and ifNotPlatform directives have been added.
   Systemd changes:
      Path (rather than target) units are now used to manage BRLTTY instances.
   Android changes:
      Danish translations have been added.
   Build features:
      Add the reload target to the make files for Systemd and Udev.
      A make file for install/uninstall of the AppStream rules has been added.
      Python 3.6 is supported.

April 18, 2017:
 - BRLTTY 5.5 released:
   General changes:
      The braille and speech banners no longer include the revision identifier.
      The -o (--override-preference=) option has been added.
      quiet-if-no-braille can be specified via the configuration file.
      Cursor routing hangs have been resolved.
      The Log Messages submenu (for warnings and errors) has been added.
      Support for panning within a long alert message has been added.
      Alert beeps work on a Linux serial console.
      The Greek text table has been improved.
   Braille device changes:
      The default is to check both USB and Bluetooth (not just USB).
      Specifying the Bluetooth address is no longer mandatory.
      A prefix of a Bluetooth device's name can be specified.
      A generic USB serial adapter is probed only if it's been customized.
   Baum braille driver changes:
      Support for the Vario Ultra has been improved.
      Support for the Orbit 20 has been added.
   EuroBraille braille driver changes:
      More Esytime bindings have been added.
      Support has been added for the EsysLight 80 and the Esytime Evolution.
   HandyTech braille driver changes:
      Support has been added for the Actilino.
      The rocker keys can be used for efficient navigation of the menu.
      B4+B5 has been bound to Command Learn Mode.
      The (now redundant) keypad binding for Command Learn Mode has been removed.
      The Bluetooth names of the Active Star and the Braillino are recognized.
   HIMS braille driver changes:
      Function key bindings have been added for models with four scroll keys.
   TTY braille driver changes:
      The braille cells are shown (in addition to the text).
   HumanWare braille driver changes:
      The Braille Note is autodetected when using USB.
      Support has been added for the Braille Note Touch.
   Polkit changes:
      The policy file is installed.
      The policy has been renamed to org.a11y.brlapi (from org.brltty).
      Initialization doesn't delay BRLTTY startup.
   Systemd changes:
      The default instance is now brltty.target (not brltty.service).
      Multiple instances can be managed (via brltty@.target instances).
      A make file has been added to simplify unit and wrapper installation.
      BRLTTY isn't started until Udev has finished initializing.
      BRLTTY isn't automatically restarted if it terminates cleanly.
   Udev changes:
      A make file has been added to simplify rules and wrapper installation.
   BrlAPI changes:
      The version is now 0.6.6 (it was 0.6.5).
      The server isn't started until the braille driver has started.
      Several small fixes.
   xbrlapi changes:
      The X11 and gdm autostart files are installed.
      Constantly trying to connect when BRLTTY isn't available has been fixed.
      Reconnection on every window change has been fixed.
   Key table changes:
      Common chords for all of the sticky modifier keys have been added.
      Listings combine dot keys, e.g. Dots12 instead of Dot1+Dot2.
   Android changes:
      The cursor no longer jumps back to the start while spaces are being typed.
      Customization files can be in internal storage and/or on the SD card.
   Windows changes:
      Interaction with NVDA has been revived.
      LibUSB can be used on a 64-bit system.
      Builds can be done on MinGW64.
   Build changes:
      AppStream metainfo is maintained and installed.
      The new Speech Dispatcher installation layout is supported.
      Fixes to support building on Solaris 10 and 11 with C99.

June 28, 2016:
 - BRLTTY 5.4 released:
   Core changes:
      The Delayed Cursor Tracking feature (and preference) has been added.
      Stuck keys are now automatically released after a specifiable timeout.
      Touch events no longer interfere with Learn Mode.
      Support for the Polkit authorization manager has been added.
      A couple of memory corruption issues have been resolved.
   USB fixes:
      Device disconnect detection has been improved.
      Excessive CPU consumption for some older serial adapters has been resolved.
