1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
11 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
13 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/typeforum/unicodegn.html
15 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
16 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
17 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
19 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
24 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
26 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
27 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
28 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
29 glyphs. The new request
33 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
34 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
40 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
43 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
44 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
46 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
47 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
48 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
50 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
51 new `rfschar' request.
53 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
54 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
55 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
60 o New option -r. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
61 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
70 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
71 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a glyph
72 (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the glyph)
73 sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal bounding
74 box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the particular
75 glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
77 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
78 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
79 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
82 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
87 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
93 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
94 drivers) to set the default line width.
99 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
104 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
109 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
110 compatibility with NetBSD.
112 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
115 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
116 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
119 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
124 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
125 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
126 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
130 papersize /etc/papersize a4
132 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
133 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
134 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
137 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
139 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
145 ***************************************************************************
147 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
149 ***************************************************************************
154 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
155 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
156 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
157 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
158 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
159 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
160 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
161 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
164 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
165 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
168 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
169 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
172 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
173 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
174 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
176 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
177 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
178 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
181 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
184 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
185 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
187 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
188 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
190 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
191 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
193 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
194 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
196 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
197 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
199 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
201 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
204 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
207 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
208 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
214 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
215 . nop I will now define `bar'.
217 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
221 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
222 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
224 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
225 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
226 control their output format.
228 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
229 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
230 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
231 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
232 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
233 before checking special fonts.
235 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
236 doesn't emit a final newline.
238 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
239 with \c counts as one input line.
241 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
242 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
245 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
246 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
247 Note that this is an incompatible change.
249 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
250 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
252 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
253 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
254 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
255 for more information.
257 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
260 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
261 already existing patterns).
263 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
264 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
265 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
266 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
268 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
269 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
270 final `0' can be omitted.
272 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
273 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
274 any) before the character translation. Example:
286 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
288 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
289 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
290 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
291 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
292 post-vertical line space.
294 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
304 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
305 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
307 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
308 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
309 single space characters.
311 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
314 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
315 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
316 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
317 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
318 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
323 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
324 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
325 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
326 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
327 for PostScript output only.
329 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
330 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
332 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
333 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
334 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
335 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
336 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
338 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
339 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
340 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
342 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
345 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
346 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
349 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
350 works in compatibility mode.
352 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
353 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
355 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
358 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
359 reference to the ms macros.
361 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
363 o Changes in www.tmac:
365 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
366 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
367 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
370 The following macros have been renamed:
376 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
377 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
379 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
380 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
382 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
383 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
385 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
386 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
388 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
389 generation to headings.
391 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
394 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
395 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
397 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
398 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
401 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
403 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
405 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
407 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
408 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
413 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
414 disabled in compatibility mode).
419 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
420 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
421 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
426 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
427 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
428 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
430 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
432 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
434 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
439 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
440 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
441 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
446 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
447 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
448 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
453 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
454 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
460 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
465 o Color support has been added.
467 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
468 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
473 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
474 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
475 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
478 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
479 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
481 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
482 extended) has been added.
484 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
486 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
487 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
488 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
490 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
491 doesn't take care of hcode values.
493 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
494 to gray values currently.
499 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
500 ANSI color) escape sequences.
502 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
503 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
504 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
506 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
507 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
508 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
509 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
510 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
512 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
513 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
514 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
515 man(1) for more details.
517 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
518 reverting to the old behaviour.
520 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
521 enable SGR output (the default).
523 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
524 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
525 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
526 for this (including xterm).
531 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
533 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
535 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
537 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
538 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
541 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
546 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
547 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
548 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
553 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
555 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
558 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
561 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
563 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
564 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
566 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
568 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
569 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
570 currently. troff completely ignores it.
575 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
580 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
581 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
582 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
587 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
592 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
593 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
596 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
598 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
599 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
601 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
607 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
609 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
615 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
617 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
618 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
626 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
627 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
628 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
629 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
630 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
632 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
633 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
634 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
635 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
636 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
637 environment variables to groff.
