v1.4.0

• Add Constants.copy(), a detached deep copy that preserves the source instance's current customizations (unlike Constants(), which always starts from library defaults) -- useful as CONSTANTS.copy() for a private snapshot of the shared config (#260)
• Deprecate passing constants=None to HumanName (or assigning hn.C = None): it silently builds a fresh Constants(), discarding any customizations the caller may have expected to carry over from the shared CONSTANTS. Emits DeprecationWarning; will raise TypeError in 2.0. Use constants=Constants() for fresh library defaults or constants=CONSTANTS.copy() for a private snapshot instead (closes #260)
• Deprecate assigning Constants.empty_attribute_default for removal in 2.0 (#255): once None support goes, the only legal value left is the default '', so a dial with one position isn't configuration. Emits DeprecationWarning; reading the attribute is unaffected
• Deprecate unknown-key attribute access on TupleManager/RegexTupleManager (CONSTANTS.regexes.typo, CONSTANTS.capitalization_exceptions.typo, etc.) for removal in 2.0 (#256): a misspelled or omitted key currently degrades silently (None/EMPTY_REGEX) with no traceback pointing at the typo. Emits DeprecationWarning naming the miss and the known keys; will raise AttributeError in 2.0. .get() remains available for intentional soft access
• Deprecate HumanName slice access (name[1:-3]) and item assignment (name['first'] = value) for removal in 2.0 (#258): field access by position has no real use case, and item assignment duplicates plain attribute assignment. Both emit DeprecationWarning; string-key access (name['first']) is unaffected
• Deprecate SetManager.add_with_encoding() itself for removal in 2.0 (#245), regardless of argument type: use add() instead (decoding bytes first). Previously only the bytes path warned; the str path was silent even though the whole method goes away
• Deprecate loading a legacy-format Constants pickle (written by nameparser <= 1.2.x, before the 1.3.0 pickle fix) for removal in 2.0 (#279): __setstate__'s migration shim currently skips the stale computed-property key silently. Emits DeprecationWarning once per call telling users to re-pickle; will raise ValueError in 2.0
• Fix the "Lastname, Firstname" comma format not being recognized when the input uses the Arabic comma ، (U+060C, the standard comma in Arabic/Persian/Urdu text) or the fullwidth CJK comma ， (U+FF0C) instead of the ASCII comma: both variants now also split the format and no longer leak into the parsed output (closes #265)

Full changelog: https://github.com/derek73/python-nameparser/blob/master/docs/release_log.rst