   Baum braille driver changes:
      More bindings have been defined for models that have the B11 key.
      False reporting of input timeouts has been resolved.
      Handling of unknown packet types has been improved.
   HandyTech braille driver changes:
      Model detection on Windows has been fixed.
      Output errors now restart the driver.
   HIMS braille driver changes:
      Support for the Smart Beetle has been added.
      Newer firmware resolution of qwerty key code conflicts is supported.
   HumanWare braille driver changes:
      Several USB connection problems have been resolved.
      The newer HID-based USB protocol is supported.
      The Brailliant B 80's Bluetooth device name is recognized.
   Papenmeier braille driver changes:
      Clipboard bindings have been added that work on EL-C models.
      Bar bindings for the menu now work on EL models that don't have switches.
      Bindings may now be defined that use a routing key and an EL key.
   XWindow braille driver changes:
      Fixed-size font restrictions have been removed.
   xbrlapi changes:
      Brltty restarts are handled.
      Logs written to .xsession have been improved.
   brltty-trtxt changes:
      The -b [--no-base-characters] option has been added.
   Systemd/Udev changes:
      Multiple USB braille devices are handled - each starts its own brltty.
      Disconnecting a USB braille device stops the associated brltty.
   Updated Tables:
      The en_CA (English Canada) text table.
      The zh_tw (Chinese, Taiwan) contraction table.

December 22, 2015:
 - BRLTTY 5.3.1 released:
   Linux screen driver fix:
      Some consoles couldn't be accessed due to an I/O error.
   Android fix:
      The preference settings can be saved.
   HIMS braille driver changes:
      Autodetecting the braille device's model has been improved.
      Keys that a model doesn't have are no longer listed within its help text.
      Support for qwerty keyboards has been improved.
      The scroll key bindings have been harmonized across all models.
   Key table changes:
      The -a (--audit) option has been added to brltty-ktb.
      Duplicate key bindings have been removed.
      The "uppercase" command modifier has been renamed to "upper".
      The following directives have been added:
         beginVariables, endVariables, ignore, listVariables

December 15, 2015:
 - BRLTTY 5.3 released:
   General fixes:
      The missing key event (stuck key) problem has been resolved.
      The braille display is now initialized when the -q (--quiet) option is used.
      Playing alert tunes has been moved to a dedicated thread.
      PCM (sound card) tone generation is now way more efficient.
      Program-relative paths are no longer used for relative paths specified via
         command line options or configuration file directives.
      Explicit paths for tables no longer consider the tables directory path.
      The -U (--updatable-directory) option has been added (it used to be
         hard-coded to /var/lib/brltty/).
      Braille driver parameters may be specified via the fourth boot parameter
         (use + to separate them).
      The speech FIFO on Linux has been moved to the writable directory (see -W -
         the default is /var/run/brltty/).
      The Console Bell Alert preference has been added - when enabled, and with
         the tune device set to PCM, the console bell can be heard even if the PC
         speaker either doesn't exist or isn't supported.
   New and changed commands:
      The toLeft modifier can be applied to any vertical motion command.
      The AltGr (Right Alt) and GUI (Windows) keys are supported.
      The PRPGRPH (go to previous paragraph) command navigates to the first line
         of the current paragraph (or, if already on it, to the first line of the
         previous paragraph) rather than to the last line of the previous
         paragraph.
      The space bar is a real space (rather than a braille character with no dots)
         when the keyboard is in Unicode braille input mode.
      Disabling the braille keyboard now disables all braille input commands.
      New commands that always skip forward/backward to a nonblank braille window:
         NXNBWIN, PRNBWIN
      Sticky modifier command improvements:
         Cycle through next,on,off (rather than just on,off) - next means just for
         the next typed character, and times out after five seconds.
