IMPORTANT NOTE:

This is the package formerly known as biblatex-chicago-notes-df.  It
is intended for use only with the latest version of biblatex -- 1.3 is
current.  If you have used the package before, then you should be sure
to consult the RELEASE file to find out what alterations you may need
to make to your .bib files and document preambles to bring them up to
date.

README (version 0.9.7a, 2011-03-17):

Biblatex-chicago contains two biblatex styles implementing the
specifications of the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition.  (If you
are interested in adopting the changes introduced in the 16th edition,
published last fall, then please note that the next release of
biblatex-chicago will provide what you need.)  The "notes &
bibliography" style was formerly available in the package
biblatex-chicago-notes-df, and is intended primarily for writers in
the humanities, whereas the "author-date" style is generally favored
by writers in the sciences and social sciences.

This is a beta release, but its feature set is already fairly
extensive.  If you have used the package before you may, after
perusing the RELEASE file, want to look at the changelog at the end of
biblatex-chicago.pdf, which contains cross-references to more detailed
explanations about how this update will affect parts of your .bib
file.  If you are just getting started, the best way to learn the
system is to read the documentation in that same pdf file, which
contains both a Quickstart section and a complete reference guide to
both styles (sections 4 and 5).  The package also contains annotated
.bib files (notes-test.bib and dates-test.bib) which each offer over
100 entries demonstrating how to present a wide range of sources,
nearly all of them taken from the Chicago Manual of Style itself, so
that you can compare the output of your system (cms-notes-sample.tex,
cms-dates-sample.tex) or my system (cms-notes-sample.pdf,
cms-dates-sample.pdf) with the actual examples in the Manual.

I have, wherever possible, attempted to maintain backward
compatibility with the standard biblatex styles, but there are a
significant number of situations where I have been unable to do so,
which means that switching among various styles while using the same
bibliography database will not be as simple and painless as it could
be.  If you can see ways better to preserve this compatibility, or
indeed to improve the package in any way whatsoever, please let me
know, or better yet, send a patch.  As the author-date style is
relatively new, now is the time to suggest changes in field or
entry-type usage there, before questions of backward compatibility
become more pressing.  If the styles don't behave as you expect or if
you discover a bug, I'd be very happy to hear about it, but do please
read biblatex-chicago.pdf first, as you may find that your question
has already been answered there.  If you do find a bug, please send me
the .bib entry, your LaTeX preamble, and your output .log, so that I
can try to reproduce it here.  My email address is at the head of
biblatex-chicago.pdf.

Installation:

With the recent proliferation of files, I have thought it best to
implement, with this release, a different directory structure for the
package archive.  I have adopted the structure found in biblatex.zip,
so if you want to place these files in your TeX directory tree instead
of in your working directory, I recommend the following, which should
be familiar from the main biblatex package:

 - The nine files biblatex-chicago.sty, chicago-notes.cbx,
   chicago-notes.bbx, chicago-authordate.cbx, chicago-authordate.bbx,
   cms-american.lbx, cms-french.lbx, cms-german.lbx, and
   cms-ngerman.lbx are located in the latex/ subdirectory, itself
   further subdivided into bbx/, cbx/, and lbx/.  The entire contents
   of this latex/ directory, including its subdirectories, can go in
   <TEXMFLOCAL>/tex/latex/biblatex-contrib/biblatex-chicago, where
   <TEXMFLOCAL> is the root of your local TeX installation -- for
   example, and depending on your system, /usr/share/texmf-local,
   /usr/local/texmf, or C:\Local TeX Files\.  You may need to create
   this directory first, and after copying the files there please
   remember to update your TeX file name database so that TeX can find
   them.

 - The eight files biblatex-chicago.tex, biblatex-chicago.pdf,
   cms-notes-sample.tex, cms-dates-sample.tex, cms-notes-sample.pdf,
   cms-dates.sample.pdf, notes-test.bib, and dates-test.bib can all be
   found in the doc/ directory in the package archive, the last 6 in
   the examples/ subdirectory.  You can place all of this in
   <TEXMFLOCAL>/doc/latex/biblatex-contrib/biblatex-chicago.


Changelog: See the RELEASE file, and also the end of
biblatex-chicago.pdf.


Copyright (c) 2008-2011 David Fussner.  This package is
author-maintained.  This work may be copied, distributed and/or
modified under the conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License,
either version 1.3 of this license or (at your option) any later
version.  The latest version of this license is in
http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt and version 1.3 or later is part
of all distributions of LaTeX version 2005/12/01 or later.  This
software is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
