Marlin 1.1 represents an evolutionary leap over Marlin 1.0.2. It is the result of over two years of effort by several volunteers around the world who have paid meticulous and sometimes obsessive attention to every detail. For this release we focused on code quality, performance, stability, and overall user experience. Several new features have also been added, many of which require no extra hardware.
For complete Marlin documentation click over to the [Marlin Homepage <marlinfw.org>](http://marlinfw.org/), where you will find in-depth articles, how-to videos, and tutorials on every aspect of Marlin, as the site develops. For release notes, see the [Releases](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/releases) page.
## Stable Release Branch
This Release branch contains the latest tagged version of Marlin (currently 1.1.0 – May 2017).
Previous releases of Marlin include [1.0.2-2](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/tree/1.0.2-2) (December 2016) and [1.0.1](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/tree/1.0.1) (December 2014). Any version of Marlin prior to 1.0.1 (when we started tagging versions) can be collectively referred to as Marlin 1.0.0.
## Contributing to Marlin
Click on the [Issue Queue](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/issues) and [Pull Requests](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/pulls) links above at any time to see what we're currently working on.
To submit patches and new features for Marlin 1.1 check out the [bugfix-1.1.x](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/tree/bugfix-1.1.x) branch, add your commits, and submit a Pull Request back to the `bugfix-1.1.x` branch. Periodically that branch will form the basis for the next minor release.
Note that our "bugfix" branch will always contain the latest patches to the current release version. These patches may not be widely tested. As always, when using "nightly" builds of Marlin, proceed with full caution.
## Current Status: In Development
Marlin development has reached an important milestone with its first stable release in over 2 years. During this period we focused on cleaning up the code and making it more modern, consistent, readable, and sensible.
## Future Development
Arduino IDE now supports folder hierarchies, so Marlin 1.1 is the last "flat" version of Marlin. Version 1.2 will have a hierarchical file structure, and will form the starting-point for our integration of 32-bit CPU support.
Marlin is published under the [GPL license](/COPYING.md) because we believe in open development. The GPL comes with both rights and obligations. Whether you use Marlin firmware as the driver for your open or closed-source product, you must keep Marlin open, and you must provide your compatible Marlin source code to end users upon request. The most straightforward way to comply with the Marlin license is to make a fork of Marlin on Github, perform your modifications, and direct users to your modified fork.
While we can't prevent the use of this code in products (3D printers, CNC, etc.) that are closed source or crippled by a patent, we would prefer that you choose another firmware or, better yet, make your own.
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