      New commands to start/stop the braille,speech,screen drivers:
         BRL_START, BRL_STOP, SPK_START, SPK_STOP, SCR_START, SCR_STOP
      New commands for attaching to a specific (not necessarily current) console:
         SELECT, SELECT_NEXT, SELECT_PREV
   Albatross braille driver changes:
      Detection of no pending input has been improved.
      Recognizing a failed autodetection probe has been improved.
   Alva braille driver changes:
      Establishing a Bluetooth connection is now supported for more models.
   Baum braille driver changes:
      The standard braille keyboard chords are supported.
      The Refreshabraille has an improved key table.
      The Conny has an improved key table.
      The 12-cell Vario/BrailleConnect now uses the Conny key table.
      The protocols= parameter has been renamed to protocol= and accepts a
         specific protocol name (default, escape, hid1, hid2, ht, pb).
      Support for the following models has been added:
         VarioUltra, Pronto!, Brailliant2, SuperVario2, HID Refreshabraille 18
   BrailleMemo braille driver changes:
      Model autodetection has been improved.
   FreedomScientific braille driver changes:
      The key tables for newer models use the newer key names:
         The wheels are called Nav keys.
         The GDF keys are called Selector keys.
   HandyTech braille driver changes:
      Touch-based navigation has been implemented for the following models:
         Modular Evolution, Active Braille, Active Star
   HIMS braille driver changes:
      Function keys can be emulated by pressing space with a routing key.
      The Braille Sense U2 is recognized.
      The Braille Edge scroll keys are now mapped correctly.
   HumanWare braille driver changes:
      Bindings for adding Alt, Control, or both to a function key have been added.
   MDV braille driver changes:
      The bindings are now defined within key tables.
      Support for the following models has been added:
         Lilli Blu, MB248, MB408+
   Papenmeier braille driver changes:
      The status key bindings have been standardized across the various models.
      Minor changes to the front key bindings (for models with 13).
      XT keyboard support has been fixed.
   XWindow braille driver changes:
      Support for the Unicode braille characters has been added.
   AtSpi2 screen driver changes:
      The widget with focus on startup is determined correctly.
      The currently focused widget is cached for efficiency.
      The screen size is implicitly increased based on the cursor's location.
      The release= (yes, no) parameter has been added.
   Linux screen driver changes:
      VGA foreground and background colours are now reported correctly.
      A font change now triggers a braille display update.
      The VT= (number) parameter has been added - 0 means the current console.
      Systemd is no longer blocked from starting a login session on an unused tty.
   Screen screen driver changes:
      ASCII control characters can now be entered.
   BrlAPI changes:
      The version is now 0.6.4 (it was 0.6.3).
      Cursor blinking finally works again.
      The braille display is refreshed whenever it comes back online if the client
         has focus.
   Language profile support fixes:
      The language profile can now be changed when there's no braille device.
      The braille device and keyboard key table help texts are regenerated
         according to the new localization when the language profile is changed.
   Text table changes:
      The en_CA (English Canada) text table has been updated.
      The fr-vs (VisioBraille) text table has been updated.
      The alias directive has been added.
      Support for the variable and conditional directives has been added.
      The -u (--undefined) option has been added to brltty-ttb - it reports
         the characters in the current screen font that aren't yet defined in the
         text table.
      brltty-ttb can write C preprocessor format (cpp) tables.
   Contraction table changes:
      The Unicode braille characters are now handled internally.
      The en-us-g2 (grade 2 US English) contraction table has been updated.
      The zh-tw (Taiwan Chinese) contraction table has been updated.
   Key table changes:
      Major chords key subtable changes:
         Tab is now Space+Dots45 (it was Space+Dots2356).
         Backspace is now just Dot7, and Enter is now just Dot8.
         Add Space to get just dot 7 or just dot 8.
         Unchorded bindings have been added for navigating the preferences menu:
            Dot1: go to the previous item
            Dot4: go to the next item
            Dot2: go to the first item
            Dot5: go to the last item
            Dot3: select the previous setting for the current item
            Dot6: select the next setting for the current item
            Dot7: go back one level
            Dot8: exit the menu
      Minor changes to the keypad keyboard table.
