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diff --git a/contrib/groff/man/roff.man b/contrib/groff/man/roff.man index 2897ac0..5a9c5b5 100644 --- a/contrib/groff/man/roff.man +++ b/contrib/groff/man/roff.man @@ -1,16 +1,18 @@ -'\" t .ig -roff.7 +roff.man + +Last update: 22 Apr 2002 This file is part of groff, the GNU roff type-setting system. -Copyright (C) 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. written by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de> +maintained by Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org> Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the -Invariant Sections being this .ig-section and AUTHOR, with no +Invariant Sections being this .ig-section and AUTHORS, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the Free Documentation License is included as a file called @@ -21,6 +23,8 @@ FDL in the main directory of the groff source package. .\" Setup .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- . +.mso www.tmac +. .if n \{\ . mso tty-char.tmac . ftr CR R @@ -28,304 +32,888 @@ FDL in the main directory of the groff source package. . ftr CB B .\} . -.\" text lines in macro definitions or bracketed sections \{...\} -.de text -. if 1 \&\\$*\& +.if '\*[.T]'dvi' \{\ +. ftr CB CW +.\} +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.\" String definitions +. +.\" Final `\""' comments are used to make Emacs happy, sic \"" +. +.\" The `-' sign for options. +.ie t \{\ +. ds @- \-\" +. ds @-- \-\-\" +.\} +.el \{\ +. ds @- -\" +. ds @-- --\" +.\} +. +.ds Comment \.\[rs]\[dq]\" +.ds Ellipsis \.\|.\|.\&\" +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.\" Begin of macro definitions +. +.de c +.\" this is like a comment request when escape mechanism is off .. . -.de option -. ds @tmp@ \f(CB\\$1\fP -. shift 1 -. text \\*[@tmp@]\\$* -. rm @tmp@ +.eo +. +.c --------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +.de Text +. nop \)\$* .. . -.de 'char -. ds @tmp@ `\f(CB\\$1\fP' +.de CodeSkip +. ie t \ +. sp 0.2v +. el \ +. sp +.. +. +.de Esc +. ds @1 \$1\" . shift -. text \\*[@tmp@]\\$* -. rm @tmp@ +. Text \f[B]\[rs]\*[@1]\f[]\$* +. rm @1 .. . -.de esc -. ds @tmp@ \f(CB\e\\$1\fP +.de QuotedChar +. ds @1 \$1 . shift -. text \\*[@tmp@]\\$* -. rm @tmp@ +. nop `\f[B]\*[@1]\f[]'\$* +. rm @1 .. . -.de argname -. ds @tmp@ \f(CI\\$1\fP -. shift 1 -. text \\*[@tmp@]\\$* -. rm @tmp@ +.c -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +.c a shell command line +.de ShellCommand +. br +. ad l +. nh +. Text \f[I]sh#\h'1m'\f[]\f[CR]\$*\f[]\&\" +. ft R +. ft P +. hy +. ad .. . -.de prefixednumber -. ds @tmp@ \&\\$1\ \f(CR\\$2\fP -. shift 2 -. text \\*[@tmp@]\\$* -. rm @tmp@ +.c -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +.c ShortOpt ([c [punct]]) +.c +.c `-c' somewhere in the text. +.c The second argument is some trailing punctuation. +.c +.de ShortOpt +. ds @1 \$1\" +. shift +. nh +. Text \f[CB]\*[@-]\f[]\f[B]\*[@1]\f[]\/\$* +. hy +. rm @1 +.. +. +.de TP+ +. br +. ns +. TP \$1 .. . -.de TQ -.br -.ns -.TP \\$1 +.c -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +.c Topic +.c +.de Topic +. TP 2m +. Text \[bu] .. . +.ec +.\" End of macro definitions +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- .\" Title .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. .TH ROFF @MAN7EXT@ "@MDATE@" "Groff Version @VERSION@" .SH NAME -roff \- a survey of the roff typesetting system +roff \- concepts and history of roff typesetting +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH DESCRIPTION .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. .I roff is the general name for a set of type-setting programs, known under names like .IR troff , .IR nroff , +.IR ditroff , .IR groff , etc. -.LP -The roff type-setting system consists of a formatting language, macro -packages, preprocessors, postprocessors for output devices, user -front-end programs, and conversion tools. -.LP +. +A roff type-setting system consists of an extensible text formatting +language and a set of programs for printing and converting to other +text formats. +. +Traditionally, it is the main text processing system of Unix; every +Unix-like operating system still distributes a roff system as a core +package. +. +.P The most common roff system today is the free software implementation +.IR "GNU roff", +.BR groff (@MAN1EXT@). +. +The pre-groff implementations are referred to as +.I classical +(dating back as long as 1973). +. .I groff -(from `GNU\ roff'). -The pre-groff implementations are referred to as `classical' (dating -back as long as 1973). -.LP +implements the look-and-feel and functionality of its classical +ancestors, but has many extensions. +. +As .I groff -is backward-compatible to its classical ancestors, but has many -extensions, and is still evolving. -As it is available for almost every computer system it is the de-facto -roff standard today. -.LP -In spite of its age, roff is in wide use today, e.g., the manual pages -on UNIX systems -.RI ( man-pages ) -are written in roff. +is the only roff system that is available for every (or almost every) +computer system it is the de-facto roff standard today. +. +.P +In some ancient Unix systems, there was a binary called +.B roff +that implemented the even more ancient +.B runoff +of the +.I Multics +operating system, cf. section +.BR HISTORY . +The functionality of this program was very restricted even in +comparison to ancient troff; it is not supported any longer. +. +Consequently, in this document, the term +.I roff +always refers to the general meaning of +.IR "roff system" , +not