Re: [Groff] Groff editor.

[Ted Harding]

On 20-Aug-07 17:58:24, Gunnar Ritter wrote:
> (Ted Harding) <address@hidden> wrote:
> 
>> The loop constantly checks whether the timestamp on myfile.tr
>> is more recent than that of myfile.watch and, if it is, then
>> groff is run on myfile.tr to generate myfile.ps, and then a
>> 'kill -1' is sent to 'gv' so that it re-reads myfile.ps and
>> displays the formatted version of the latest save. Then the
>> file myfile.watch is again 'touh'ed.
> 
> Why do you not simply use the "Watch file" feature of gv (in
> the "State" menu?

That's what I first did, when I developed the method years ago.
But sending 'gc' a SIGHUP (-1) is quicker.

Also, the way the loop is written avoids the sort of problem
you describe -- it has evolved over time to avoid treading on
its own shoelaces! I think it is now trip-proof.

Presumably your Makefile script takes similar precuations.

It's just a different way to do it, I suppose. And I'm used
to "ESC:w" as the "trigger" keystrokes (I suppose I could
plant them under F6, though).

Thanks for your contribution, though!
Ted.

> This is what I do. I edit the file in vi (actually in vim,
> since syntax highlighting makes reading troff code much more
> comfortable).
> 
> In my .exrc/.vimrc, I have a command
> 
>         map #6 :w^M:!make^M^M^M
> 
> (type ^M as ctrl-v ctrl-m). Then when I type F6, vi/vim
> saves the file and invokes make. make, in turn, calls troff
> to re-generate the PostScript document. Thanks to "Watch
> file", gv automatically notices that it has changed, and
> displays it again.
> 
> Thus, all what is necessary to update the display is to
> type F6.
> 
> The only more tricky aspect is the Makefile. The problem
> is that gv must not update its display until the PostScript
> data has been written completely. Thus, I usually have
> statements like
> 
> .SUFFIXES: .tr .ps
> 
> .tr.ps:
>         rm -f $@; trap "rm -f $$$$.ps" 0 2 3; \
>                 tbl $< | eqn | troff | dpost >$$$$.ps && mv $$$$.ps $@
> 
> all: doc.ps
> 
> clean:
>         rm -f doc.ps
> 
> in it, but you can of course replace them by any troff
> pipeline you need.
> 
> I also have templates for Makefiles and troff input for
> any type of document I usually write. Thus, I rarely
> write new troff Makefiles from scratch; I do something
> like
> 
> cp -r template.letter myletter
> cd myletter
> vim doc.ps
> 
> and from that time on, F6 is all I have to type (except
> for the document text, of course).
> 
>       Gunnar

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Date: 20-Aug-07                                       Time: 19:32:27
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