do not remove leading dots from paths

Update README.md

use clean URL for status reporting

bump version number (2.8.2 -> 2.8.3)

bump version number (2.8.1 -> 2.8.2)

bump version number (2.8.0 -> 2.8.1)

optimize code

bump version number (2.6.2 -> 2.7.0), update dependencies

update 3rd-party dependencies and bump version number

Merge pull request #272 from snshn/new-release

New release (2.6.1)