to the ancient roff binary. +. +.P +In spite of its age, roff is in wide use today, for example, the manual +pages on UNIX systems +.RI ( man\~pages\/ ), +many software books, system documentation, standards, and corporate +documents are written in roff. +. The roff output for text devices is still unmatched, and its graphical -output has the same quality as the other free type-setting programs and -is better than some of the commercial systems. -.LP -This document gives only an overview and provides pointers to further -documentation. - -This document is not maintained and might be out of date. For the real -documentation refer to the groff info file that contains the detailed, -actual and concise reference information. +output has the same quality as other free type-setting programs and is +better than some of the commercial systems. +. +.P +The most popular application of roff is the concept of +.I manual pages +or shortly +.IR "man pages" ; +this is the standard documentation system on many operating systems. +. +.P +This document describes the historical facts around the development +of the +.IR "roff system" ; +some usage aspects common to all roff versions, details on the roff +pipeline, which is usually hidden behind front-ends like +.BR groff (@MAN1EXT@); +an general overview of the formatting language; some tips for editing +roff files; and many pointers to further readings. +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH "FORMATTING LANGUAGE" +.SH "HISTORY" .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -There are three terms that refer to the language of the -.I roff -system. -The term -.I troff language -is used when the classical aspects of +. +The .I roff -are stressed, the term -.I groff language -includes the GNU extensions, whereas -.I roff language -is the general term. -.LP -The main source of documentation for all aspects of the -.I groff language -is the groff info file. The manual page -.BR groff (@MAN7EXT@) -gives a short description of all predefined language elements. -.LP -Documents using roff are normal text files decorated by formatting -elements. -It is very easy to write high-quality documents by using one of the -macro packages. -These are like high-level programming languages, while the bare roff -language compares to a low-level language like C or assembler. -.LP -The roff language is a full programming language providing low-level -requests, definition of macros, escape sequences, string variables, -number or size registers, and C-like flow controls. -.ig / -In the 1980s, it was even possible to write the common utilities for -system administration by only using troff. -There were contests on writing the most unreadable program fake by -exclusively using troff. -Because of security impacts, these dangerous features were removed in -.IR groff . -./ -.LP -Some clarification on the language elements seems to be wanted. -Requests are basic formatting commands defined by programming languages -like C, C++, etc., whereas macros are formatting commands that are -written in the roff language. -A document writer will not note any difference in usage for requests or -macros, both are written on a line on their own starting with a dot -.'char . . -But the user may define her own macros if desired. -.LP -Escape sequences are in-line elements starting with a backslash -.'char \e . -They are used to implement various features, including the insertion of -non-ASCII characters with -.esc ( , -the content of strings with -.esc * -and register variables with -.esc n , -font changes with -.esc f , -in-line comments with -.esc \(dq , -the escaping of special control characters like -.esc \e , -and many other features. +text processing system has a very long history, dating back to the +1960s. +. +The roff system itself is intimately connected to the Unix operating +system, but its roots go back to the earlier operating systems CTSS +and Multics. +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH FORMATTERS +.SS "The Predecessor runoff" .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -Formatters are the front-end programs that analyze a groff document and -translate it into a form that is suitable for a special device. -The traditional +. +.P +The evolution of .I roff -had two formatters, +is intimately related to the history of the operating systems. +. +Its predecessor +.B runoff +was written by +.I Jerry Saltzer +on the +.I CTSS +operating system +.RI ( "Compatible Time Sharing System" ) +as early as 1961. +. +When CTTS was further developed into the operating system +.URL http://\:www.multicians.org "Multics" , +the famous predecessor of Unix from 1963, +.I runoff +became the main format for documentation and text processing. +. +Both operating systems could only be run on very expensive computers +at that time, so they were mostly used in research and for official +and military tasks. +. +.P +The possibilities of the +.I runoff +language were quite limited as compared to modern roff. +. +Only text output was possible in the 1960s. +. +This could be implemented by a set of requests of length\~2, many of +which are still identically used in roff. +. +The language was modelled according to the habits of typesetting in +the pre-computer age, where lines starting with a dot were used in +manuscripts to denote formatting requests to the person who would +perform the typesetting manually later on. +. +.P +The runoff program was written in the +.I PL/1 +language first, later on in +.IR BCPL , +the grandmother of the +.IR C \~\c +programming language. +. +In the