Re: [groff] Inexplicable error using tbl(1) 1.19.2 on macOS

[John Gardner]

Ingo found the culprit. I'll quote his findings in the e-mail he sent me:

> That old version of tbl(1) does not have support for the 'x' modifier.
> On top of that, there are at least two parser bugs.  At the end of
> the second big switch in process_format(), we have, with comments
> added by me:
>
>      default:
>        if (c == opt->tab_char)
>          c = in.get();
>        else
>          success = 0;
>          /* Bug one: no error message when finding an invalid
>           * modifier in this switch, so you were left in the
>           * dark with respect to the root cause of the problem. */
>        break;
>      }
>    } while (success);
>    /* Bug two: silently ignores the rest of the input line
>    * rather than skipping the invalid character only and
>     * going on with the next character.  So the dot following
>     * the 'x' is lost and it indeed prods on into "Scope"... */

The bugs with feedback would explain why none of the error messages were
either helpful or precise in pinpointing the catalyst of the error.
Regarding the
x,X extension, it's actually mentioned in this version of tbl's manpage,
citing
no serious compatibility issues that would suggest my usage of it was wrong.


On Wed, 22 Aug 2018 at 12:08, Bjarni Ingi Gislason <address@hidden>
wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 08:24:21AM +1000, John Gardner wrote:
> > [...]
> > Would still like to know what the hell is going on with the tbl(1)
> > errors.... :-\
> > [...]
>
>   How does "tbl" interpret this?
>
> .TS
> Scope   Description
> .TE
>
> --
> Bjarni I. Gislason
>