Re: groff 1.17: line length register not set w/ -man macros

[Bruce Lilly]

Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> 
> > INPUT FILES:
> > ===================== mantest.1 =================================
> > .TH foo
> > .tm register LL should be set to 6.5i: \n(LLu
> > .tm registers IN = \n(INu, PS = \n(INu, SN = \n(SNu
> > =================================================================
> >
> > COMMAND LINE:
> > groff -man < mantest.1 > /dev/null
> >
> > DESCRIPTION OF INCORRECT BEHAVIOUR:
> > Register LL (line length) should be set to 6.5 inches. It is zero.
> > Register IN (indent) etc. are OK, so it's not a general register issue.
> 
> The GNU troff implementation of man (in file an-old.tmac) doesn't use
> the LL register.  Is `LL' documented in the original AT&T
> implementation?
> 
>    Werner
> 
> PS: Is the original AT&T man documentation available online?

Hmmm.  This worked in groff 1.11.  I also looked in the groff 1.17
tmac.an, which looks like is does set LL.  (why does -man use
an-old.tmac rather than tmac.an; I would understand if groff were
invoked with -man-old ...?)

Re. documentation: LL is documented in the MAN(5) man page in
the "AT&T UNIX(R) System V Documentor's Workbench User's Guide",
ISBN 0-13-943598-0.  It says (in part):

``The following number registers are given default values by .TH:
[...]
LL      Line length including IN.
''

A web search for "man macros nroff troff IN LL PD" revealed the
following (there are differences, but all document the LL register):

http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/csg/manuals/hpux-manual-pages/hpux/usr/man/man5/man.5.html
http://jaguar.ir.miami.edu/HTML/MAN/MAN5/0084____.HTM
http://www.devresource.hp.com/STK/man/11.00/man_5.html
http://www.tru64unix.compaq.com/faqs/publications/base_doc/DOCUMENTATION/V40E_HTML/MAN/MAN5/0300____.HTM


Best regards,
  Bruce Lilly