Multics operating system, the help system was handled by +runoff, similar to roff's task to manage the Unix manual pages. +. +There are still documents written in the runoff language; for examples +see Saltzer's home page, cf. section +.BR "SEE ALSO" . +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "The Classical nroff/troff System" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +In the 1970s, the Multics off-spring +.I Unix +became more and more popular because it could be run on affordable +machines and was easily available for universities at that time. +. +At MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), there was a need to +drive the Wang +.I Graphic Systems CAT +typesetter, a graphical output device from a PDP-11 computer running +Unix. +. +As runoff was too limited for this task it was further developed into +a more powerful text formatting system by +.IR "Josef F. Osanna" , +a main developer of the Multics operating system and programmer of +several runoff ports. +. +.P +The name +.I runoff +was shortened to +.IR roff . +The greatly enlarged language of Osanna's concept included already all +elements of a full +.IR "roff system" . +. +All modern roff systems try to implement compatibility to this system. +. +So Joe Osanna can be called the father of all roff systems. +. +.P +This first +.I roff system +had three formatter programs. +. +.TP +.B troff +.RI ( "typesetter roff\/" ) +generated a graphical output for the +.I CAT +typesetter as its only device. +. +.TP .B nroff -for text devices and +produced text output suitable for terminals and line printers. +. +.TP +.B roff +was the reimplementation of the former runoff program with its limited +features; this program was abandoned in later versions. +. +Today, the name +.I roff +is used to refer to a troff/\:nroff sytem as a whole. +. +.P +Osanna first version was written in the PDP-11 assembly language and +released in 1973. +. +.I Brian Kernighan +joined the +.I roff +development by rewriting it in the C\~programming language. +. +The C\~version was released in 1975. +. +.P +The syntax of the formatting language of the +.BR nroff / troff +programs was documented in the famous +.IR "Troff User's Manual [CSTR\~#54]" , +first published in 1976, with further revisions up to 1992 by Brian +Kernighan. +. +This document is the specification of the +.IR "classical troff" . +All later +.I roff +systems tried to establish compatibility with this specification. +. +.P +After Osanna had died in 1977 by a heart-attack at the age of about\~50, +Kernighan went on with developing troff. +. +The next milestone was to equip troff with a general interface to +support more devices, the intermediate output format and the +postprocessor system. +. +This completed the structure of a +.I "roff system" +as it is still in use today; see section +.BR "USING ROFF" . +. +In 1979, these novelties were described in the paper +.IR "[CSTR\~#97]" . +This new troff version is the basis for all existing newer troff +systems, including +.IR groff . +. +On some systems, this +.I device independent troff +got a binary of its own, called +.BR ditroff (@MAN7EXT@). +. +All modern .B troff -for graphical devices. -.LP -These programs still exist in the +programs already provide the full ditroff capabilities automatically. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "Commercialization" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +A major degradation occurred when the easily available Unix\~7 +operating system was commercialized. +. +A whole bunch of divergent operating systems emerged, fighting each +other with incompatibilities in their extensions. +. +Luckily, the incompatibilities did not fight the original troff. +. +All of the different commercial roff systems made heavy use of +Osanna/\:Kernighan's open source code and documentation, but sold them +as \[lq]their\[rq] system \[em] with only minor additions. +. +.P +The source code of both the ancient Unix and classical troff weren't +available for two decades. +. +Fortunately, Caldera bought SCO UNIX in 2001. +. +In the following, Caldera made the ancient source code accessible +on-line for non-commercial use, cf. section +.BR "SEE ALSO" . +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "Free roff" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +None of the commercial roff systems could attain the status of a +successor for the general roff development. +. +Everyone was only interested in their own stuff. +. +This led to a steep downfall of the once excellent +Unix operating system during the 1980s. +. +.P +As a counter-measure to the galopping commercialization, AT&T Bell +Labs tried to launch a rescue project with their +.I Plan\~9 +operating system. +. +It is freely available for non-commercial use, even the source code, +but has a proprietary license that empedes the free development. +. +This concept is outdated, so Plan\~9 was not accepted as a platform to +bundle the main-stream development. +. +.P +The only remedy came from the emerging free operatings systems +(386BSD, GNU/\:Linux, etc.) and software projects during the 1980s and +1990s. +. +These implemented the ancient Unix features and many extensions, such +that the old experience is not lost. +. +In the 21st century, Unix-like systems are again a major factor in +computer industry \[em] thanks to free software. +. +.P +The most important free roff project was the GNU port of troff, +created by James Clark and put under the +.URL http://\:www.gnu.org/\:copyleft "GNU Public License" . +. +It was called .I groff -implementation, but usually they are accessed through a program called -.BR groff . -This combined and extended the old functionality into a single program. -It has many command-line options, most of them herited from -.BR troff . -To ease the option jungle, the user-friendly utility -.B grog -(from `groff guess') was created. -It tries to guess from the document which arguments should be used and -displays a suitable command line. -Though not being perfect, it is a good starting point. -.