      The assignDefault directive has been added.
      The -r (--reStructuredText) option has been added to brltty-ktb - it causes
         the help text to be formatted as reStructuredText.
      The help text has been improved:
         Related bindings have been organized into functional groups.
         Each of these groups has a descriptive header.
         Variants of the same binding are listed together.
         The bindings for Help and Learn are intentionally listed at the top.
   Java bindings fixes:
      The JDK hierarchy is located even when symbolic links point to it.
      The subdirectory containing machine-dependent JNI definitions is included.
   Android updates:
      F9 goes to the Global Actions (Power Off) dialog (Lollipop and later).
      F10 is the Menu key.
      The braille display stays in the active window (new problem as of Lollipop).
      The order in which screen elements are rendered is more intuitive.
      Czech translations have been added.
      Finnish translations have been added.
   Windows updates:
      Support for the Unicode braille characters has been added.
   brltty-tune (formerly tunetest) changes:
      The tune syntax has been completely changed.
      Tunes can be read from files.
   Build changes:
      The autoconf dependency has been updated to 2.64 (from 2.53).
      The ktbtest command has been renamed to brltty-ktb.
      The tunetest command has been renamed to brltty-tune.
      The brltty-atb, brltty-ktb, and brltty-tune commands are installed.
      Key table help text is rendered in HTML (as well as in plain text).
      Systemd service ready notification (via type=notify) is supported.
      mkwin command updates:
         The -C (Cygwin root directory) option has been added.
         A safe, relative path to the configure script can now be used.

November 6, 2014:
 - BRLTTY 5.2 released:
   General Fixes:
      Unexpected cursor tracking when switching virtual consoles has been resolved.
      The PASSPS2 command has (finally) been implemented.
      An infrastructure for defining custom commands has been added.
      A braille update is now forced when the braille device comes back online.
      All speech-related delays have been removed.
      Language profiles have been implemented (see README.Profiles).
      The following log categories have been added:
         brldrv  Braille Driver Events
         spkdrv  Speech Driver Events
         scrdrv  Screen Driver Events
         all     a pseudo-category that enables all categories
         -name   disable a log category (especially useful after specifying all)
   New Commands:
      BRLKBD                 Set the braille keyboard enabled/disabled.
      PASTE_HISTORY          paste from the clipboard's history
      SET_TEXT_TABLE         directly select a text table
      SET_ATTRIBUTES_TABLE   directly select an attributes table
      SET_CONTRACTION_TABLE  directly select a contraction table
      SET_KEYBOARD_TABLE     directly select a keyboard table
      SET_LANGUAGE_PROFILE   directly select a language profile
      ALERT                  play a specific alert tune (used internally)
   New Braille Drivers:
      The Hedo [hd] driver has been added (MobilLine and ProfilLine models).
   Alva Braille Driver:
      The BC's Windows key has been bound to the Escape key.
      Key Repeat and Secondary Cursor Row Emulation are now automatically disabled.
      The driver has been updated to use newer core facilities.
   BrailleMemo Braille Driver:
      The key bindings have been changed.
      The BM Smart can now connect via USB.
   BrailleNote Braille Driver:
      The APEX is now recognized when connected via USB.
      The APEX routing keys are now handled.
      Text input in Input Mode is now supported.
   EuroBraille Braille Driver:
      The Protocol= parameter now recognizes "esysiris".
      A number of USB connectivity issues have been resolved.
   FreedomScientific Braille Driver:
      A number of USB connectivity issues have been resolved.
   HandyTech Braille Driver:
      The key combination LeftSpace+Dot7 has been bound to the Backspace key.
      Support for the following new models has been added:
         Active Star 40, Modular Connect 88, Connect Braille 40
   Iris Braille Driver:
      A possible crash when woken up in packet forward mode has been resolved.
