This is a first alpha for a full 1.0 version release. :snake: :confetti_ball:
This pulls together some relatively large changes. In most cases they shouldn't affect usage, or should make the library significantly easier to install, but depending your expectations they may break existing installs. Given that the upstream MeCab is unlikely to ever see another release tracking its version doesn't really make sense, so this is a chance to start fresh. :wind_chime:
Removal of bundled IPAdic :books: :no_good:
This was bundled to make installation easier, but it happened without warning, which caused some confusion. IPAdic is old and should not be used in general; if you do want to use it it's not hard to install. Removing a bundled dictionary means that system MeCab settings, if present, will be used. **This is a breaking change if you relied on the bundled dictionary.** The bundled dictionary was released with version 0.996.1, released November 2018; the previous 0.7 did not include it.
Support for Windows wheels :package:
The scripts chezou wrote for [fugashi](https://github.com/polm/fugashi) Windows builds worked for this repo with only minor changes. Currently this is only Windows x64 though I'm not sure that's a problem. This could use more testing too.
Support for PyPI dictionaries :books: :+1:
[unidic-lite](https://github.com/polm/unidic-lite) and [unidic-py](https://github.com/polm/unidic-py) package the actively maintained Unidic dictionary for easy use. While mecab-python3 supports all Mecab dictionaries, as it always has, Unidic is recommended, and now it's easier to use than ever. This also opens the door for other dictionaries being packaged for PyPI distribution.
As far as I'm aware this build is stable and free of issues, but it needs more testing. If you use this alpha version it would be great to hear if it worked or if you had issues.