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH PREPROCESSORS -.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -The classical preprocessors that are still available in groff. +.RI ( "GNU roff" ). +See +.BR groff (@MAN1EXT@) +for an overview. +. +.P +The groff system is still actively developed. +. +It is compatible to the classical troff, but many extensions were +added. +. +It is the first roff system that is available on almost all operating +systems \[em] and it is free. +. +This makes groff the de-facto roff standard today. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SH "USING ROFF" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +Most people won't even notice that they are actually using roff. +. +When you read a system manual page (man page) roff is working in the +background. +. +Roff documents can be viewed with a native viewer called +.BR xditview (1x), +a standard program of the X window distribution, see +.BR X (7x). +. +But using roff explicitly isn't difficult either. +. +.P +Some roff implementations provide wrapper programs that make it easy +to use the roff system on the shell command line. +. +For example, the GNU roff implementation +.BR groff (@MAN1EXT@) +provides command line options to avoid the long command pipes of +classical troff; a program +.BR grog (@MAN1EXT@) +tries to guess from the document which arguments should be used for a +run of groff; people who do not like specifying command line options +should try the +.BR groffer (@MAN1EXT@) +program for graphically displaying groff files and man pages. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "The roff Pipe" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +Each roff system consists of preprocessors, roff formatter programs, +and a set of device postprocessors. +. +This concept makes heavy use of the +.I piping +mechanism, that is, a series of programs is called one after the other, +where the output of each program in the queue is taken as the input +for the next program. +. +.CodeSkip +. +.ds @1 "cat \f[I]file\f[P] |\"" +.ds @2 "\*[Ellipsis] | \f[I]preproc\f[P] | \*[Ellipsis] |\"" +.ds @3 "troff \f[I]options\f[P] | \f[I]postproc\f[P]\"" +. +.ShellCommand "\*[@1] \*[@2] \*[@3]" +. +.rm @1 +.rm @2 +.rm @3 +.P +The preprocessors generate roff code that is fed into a roff formatter +(e.g. troff), which in turn generates +.I intermediate output +that is fed into a device postprocessor program for printing or final +output. +. +.P +All of these parts use programming languages of their own; each +language is totally unrelated to the other parts. +. +Moreover, roff macro packages that were tailored for special purposes +can be included. +. +.P +Most roff documents use the macros of some package, intermixed with +code for one or more preprocessors, spiced with some elements from the +plain roff language. +. +The full power of the roff formatting language is seldom needed by +users; only programmers of macro packages need to know about the gory +details. +. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "Preprocessors" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +A roff preprocessor is any program that generates output that +syntactically obeys the rules of the roff formatting language. +. +Each preprocessor defines a language of its own that is translated +into roff code when run through the preprocessor program. +. +Parts written in these languages may be included within a roff +document; they are identified by special roff requests or macros. +. +Each document that is enhanced by preprocessor code must be run +through all corresponding preprocessors before it is fed into the +actual roff formatter program, for the formatter just ignores all +alien code. +. +The preprocessor programs extract and transform only the document +parts that are determined for them. +. +.P +There are a lot of free and commercial roff preprocessors. +. +Some of them aren't available on each system, but there is a small +set of preprocessors that are considered as an integral part of each +roff system. +. +The classical preprocessors are +. + +.de @TP +.\" local indent for .TP +.TP \\w'\\f[B]soelim\\f[P]'u+2n +.. +.P .RS -.LP .PD 0 -.TP -.I eqn -for including mathematical equations. -.TP -.I grap -for constructing graphical elements (this preprocessor doesn't come with -groff; it is an extra package). -.TP -.I grn -for including gremlin pictures. -.TP -.I pic -for creating diagrams. -.TP -.I refer -for bibliographic references. -.TP -.I soelim -for including other roff files. -.TP -.I tbl -for rectangular tables. +.@TP +.B tbl +for tables +.@TP +.B eqn +for mathematical formul\[ae] +.@TP +.B pic +for drawing diagrams +.@TP +.B refer +for bibliographic references +.