      Key bindings have been added for the (new) PASTE_HISTORY command.
      The LatchDelay= parameter has been added.
      The driver has been updated to use newer core facilities.
   Metec Braille Driver:
      Support for status cells has been added.
      The driver has been updated to use newer core facilities.
   Papenmeier Braille Driver:
      Support for the Live and Live+ models has been added.
      Support for keyboards in Windows mode has been added.
      The two braille keyboard thumb keys have been remapped:
         LeftThumb now functions as the control key.
         RightThumb now functions as the left alt key.
   TSI Braille Driver:
      Key tables (rather than hard-coded bindings) are now used.
      The repeat delay and rate can now be controlled from the preferences menu.
      The HighBaud=yes/no parameter has been added.
      The SetBaud= parameter has been added.
      The driver has been updated to use newer core facilities.
   BrlAPI Updates:
      Now at release 0.6.3.
      Support for the XDG_VTNR environment variable has been added.
   USB Updates:
      All endpoint I/O is now deferred until after the strings have been read.
      The strings are now encoded in UTF-8 (rather than in Latin1).
      Asynchronous endpoint input errors are now detected.
      Detaching the kernel's driver via libusb is now supported.
      Detaching the kernel's driver via libusb-1.0 is now supported.
      Reading from an endpoint via libusb-1.0 now works again.
      Native Linux support now works on big endian platforms.
      The braille driver is restarted on Linux if the serial adapter is unplugged.
   Preferences Menu Changes:
      The "Save on Exit" selector has been moved back to the top of the root menu.
      The MENU_PREV_LEVEL command when in the root menu now exits the menu.
      File extensions are no longer shown in the table selectors.
      The Keyboard Table selector has been added.
      The Profiles submenu has been added.
      The Build Information advanced submenu has been added.
      The Tools advanced submenu has been added.
   Text Tables:
      no-oub (Norwegian) has been renamed to no-oup.
      no-oup is now the default Norwegian table.
   Contraction Tables:
      Unicode combining characters are now handled.
      Best fit (rather than explicit) character matching is now done.
      The "contraction" opcode no longer applies if even one non-punctuation
         character either precedes or follows the sequence.
      Updated Tables:
         de-kurzschrift (German)
         en-us-g2 (English US Grade 2)
   Key Tables:
      Contexts can now have meaningful names.
      Including a subtable can no longer change the context of the including table.
   Android Changes:
      The version code and version name are now set.
      The occasional crash on service startup has been resolved.
      Bluetooth devices that don't implement service discovery are now supported.
   DOS Changes:
      The configuration file has been renamed to brltty.cfg (from brltty.con).
      The log file is now created in BRLTTY's top-level directory.
      The log file is now written cleanly.
      The "page fault on program termination" problem has been resolved.
      The mkdosarc and mkdostools scripts have been added.
   Windows Changes:
      The mkwin script has been made much more flexible.
      brltty.inf has been renamed to brltty-libusb.inf.
      brltty.nsi has been renamed to libusb.nsi.
   Build Changes:
      The --with-keyboard-package option has been renamed to --with-kbd-package.
      The PKG_CONFIG environment variable (pkg-config command path) is honoured.
      A patch for screen-4.2.1 has been added.
      The tables have been moved into separate subdirectories of /etc/brltty/:
         Attributes/   attributes tables
         Contraction/  contraction tables
         Input/        braille driver tables
         Keyboard/     keyboard tables
         Text/         text tables

March 27, 2014:
 - BRLTTY 5.1 released:
   General Changes:
      An alert (2 beeps every 30 seconds) is now played when the screen is frozen.
      Saving the preferences file now adds comments showing the possible values
      (and the default value) for each property.
      USB device identifiers now support the genericDevices= (yes, no) parameter.
   Command Changes:
      Unicode braille dots input is now supported:
         The BRLUCDOTS toggle command has been added.
