Re: [Groff] inconsistencies with color specification

[Bernd Warken]

On Sun, Oct 21, 2001 at 08:37:38PM +0200, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
>   . New troff output format:
> 
>       for RGB:        m r rrrrggggbbbb
>       for CMY:        m c ccccmmmmyyyy
>       for CMYK:       m k ccccmmmmyyyykkkk
>       for GRAY:       m g gggg
>       default colour: m r|c|k|g -1
> 
>     The same with DF -- Both m and DF have exactly two arguments,
>     simplifying the parsing process.  Additionally, the leading `##'
>     are gone since they are redundant.  Only hex values in the range
>     0-0xFFFF are used.
> 
This is a good idea.

To stay in-line with the handling of white space in the intermediate
output format, the following could be helpful:

- The space between the command, the subcommand, and the argument is
  optional because the command letters have a fixed length.

- The m command must either be terminated by a space or tab or newline
  character just like the t command.

- The DF command must be terminated by a line-break (like the other D's).

Maybe the syntax check for the last argument should be done in the parser,
not forced onto all devices as is done now for the other commands.

To be smarter on the postprocessor input, the default color should be
actived if the last argument contains any character that is not a hex
digit or if the length of the argument does not suit. Nevertheless
grtoff should always output -1 for this case.


Bernd Warken