Re: [Groff] An attempt to make Werner happy :-)

[Eric S. Raymond]

Werner LEMBERG <address@hidden>:
> Hmm.  It's really bizarre that I have to use *optical* formatting for
> TTY -- and your example looks fine only for a 80-character wide
> terminal -- to get a decent lifting.  I can't believe that this is the
> right solution!
> 
> Both the inserted `.br' and `.in +6' commands fail for any other
> output device as DVI or PS.

I agree, this is a serious problem.
 
> What about the stuff used troff.man:
> 
>   .nr a \n(.j
>   .ad l
>   .nr i \n(.i
>   .in +\w'\fBtroff 'u
>   .ti \niu
>   .B troff
>   .
>   .de OP
>   .  ie \\n(.$-1 \
>   .    RI "[\ \fB\\$1\fP" "\\$2" "\ ]"
>   .  el \
>   .    RB "[\ " "\\$1" "\ ]"
>   ..
>   .
>   .OP \-abcivzCERU
>   .OP \-d cs
>   .OP \-f fam
>   .OP \-F dir
>   .OP \-I dir
>   .OP \-m name
>   .OP \-M dir
>   .OP \-n num
>   .OP \-o list
>   .OP \-r cn
>   .OP \-T name
>   .OP \-w name
>   .OP \-W name
>   .RI "[\ " files\|.\|.\|. "\ ]"
>   .br
>   .ad \na
> 
> This assures that the indentation and line length for the options is
> correct for all output devices.

Hmmm...I believe doclifter would interpret all that correctly.  If not,
I believe I can enhance it to do so.

I think, if you do that, this bit

>   .nr a \n(.j
>   .ad l
>   .nr i \n(.i
>   .in +\w'\fBtroff 'u
>   .ti \niu
>   .B troff

ought to turn into something like

def SY
   .nr a \n(.j
   .ad l
   .nr i \n(.i
   .in +\w'\fB\\$1 'u
   .ti \niu
   .B \\$1
.SY troff

That definition could then be re-used on other groff 

This is one possible solution.  You suggest another one in a 
later post.  I will discuss both in my reply.
-- 
                <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>