@TP +.B soelim +for including macro files from standard locations .PD .RE -.LP -Each of these preprocessors defines its own language that is translated -into roff code when run through the preprocessor program. -So parts written in these languages may be included within a roff -document. -Such an enhanced document is run through one or more corresponding -preprocessors before it is fed into the actual formatter. -.LP -The preprocessor programs extract and transform the document parts -determined for them. -They can be called either in a UNIX pipeline with their program name or -automatically with a groff option. -.LP -.TS -center, box, tab (@); -C | C -CfCB | CfCB. -preprocessor@groff option -= -eqn@\-e -grap@\-G -grn@\-g -pic@\-p -refer@\-R -tbl@\-r -soelim@\-s -.TE -.LP -. -.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH "MACRO PACKAGES" +. +.P +Other known preprocessors that are not available on all systems +include +. +.P +.RS +.PD 0 +.@TP +.B chem +for drawing chemical formul\[ae]. +.@TP +.B grap +for constructing graphical elements. +.@TP +.B grn +for including +.BR gremlin (1) +pictures. +.PD +.RE +. +.rm @TP +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "Formatter Programs" .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +A +.I roff formatter +is a program that parses documents written in the roff formatting +language or uses some of the roff macro packages. +. +It generates +.IR "intermediate output" , +which is intended to be fed into a single device postprocessor that +must be specified by a command-line option to the formatter program. +. +The documents must have been run through all necessary preprocessors +before. +. +.P +The output produced by a roff formatter is represented in yet another +language, the +.IR "intermediate output format" +or +.IR "troff output" . +This language was first specified in +.IR "[CSTR\~#97]" ; +its GNU extension is documented in +.BR groff_out (@MAN5EXT@). +. +The intermediate output language is a kind of assembly language +compared to the high-level roff language. +. +The generated intermediate output is optimized for a special device, +but the language is the same for every device. +. +.P +The roff formatter is the heart of the roff system. +. +The traditional roff had two formatters, +.B nroff +for text devices and +.B troff +for graphical devices. +. +.P +Often, the name +.I troff +is used as a general term to refer to both formatters. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "Devices and Postprocessors" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +Devices are hardware interfaces like printers, text or graphical +terminals, etc., or software interfaces such as a conversion into a +different text or graphical format. +. +.P +A roff postprocessor is a program that transforms troff output into a +form suitable for a special device. +. +The roff postprocessors are like device drivers for the output target. +. +.P +For each device there is a postprocessor program that fits the device +optimally. +. +The postprocessor parses the generated intermediate output and +generates device-specific code that is sent directly to the device. +. +.P +The names of the devices and the postprocessor programs are not fixed +because they greatly depend on the software and hardware abilities of +the actual computer. +. +For example, the classical devices mentioned in +.I [CSTR\~#54] +have greatly changed since the classical times. +. +The old hardware doesn't exist any longer and the old graphical +conversions were quite imprecise when compared to their modern +counterparts. +. +.P +For example, the Postscript device +.I post +in classical troff had a resolution +of 720, while groff's +.I ps +device has 72000, a refinement of factor 100. +. +.P +Today the operating systems provide device drivers for most +printer-like hardware, so it isn't necessary to write a special +hardware postprocessor for each printer. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SH "ROFF PROGRAMMING" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +Documents using roff are normal text files decorated by roff +formatting elements. +. +The roff formatting language is quite powerful; it is almost a full +programming language and provides elements to enlarge the language. +. +With these, it became possible to develop macro packages that are +tailored for special applications. +. +Such macro packages are much handier than plain roff. +. +So most people will choose a macro package without worrying about the +internals of the roff language. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "Macro Packages" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. Macro packages are collections of macros that are suitable to format a special kind of documents in a convenient way. +. This greatly eases the usage of roff. +. The macro definitions of a package are kept in a file called .IB name .tmac -(or +(classically .BI tmac. name\c -) where -.I name -is the internal roff name for this package. -All tmac files are stored in a single or few directories at standard +). +. +All tmac files are stored in one or more directories at standardized positions. -.LP -A macro package that is used in a document is specified by the command line -option -.option \-m -for the formatter like -.option "troff\ \-m" -.argname name -or -.option "groff\ \-m" -.argname name . -General details on the naming of macro packages and their placement is -found in +. +Details on the naming of macro packages and their placement is found +in .BR groff_tmac (@MAN5EXT@). -.LP +. +.P +A macro package that is to be used in a document can be announced to +the formatter by the command line option +.ShortOpt m , +see +.BR troff (@MAN1EXT@), +or it can be specified within a document using the file inclusion +requests of the roff language, see +.BR groff (@MAN7EXT@). +. +.P Famous classical macro packages are -.IR man , -.IR mandoc , -and +.I man +for traditional