         The "Braille Input Mode" preference has been added to "Input Options".
      Skip Blank Windows now works like Skip Identical Lines:
         FWINLT/FWINRT are unchanged:
            If SBW is off then don't skip blank windows.
            If SBW is on then honour Skip Blank Windows Mode.
         FWINLTSKIP/FWINRTSKIP now work as follows:
            If SBW is off then honour Skip Blank Windows Mode.
            If SBW is on then don't skip blank windows.
   The FreedomScientific Braille Driver:
      Various problems with detecting a connection error have been resolved.
      A problem causing a braille display freeze has been resolved.
   The Papenmeier Braille Driver:
      The following bindings have been added for models with 22 status cells:
         Binding        Command
         Status20       BRLUCDOTS
         Dot7+Status20  BRLUCDOTS+off
         Dot8+Status20  BRLUCDOTS+on
   The Application Programming Interface (BrlAPI):
      The version has been increased to 0.6.2 (from 0.6.1).
      The retainDots= parameter has been removed.
      The PASSDOTS command is no longer implicitly accepted by default.
      Explicitly accepting PASSDOTS bypasses the conversion to PASSCHAR.
   Environment Variables:
      BRLTTY_NO_API (yes, no) is now supported.
   The Configuration File (brltty.conf):
      no-api (yes, no) can now be specified.
      The following directives have been added:
         include <file>
         ifSet <property> [<statement>]
         ifNotSet <property> [<statement>]
         assign <variable> <value>
         ifVar <variable> [<statement>]
         ifNotVar <variable> [<statement>]
         else
         endIf
      The special syntax \{variable} is now supported.
   Text Tables:
      The Hebrew text table (he) has been modernized.
   Contraction Tables:
      The US English Grade 2 (en-us-g2) contraction table has been updated.
   Key Tables:
      The following binding changes have been made to the "keypad" key table:
         Binding           Old      New
         KP0+KPMinus       SIXDOTS  SIXDOTS+off
         KP0+KPPlus        -        SIXDOTS+on
         KPPeriod+KPMinus  FREEZE   BRLUCDOTS+off
         KPPeriod+KPPlus   -        BRLUCDOTS+on
         KPMinus+KP3       -        FREEZE
      The <statement> operand of the ifKey directive is now optional.
      The following directives have been added:
         ifNotKey <key> [<statement>]
         ifVar <variable> [<statement>]
         ifNotVar <variable> [<statement>]
         else
         endIf
   Data File Customization:
      The XDG configuration file paradigm is now supported.
      A local version of any data file can be placed in "/etc/xdg/brltty/".
      The XDG_CONFIG_HOME and XDG_CONFIG_DIRS environment variables are supported.
      See "README.Customize" for full details.
   Build Changes:
      The source has been moved from an svn repository to a git repository at:
         "https://github.com/brltty/brltty.git".
      The URL of the web site has been changed to "http://brltty.com".
      Many of the core headers are now installed (in "/usr/include/brltty/").
      The brltty-devel rpm is now created.
      The --with-api-socket-path= configure option has been added.

January 27, 2014:
 - BRLTTY 5.0 released:
   Major Changes:
      Conversion from frequent regular polling to event-based scheduling.
      The speech driver now runs in its own thread.
   General Changes:
      The --message-delay brltty option has been renamed to --message-timeout.
      The -Q [--quiet-if-no-braille] brltty option has been added.
      The -U [--update-interval=] brltty option has been removed.
      The CLIP_SAVE and CLIP_RESTORE commands have been added.
      The PWGEN command has been removed.
      The FREEZE toggle can now be explicitly set to on or off.
      The confirmation tune is played twice if an explicit toggle is already set.
      Braille driver selection using the Bluetooth device name is now supported.
      A Bluetooth device address may now contain dashes (-) instead of colons (:).
      The "bth:" and "bluez:" device qualifier aliases are no longer supported.
