Version 7.0.6

• Deprecate EXID without a TYPE. EXID is defined in terms of its TYPE, and an EXID without a TYPE is not meaningful. EXID.TYPE will have cardinality {1:1}, not {0:1}, in the next major release.

• Add media type specification for GEDZIP.

• Add term definitions for 5.5.1-compatibility EXID.TYPE values AFN, RFN, and RIN.

• Clarifications about LANG

  • Clarify that LANG is the primary language, not sole language, of a payload. For example, LANG en can be used when most of the text is in English, even if some parts are not.
  • A documented extension tag can be used where LANG is not defined.
  • Provide guidance on special language tags
    • und can be used if a superstructure's LANG does not apply here and what does apply is not known.
    • mul can be used if there is no single primary language, but is unlikely to provide practical functionality beyond und.
    • zxx can be used for ASCII art and other non-language text, and can improve accessibility for screen readers.

• Clarify that empty payloads are encoded as missing LineVals and empty LineVals are not been permitted; this has been true since 7.0.0 but was easily overlooked in the previous text.

• Note cases where the same couple might be the partners in multiple FAM records.

• Fix wording of ADR1, ADR2, and ADR3 to no longer refer to CONT or line values.

• Acknowledge that SNOTE has an identifier structure, which NOTE does not, and change recommendation to suggest using SNOTE if a NOTE needs an identifier.

• Update contact information on the title page.

• Various spelling and grammar corrections.

Version 7.0.5

• Fixed an error in the description of HEAD.LANG.

  • Previously described HEAD.LANG as the language of all Text payloads that did not have a different LANG specified. But many Text payloads did not accept a LANG substructure, which made this factually incorrect in many instances.
  • Revised to clarify that HEAD.LANG is a default language that may be used for Text without an explicit language.

• Added a new version detection specification to define how to decide which specification a given .ged file conforms to

• Clarification of DATE.PHRASE vs SOUR.DATA.TEXT when a language tag is desired

• Clarification of the use of RESI payload (as opposed to RESI.PLAC and RESI.ADDR)

• Clarification of SNOTE and its relation to the pointer-variant of 5.x NOTE

• Change event.TYPE example from "MARR.TYPE Common Law" to "ORDN.TYPE Bishop" due to cultural differences in what a common-law marriage is

• Various spelling and hyperlink corrections

Version 7.0.4

Version 7.0.4

• Clarify the use of standard structure types and standard tags in extensions

  The previous text was ambiguous, providing for "extended-use standard structures" with meaning "defined in this document" but without providing a definition of their meaning. It additionally failed to note uses of extensions that had part of the guides on gedcom.io since 7.0.0's release.

  The new text is clearer and provides the following:

  • We recommend extensions be posted as issues on github so they can be queued for a future minor release.
  • When structures with stdTag appear under a structure with extTag, their meaning is defined by that containing extension.
  • If a documented extension tag has the URI of a standard structure type, it has the same meaning as that structure type but can be used where that structure type cannot.

  See the comments on PR 24 and issues 13 and 17 for the discussion leading to this clarified text.

• Clarify that extensions with enumeration values should define the meaning of those values.

• Fix a few small typos.

Version 7.0.3

Version 7.0.3

• Clarify the use of CONT as an escaped new-line that looks like a substructure of the first line of text
• Clarify that "FILE gedcom.ged" is incompatible with GEDZIP
• Fix typos in PLAC.EXID to match other EXIDs
• Fix incorrect example using NAME.LANG
• Standardize use of links and references to IETF documents

Version 7.0.2

• Clarify that inside a document stating "2 VERS 7.0" is sufficient but "2 VERS 7.0.1" is permitted
• Update links to IETF documents
• Correct a few typos

Version 7.0.1

Correct error in contributors section

Version 7.0.0

As a major release and the first update to the specification in 20 years, there a many changes in this version. See the changelog for a full list.