642 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
643 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
644 supported). Most important changes are:
647 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
648 . `.Lb': prints library names
649 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
651 . Updated `.St' command
652 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
653 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
654 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
655 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
656 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
657 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
658 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
659 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
662 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
663 documents the mdoc package.
665 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
666 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
668 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
669 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
670 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
673 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
675 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
682 can now be written as
688 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
689 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
690 ending the diversion).
692 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
693 and some other escape sequences also.
695 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
696 unbreakable space character.
698 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
699 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
700 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
705 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
710 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
715 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
722 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
723 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
724 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
725 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
728 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
729 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
731 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
732 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
733 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
734 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
737 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
738 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
739 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
754 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
758 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
759 mode, and 0 otherwise.
761 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
762 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
763 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
765 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
766 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
767 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
768 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
770 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
771 line are widened by a given limit or more.
773 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
776 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
777 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
778 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
779 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
781 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
782 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
784 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
785 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
788 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
789 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
791 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
793 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
794 previous font family.
796 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
797 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
799 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
800 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
801 macro or string is written to a stream.
803 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
804 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
807 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
809 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
810 underlines spaces also).
815 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
816 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
821 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
822 been added to select a different prologue file.
824 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
825 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
826 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
831 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
833 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
834 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
835 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
838 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
839 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
840 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
841 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
842 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
843 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
845 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
846 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
849 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
850 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
851 variable if you really need the current directory.
853 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
854 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
855 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
856 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
857 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
858 is searched before the local tmac directory.
860 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
861 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
862 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
867 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
875 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
876 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
877 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
879 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
881 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
883 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
884 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
885 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
891 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
892 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
893 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
895 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
896 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
897 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
898 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
899 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
900 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
902 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
903 contains the current year.
905 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
906 number of the groff package.
908 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
909 font `foo' is undefined:
912 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
914 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
916 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
918 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
919 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
921 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
924 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
925 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
927 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
928 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
929 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
931 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
933 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
934 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
937 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
938 (which is an alias to character `"').
940 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
941 (which is an alias to character "'").
943 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
944 better support of HTML output:
946 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
949 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
951 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
952 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
953 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
954 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
956 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
959 use_charnames_in_special
960 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
961 inside special commands.
964 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
965 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
970 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
975 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
977 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
979 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
980 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
981 punctuation, for example).
986 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
988 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
994 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
995 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
996 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1001 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1002 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1003 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1004 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1009 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1010 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1015 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1021 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1022 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1023 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1028 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1029 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1030 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1032 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1033 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1035 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1036 ========================
1038 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1043 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1044 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1045 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1048 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1049 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1051 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1052 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1055 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1056 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1058 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1059 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1061 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1064 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1065 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1067 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1068 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1070 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1071 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1077 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1078 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1079 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1080 reports are highly welcome.
1085 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1091 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1092 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1097 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1098 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1100 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1105 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1110 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1111 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1112 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1113 half a dozen other projects.
1118 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1119 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1120 latest GNU coding standards.
1122 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1123 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1125 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1126 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1127 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1128 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1129 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1130 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1131 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1132 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1133 always installed as -me.
1135 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1141 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1142 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1148 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1154 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1159 The -m option enables manual feed.
1164 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1165 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1166 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1167 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1173 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1179 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1180 graphic to be specified.
1188 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1189 environment variable xxx.
1194 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1195 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1204 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1205 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1211 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1212 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1213 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1215 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1216 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1218 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1219 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1224 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1225 try to keep the table on one page.
1230 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1231 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1232 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1233 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1238 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1239 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1240 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1245 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1246 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1248 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1250 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1251 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1253 ^L is now a legal input character.
1258 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1259 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1260 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1261 default device is ps.)
1263 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1264 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1265 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1266 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1268 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1269 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1270 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1271 draw_lines parameter.
