# Pybtex!

Pybtex is a drop-in replacement for BibTeX written in Python. You can start using it right now by simply typing `pybtex` where you would have typed `bibtex`.

Please note that the correct spelling is just Pybtex, without any camel-casing, which we considered too annoying to type.

We also suggest reading the Friendly Manual, although it is still incomplete.

## Oh! Is it really BibTeX-compatible?

Yes, it really is, most of the time.

BibTeX styles work fine with Pybtex, although there are still some minor issues. Nevertheless, we are going to achieve 100% compatibility before releasing version 1.0.

If something does not work for you, just let us know.

## But why should I use it instead of BibTeX?

You probably should not if you ask. But still, Pybtex has Unicode inside. It supports BibTeXML and YAML. It can write HTML and plain text. It is extensible and fun to hack. It comes with a free database conversion utility. And designing new bibliography styles is no more a pain with Pybtex' brand new pythonic style API.

You can see the feature overview for more details.

## Hmm nice. Wrap it up, I'll take it! Where is the download link?

The tarballs thay are available from the PyPI page. That said, the most stable and feature complete and well documented version of Pybtex is known to be the Bazaar trunk.

To get the very latest Pybtex from the trunk:

    bzr branch lp:pybtex

To run the tests (need nose):

    cd pybtex
    python setup.py egg_info  # or python setup.py develop
    python setup.py nosetests

Pybtex can be also installed with Easy Install:

    easy_install pybtex

But you won't get any documentation this way.

If something goes wrong, please file a bug report.

Have fun!