      Braille device identifiers may now contain parameters (see README.Devices).
      Lots of improvements to Android support have been made.
   Preferences Menu Changes:
      Input Options Submenu:
         The Autorepeat Delay setting has been renamed to Long Press Time.
         The Braille Orientation setting has been added.
      Internal Parameters Submenu:
         The log categories have been moved down into their own submenu.
   The following braille drivers have been added:
      bg: B2G models (from NBP).
      mm: Braille Memo models (from KGS).
   Significant upgrades have been made to the following braille drivers:
      Alva, Baum,  Cebra, FreedomScientific, HandyTech, HumanWare,
      Papenmeier, Pegasus, Seika.
   Alva Braille Driver Changes:
      Support has been added for the newer Braille Pen models (from Harpo).
      Support has been added for the Easy Link 12 Touch (from Optelec).
   FreedomScientific Braille Driver Changes:
      All of the bumper keys now have bindings.
      The rocker keys of the Focus 80 Blue now have bindings.
      For Focus models:
         The left shift key now functions as a control modifier key.
         The right shift key now functions as a meta (left alt) modifier key.
         The left GDF key plus the left bumper keys goes to the top/bottom line.
         The right GDF key plus the right bumper keys goes to the top/bottom line.
   HandyTech Braille Driver Changes:
      Support has been added for the Basic Braille models.
   HIMS Braille Driver Changes:
      Support has been added for the Braille Sense U2.
      Support has been added for using Braille Edge models via Bluetooth.
      Support for models which have a qwerty keyboard has been improved.
   Papenmeier Braille Driver Changes:
      The status key bindings for models with 22 status keys have been revised.
   Seika Braille Driver Changes:
      The K2, K3, and K4 keys of the braille display models now work.
   Voyager Braille Driver Changes:
      Support has been added for the routing keys on newer Braille Pen models.
   XWindow Braille Driver Changes:
      It is now usable when only the default fonts are available.
   BrlAPI Changes:
      Version updated to 0.6.1.
      API parameter syntax problems are now errors (rather than warnings).
      Autorepeat key events are now being delivered to clients.
      A crash when visual text wasn't being supplied by the core has been fixed.
      Orca braille output is no longer being hidden by xbrlapi output.
      gdm should now automatically start xbrlapi.
   Text Table Changes:
      The Slovenian table (sl) has been added.
      The full-width Latin letters now have braille representations.
      The full-width Latin digits now have braille representations.
      brltty-trtxt now preserves space characters.
   Attributes Table Changes:
      The existing tables have been given more descriptive names:
         attrib -> invleft_right
         attributes -> left_right
      The upper_lower table has been added.
   Contraction Table Changes:
      The US English Grade 2 table has been improved.
      The German table has been improved.
      The -v (--verification-table=) option has been added to brltty-ctb.
   Key Table Changes:
      A binding for TIME (KP0+T) has been added to the desktop key table.
      A table for Sun type 6 keyboards (sun_type6) has been added.
      Support has been added for long key press bindings.
      The value of an assign statement may now contain variable expansions.
   Build Changes:
      The libusb-1.0 package is now preferred over the libusb package.
      The message catalogs are now installed if the needed tools are available.
      pyrexc is no longer an alternate compiler for the Python bindings.
      Paths to Java build commands which contain blanks are now supported.
      Many fixes for building on Mac OS X (Darwin) have been made.
      The following wrapper scripts for a number of platforms have been added:
         cfg-android, cfg-darwin.
      The eutp command (for EuroBraille file transfer) has been added.

April 1, 2013:
 - BRLTTY 4.5 released:
   General Fixes:
      The cursor routing algorithm is now usually almost as fast as it used to be.
      Speech navigation now works when braille is not being used.
      Autospeak is now forced on if speech is being used without braille.
      Autospeak no longer considers a single character to be a completed word.
      The input modifier commands now function as regular toggles.
      Hangs can no longer occur when the system clock is adjusted backward.