1273 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1274 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1275 always loaded by troff.
1277 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1282 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1284 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1285 while a character definition is being processed.
1287 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1290 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1291 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1293 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1294 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1295 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1296 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1297 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1299 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1300 with compatibility mode disabled.
1302 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1303 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1304 for loading the device-specific macros.
1309 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1310 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1311 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1312 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1314 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1315 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1316 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1318 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1319 (the quotes are required).
1324 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1325 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1326 be prevented by the -R option.
1328 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1329 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1331 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1334 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1335 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1341 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1342 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1343 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1345 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1348 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1349 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1350 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1355 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1356 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1361 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1367 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1368 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1369 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1370 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1371 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1372 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1373 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1374 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1375 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1376 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1377 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1379 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1381 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1382 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1385 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1390 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1391 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1392 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1394 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1395 redisplays the current page.
1403 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1404 differently with blocks.
1406 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1407 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1409 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1411 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1417 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1418 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1419 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1424 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1425 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1426 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1427 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1428 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1430 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1431 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1436 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1438 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1439 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1444 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1449 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1450 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1451 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1457 Support for scalable fonts.
1462 No changes other than bug fixes.
1467 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1468 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1469 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1470 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1472 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1474 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1475 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1476 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1477 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1478 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1479 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1481 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1484 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1485 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1487 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1492 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1493 input level as the opening [.
1495 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1496 suitable for use as a name.
1498 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1501 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1502 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1503 the -mX option is given.
1505 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1510 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1511 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1516 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1521 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1522 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1523 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1524 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1526 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1527 Document Structuring Convention.
1529 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1530 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1531 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1532 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1533 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1536 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1537 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1542 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1543 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1546 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1547 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1550 Xditview now uses imake.
1555 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1557 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1558 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1559 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1560 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1561 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1562 that the `n' condition will be true.
1564 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1565 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1566 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1568 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1569 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1570 latest version of the tpic specials.
1575 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1576 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1577 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1582 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1583 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1585 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1586 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1587 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
1592 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
1597 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
1598 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
1600 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
1601 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
1602 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
1608 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
1610 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
1616 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
1617 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
1618 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
1619 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
1620 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
1622 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
1624 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
1627 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
1628 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
1629 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
1630 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
1631 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
1632 amount of extra space to each word space.
1634 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
1636 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
1637 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
1638 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
1639 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
1640 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
1646 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
1648 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
1649 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
1655 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
1656 complicated equations inside pictures.
1658 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
1659 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
1665 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
1666 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
1672 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
1673 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
1674 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
1677 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
1678 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
1680 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
1681 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
1683 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
1684 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
1685 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
1686 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
1687 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
1688 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
1690 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
1691 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
1692 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
1693 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
1696 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
1697 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
1699 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
1700 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
1705 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
1706 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
1707 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
1709 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
1710 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
1711 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
1712 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
1713 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
1714 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
1715 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
1716 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
1717 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
1723 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
1724 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
1726 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
1729 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
1730 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
1731 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
1732 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
1733 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
1734 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
1735 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
1737 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
1738 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
1739 when the diversion is reread.
1741 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
1744 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
1745 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
1746 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
1747 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
1748 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
1749 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
1750 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
1752 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
1755 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
1758 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
1760 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
1761 containing the hyphenation patterns.
1763 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
1765 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
1766 of end of sentence recognition.
1768 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
1769 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
1771 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
1772 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
1774 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
1776 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
1777 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
1778 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
1783 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
1784 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
1786 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
1787 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
1790 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
1791 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
1793 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
1795 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
1796 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
1798 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
1799 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
1802 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
1803 wherever a quoted string can be used.
1805 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
1806 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
1807 of the `textht' variable.
1809 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
1810 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
1815 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
1816 has been applied to a table.
1821 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
1823 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
1824 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
1829 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
1830 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
1831 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
1832 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
1833 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
1834 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
1835 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
1837 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
1838 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
1839 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'