man pages, .I mdoc -for manual pages and -.IR me , -.IR ms , +for BSD-style manual pages; +the macro sets for books, articles, and letters are +.I me +(probably from the first name of its creator +.I Eric +Allman), +.I ms +(from +.IR "Manuscript Macros\/" ), and .I mm -for books, articles, and letters. -Besides these collections, groff provides an increasing number of new -macro packages for various applications, for example integration of or -conversion into other file formats. +(from +.IR "Memorandum Macros\/" ). +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "The roff Formatting Language" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +The classical roff formatting language is documented in the +.I Troff User's Manual +.IR "[CSTR\~#54]" . +. +The roff language is a full programming language providing requests, +definition of macros, escape sequences, string variables, number or +size registers, and flow controls. +. +.P +.I Requests +are the predefined basic formatting commands similar to the commands +at the shell prompt. +. +The user can define request-like elements using predefined roff +elements. +. +These are then called +.IR macros . +. +A document writer will not note any difference in usage for requests +or macros; both are written on a line on their own starting with a dot. +. +.P +.I Escape sequences +are roff elements starting with a backslash +.QuotedChar \[rs] . +They can be inserted anywhere, also in the midst of text in a line. +. +They are used to implement various features, including the insertion of +non-ASCII characters with +.Esc ( , +font changes with +.Esc f , +in-line comments with +.Esc \[dq] , +the escaping of special control characters like +.Esc \[rs] , +and many other features. +. +.P +.I Strings +are variables that can store a string. +. +A string is stored by the +.B .ds +request. +. +The stored string can be retrieved later by the +.B \[rs]* +escape sequence. +. +.P +.I Registers +store numbers and sizes. +. +A register can be set with the request +.B .nr +and its value can be retrieved by the escape sequence +.BR "\[rs]n" . +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- .SH "FILE NAME EXTENSIONS" .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -Manual pages (man-pages) take the section number as a file name +. +Manual pages (man pages) take the section number as a file name extension, e.g., the filename for this document is .IR roff.7 , -i.e., it is kept in -.prefixednumber section 7 -of the man-pages. -.LP +i.e., it is kept in section\~7 +of the man pages. +. +.P The classical macro packages take the package name as an extension, e.g. .IB file. me for a document using the @@ -342,201 +930,347 @@ for .I pic files, etc. -.ig -.LP +. +.P But there is no general naming scheme for roff documents, though -.IB file. roff -or -.IB file. rof -seems to be a good choice. -.LP +.IB file. tr +for +.I troff file +is seen now and then. +. +Maybe there should be a standardization for the filename extensions of +roff files. +. +.P File name extensions can be very handy in conjunction with the .BR less (1) pager. -It provides the possibility to feed all input into a command-line pipe that -is specified in the shell environment variable -.B LESSOPEN -This process is not well documented, so here an example -.B LESSOPEN='|lesspipe %s' +. +It provides the possibility to feed all input into a command-line pipe +that is specified in the shell environment variable +.BR LESSOPEN . +This process is not well documented, so here an example: +. +.CodeSkip +.ShellCommand LESSOPEN='|lesspipe %s' +.CodeSkip +. where .B lesspipe is either a system supplied command or a shell script of your own. -.. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SH "EDITING ROFF" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. +The best program for editing a roff document is Emacs (or Xemacs), see +.BR emacs (1). +It provides an +.I nroff +mode that is suitable for all kinds of roff dialects. +. +This mode can be activated by the following methods. +. +.P +When editing a file within Emacs the mode can be changed by typing +.RI ` "M-x nroff-mode" ', +where +.B M-x +means to hold down the +.B Meta +key (or +.BR Alt ) +and hitting the +.BR x\~ key +at the same time. +. +.P +But it is also possible to have the mode automatically selected when +the file is loaded into the editor. +. +.Topic +The most general method is to include the following 3 comment lines at +the end of the file. +. +.CodeSkip +.nf +.B \*[Comment] Local Variables: +.B \*[Comment] mode: nroff +.B \*[Comment] End: +.fi +. +.Topic +There is a set of file name extensions, e.g. the man pages that +trigger the automatic activation of the nroff mode. +. +.Topic +Theoretically, it is possible to write the sequence +.CodeSkip +.B \*[Comment] \%-*-\ nroff\ -*- +.CodeSkip +as the first line of a file to have it started in nroff mode when +loaded. +. +Unfortunately, some applications such as the +.B man +program are confused by this; so this is deprecated. +. +.P +All roff formatters provide automated line breaks and horizontal and +vertical spacing. +. +In order to not disturb this, the following tips can be helpful. +. +.Topic +Never include empty or blank lines in a roff document. +. +Instead, use the empty request (a line consisting of a dot only) or a +line comment +.B \*[Comment] +if a structuring element is needed. +. +.Topic +Never start a line with whitespace because this can lead to +unexpected behavior. +. +Indented paragraphs can be constructed in a controlled way by roff +requests. +. +.Topic +Start each