      Occasional delayed input with some braille devices has been resolved.
      Poor response when using USB with some braille devices has been resolved.
      Bogus Bluetooth connect errors (resource busy) have been resolved.
   Alva Braille Driver:
      The key bindings for the BC models have been reworked.
      Secondary routing keys are now interpreted as though they were primary keys.
      The SecondaryRoutingKeyEmulation= parameter has been added.
   Baum Braille Driver:
      The RefreshaBraille key bindings have been improved.
   BrailleNote Braille Driver:
      Key bindings are now defined within key tables rather than being hard-coded.
   Cebra Braille Driver:
      Bluetooth support has been added.
      Support for the Novem braille keyboard has been added.
   FreedomScientific Braille Driver:
      Support for the Focus 14 has been added.
      A key binding for CLIP_COPY has been added.
      The definitions for the two Focus 40 rocker keys have been swapped.
   HandyTech Braille Driver:
      Poor performance when using an Active Braille has been resolved.
   HIMS Braille Driver:
      USB support for the Braille Edge has been added.
      Newer Braille Sense models, when connected via USB, are now recognized.
      Many key bindings for the Braille Sense and Braille Edge have been added.
   HumanWare Braille Driver:
      USB autodetection is now supported.
   IrisLinux Braille Driver:
      Removed - superceded by the Iris braille driver.
   NinePoint Braille Driver:
      Cebra devices are now supported by the new Cebra braille driver.
      This driver now supports the NinePoint device.
   Papenmeier Braille Driver:
      Bluetooth is now supported.
      Models EL40c, EL60c, and EL80c are now supported.
   Seika Braille Driver:
      Support for the Seika 80 has been added.
   Voyager Braille Driver:
      The key bindings have been reworked.
   eSpeak Speech Driver:
      Now runs in a separate thread in order to improve core performance.
   BrlAPI Server:
      The RetainDots= parameter has been added.
   BrlAPI Client:
      Version updated to 0.6.0.
      The brlapi_writeWText() function has been added.
      The Python bindings are now compiled by Cython (rather than with Pyrex).
      Python 3 is now supported.
      A file descriptor leak has been resolved.
   Text Tables:
      The fr-vs table has been updated.
   Contraction Tables:
      The en-us-g2 table has been updated.
   Keyboard Key Tables:
      Many bindings have been added to the laptop table.
   Android:
      An initial implementation is now available.
      Runs poorly on 4.0 (ICS) but quite well on 4.1 (JB).
      Screen navigation is supported.
      See Documents/README.Android for details.

June 7, 2012:
 - BRLTTY 4.4 released:
   Changes:
      DOS option syntax (/option[:value]) can only be used on DOS or Windows.
      The clipboard functions have been renamed to accurately reflect what they do:
         CUTBEGIN  -> CLIP_NEW
         CUTAPPEND -> CLIP_ADD
         CUTLINE   -> COPY_LINE
         CUTRECT   -> COPY_RECT
         COPYCHARS -> CLIP_COPY
         APNDCHARS -> CLIP_APPEND
      The Caml bindings for BrlAPI have been renamed to Ocaml.
      The tbltest program has been renamed to brltty-ttb and is installed.
      The ctbtest program has been renamed to brltty-ctb and is installed.
      The --with-compiler-prefix= configure option has been removed.
   Fixes:
      Brltty keyboard key bindings no longer interfere with Orca key bindings.
      The updating of status lines no longer confuses the cursor routing algorithm.
      The same USB device can no longer be used by more than one brltty at a time.
   New Features:
      The help function cycles through all relevant pages.
         For example, help for the current keyboard key table is viewable.
      The info-mode line contains a clock.
      The preferences menu has been divided into a set of category-based submenus.
         Open a submenu with any key that would normally alter a setting.
         Close a submenu either by scrolling to its Close item and activating it
         or via the new MENU_PREV_LEVEL function.