sentence on a line of its own, for the spacing after a dot +is handled differently depending on whether it terminates an +abbreviation or a sentence. +. +To distinguish both cases, do a line break after each sentence. +. +.Topic +To additionally use the auto-fill mode in Emacs, it is best to insert +an empty roff request (a line consisting of a dot only) after each +sentence. +. +.P +The following example shows how optimal roff editing could look. +. +.IP +.nf +This is an example for a roff document. +.Text . +This is the next sentence in the same paragraph. +.Text . +This is a longer sentence stretching over several +lines; abbreviations like `cf.' are easily +identified because the dot is not followed by a +line break. +.Text . +In the output, this will still go to the same +paragraph. +.fi +. +.P +Besides Emacs, some other editors provide nroff style files too, e.g.\& +.BR vim (1), +an extension of the +.BR vi (1) +program. +. +. +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SH BUGS .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH EDITING +. +.I UNIX\[rg] +is a registered trademark of the Open Group. +. +But things have improved considerably after Caldera had bought SCO +UNIX in 2001. +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -Most text editors provide support for editing documents using roff. -Especially useful is the -.B nroff-mode -in all flavors of the Emacs editor. +.SH "SEE ALSO" .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH ENVIRONMENT +. +There is a lot of documentation on roff. +. +The original papers on classical troff are still available, and all +aspects of groff are documented in great detail. +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +.SS "Internet sites" +.\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- +. .TP -.SM -.B GROFF_TMAC_PATH -A colon separated list of directories in which to search for -macro files, see -.BR groff_tmac (@MAN5EXT@). +troff.org +.URL http://\:www.troff.org "The historical troff site" +provides an overview and pointers to all historical aspects of roff. +. +This web site is under construction; once, it will be the major source +for roff history. +. .TP -.SM -.B GROFF_TYPESETTER -Default device. +Multics +.URL http://\:www.multicians.org "The Multics site" +contains a lot of information on the MIT projects, CTSS, Multics, +early Unix, including +.IR runoff ; +especially useful are a glossary and the many links to ancient +documents. +. .TP -.SM -.B GROFF_FONT_PATH -A colon separated list of directories in which to search for the -.BI dev name -directory. -.B troff -will first search in directories given with the -.option \-F -command line option, then in -.BR GROFF_FONT_PATH , -and finally in the standard directories -.RB ( @FONTPATH@ ). +Unix Archive +.URL http://\:www.tuhs.org/\:Archive/ \ + "The Ancient Unixes Archive" +. +provides the source code and some binaries of the ancient Unixes +(including the source code of troff and its documentation) that were +made public by Caldera since 2001, e.g. of the famous Unix version\~7 +for PDP-11 at the +.URL http://\:www.tuhs.org/\:Archive/\:PDP-11/\:Trees/\:V7 \ + "Unix V7 site" . +. +.TP +Developers at AT&T Bell Labs +.URL http://\:cm.bell-labs.com/\:cm/\:index.html \ + "Bell Labs Computing and Mathematical Sciences Research" +. +provides a search facility for tracking information on the early +developers. +. +.TP +Plan 9 +.URL http://\:plan9.bell-labs.com "The Plan\~9 operating system" +. +by AT&T Bell Labs. +. +.TP +runoff +.URL http://web.mit.edu/\:Saltzer/\:www/\:publications/\:pubs.html \ +"Jerry Saltzer's home page" +. +stores some documents using the ancient runoff formatting language. +. +.TP +CSTR Papers +.URL http://\:cm.bell-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:cstr.html \ + "The Bell Labs CSTR site" +. +stores the original troff manuals (CSTR #54, #97, #114, #116, #122) +and famous historical documents on programming. +. +.TP +GNU roff +.URL http://\:www.gnu.org/\:software/\:groff "The groff web site" +provides the free roff implementation groff, the actual standard roff. +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH FILES +.SS "Historical roff Documentation" .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -By default, -.I groff -installs all of its data files in subdirectories of -.I @FONTDIR@ -and in -.I @MACRODIR@ -(except wrapper files for system-specific macro packages which will be -in -.IR @SYSTEMMACRODIR@ ). -These locations might vary for different systems. -In the following, the former is referred to as -.IR <groff_font_dir> , -the latter as -.IR <groff_macro_dir> . +. +Many classical +.troff +documents are still available on-line. +. +The two main manuals of the troff language are +. .TP -.IB <groff_macro_dir> /troffrc -Initialization file for troff. +[CSTR\~#54] +J. F. Osanna, +.URL http://\:cm.bell-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:54.ps \ + "\fINroff/\:Troff User's Manual\fP" ; +. +Bell Labs, 1976; revised by Brian Kernighan, 1992. + +. .TP -.IB <groff_macro_dir> / name .tmac -.TQ -.IB <groff_macro_dir> /tmac. name -Macro files. +[CSTR\~#97] +Brian Kernighan, +.URL http://\:cm.bell-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:97.ps \ + "\fIA Typesetter-independent TROFF\fP" , +. +Bell Labs, 1981, revised March 1982. +. +.P +The "little language" roff papers are +. .TP -.IB <groff_font_dir> /dev name /DESC -Device description file for device -.IR name . +[CSTR\~#114] +Jon L. Bentley and Brian W. Kernighan, +.URL http://\:cm.bell-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:114.ps \ + "\fIGRAP \(em A Language for Typesetting Graphs\fP" ; +. +Bell Labs, August 1984. +. .TP -.IB <groff_font_dir> /dev name / F -Font file for font -.I F -of device -.IR name . -.LP -Finally, a local macro directory -.I @LOCALMACRODIR@ -is provided for site-specific macros and packages; by default, it will be -searched before the main macro directory. +[CSTR\~#116] +Brian W. Kernighan, +.URL http://\:cm.bell-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:116.ps \ + "\fIPIC -- A Graphics Language for Typesetting\fP" ; +. +Bell Labs, December 1984. +. +.TP +[CSTR\~#122] +J. L. Bentley, L. W. Jelinski, and B. W. Kernighan, +.URL http://\:cm.bell-labs.com/\:cm/\:cs/\:122.ps \ +"\fICHEM \(em A Program for Typesetting Chemical Structure Diagrams, \ +Computers and Chemistry\fP" ; +. +Bell Labs, April 1986. +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH BUGS +.SS "Manual Pages" .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -The groff documentation is in evolution at the moment. -It is possible that small inconsistencies between different documents exist -temporarily. +. +Due to its complex structure, a full roff system has many man pages, +each describing a single aspect of roff. +. +Unfortunately, there is no general naming scheme for the +documentation among the different roff implementations. +. +.P +In +.IR groff , +the man page +.BR groff (@MAN1EXT@) +contains a survey of all documentation available in groff. +. +.P +On other systems, you are on your own, but +.BR troff (1) +might be a good starting point. +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH AUTHOR +.SH AUTHORS .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -This document is part of groff, the GNU roff distribution. It was -written by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. -.LP -It is distributed under the terms of the FDL (GNU Free Documentation -License) version 1.1 or later. You should have received a copy of the -FDL on your system, it is also available on-line under -.RS -.LP -.IR <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html> . -.RE +. +Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +. +.P +This document is distributed under the terms of the FDL (GNU Free +Documentation License) version 1.1 or later. +. +You should have received a copy of the FDL on your system, it is also +available on-line at the +.URL http://\:www.gnu.org/\:copyleft/\:fdl.html "GNU copyleft site" . +. +.P +This document is part of +.IR groff , +the GNU roff distribution. +. +It was written by +.MTO bwarken@mayn.de "Bernd Warken" ; +it is maintained by +.MTO wl@gnu.org "Werner Lemberg". +. +. .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -.SH "SEE ALSO" +.\" Emacs setup .\" -------------------------------------------------------------------- -The main source of information is the -.I groff -.BR info (1) -file. -.LP -The predefined elements of the -.I groff -language are also documented in the manual page -.BR groff (@MAN7EXT@). -.LP -Formatters and their wrappers: -.BR groff (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR grog (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR nroff (@MAN1EXT@), -and -.BR troff (@MAN1EXT@). -.LP -Postprocessors for the output devices: -.BR grodvi (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR grohtml (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR grolbp (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR grolj4 (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR grops (@MAN1EXT@), -and -.BR grotty (@MAN1EXT@). -.LP -Standard preprocessors: -.BR eqn (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR grn (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR grap (1), -.BR pic (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR refer (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR soelim (@MAN1EXT@), -and -.BR tbl (@MAN1EXT@). -.LP -The man pages for macro packages include -.BR groff_tmac (@MAN5EXT@), -.BR groff_man (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_markup (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_mdoc (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_mdoc.samples (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_me (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_mm (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_mmroff (@MAN7EXT@), -and -.BR groff_ms (@MAN7EXT@). -.LP -The following utilities are available: -.BR addftinfo (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR afmtodif (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR hpftodit (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR indxbib (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR lookbib (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR pfbtops (@MAN1EXT@), -.BR tfmtodit (@MAN1EXT@), -and -.BR gxditview (@MAN1EXT@). -.LP -For details on the GNU implementation of the -.I roff -system see -.BR groff_char (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_font (@MAN7EXT@), -.BR groff_out (@MAN7EXT@), -and the file -.I README -in the main directory of the groff source distribution. -These also give details on how to contact or join the -.I groff -developer group. -.LP -Many classical -.troff -documents are still available on-line. -Especially informative are the original Bell Labs proceedings for the old, -free UNIX 7 found at -.I http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cstr.html -and the collection of the late Richard S. Stevens at -.IR http://www.kohala.com/start/troff/ . . .\" Local Variables: .\" mode: nroff |
