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 Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `glyphcolor' and
11 `fillcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added.
13 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
16 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
17 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
23 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
24 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
29 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
30 installed automatically.
35 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
36 hasn't been installed previously.
41 o The ms macros now support fractional point sizes: A value for the PS, VS,
42 FPS, and VPS register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
43 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
46 o The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have been
47 removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used instead. X11
48 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a specific macro
49 file from the X11 distribution (macros.t) which provides proper
50 definitions for the two macros.
52 o The following registers have been added to the ms macros for improving
56 Defines number of lines following LP, PP, QP, IP or XP which must be
57 kept together, before any automatic page break.
60 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
61 heading, defined by NH or SH, before any automatic page break.
64 Sets the first level of heading (set with NH) which will keep the same
65 point size as body text.
68 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with NH),
69 below the threshold level set by GROWPS; e.g., if \n[PS] = 10,
70 \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then .NH 1 will produce 14pt
71 headings, .NH 2 will produce 12pt, and all other levels will remain
72 at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
74 o The SH macro in the ms package now accepts a numeric argument, to make
75 heading size match that of NH with same argument value when the
76 GROWPS/PSINCR feature is enabled.
78 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
88 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
89 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
90 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
91 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
93 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
94 on standard error and run.
99 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
100 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
102 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
103 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
105 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
108 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
110 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
112 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
113 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
114 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
116 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
117 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
118 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
120 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
121 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
122 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
124 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
125 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
127 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
128 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
133 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
138 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
139 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
144 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
145 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
146 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
147 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
148 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
153 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
158 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
159 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
160 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
162 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
167 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
170 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
171 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
172 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
173 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
174 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
179 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
184 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
185 hpftodit manual page for more details.
190 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
191 the old single script style.
193 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
194 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
195 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
197 New documentation file: README_SH.
199 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
204 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
206 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
216 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
217 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
219 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
221 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
222 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
223 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
225 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
226 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
228 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
230 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
231 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
232 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
234 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
239 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
241 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
242 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
243 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
244 glyphs. The new request
248 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
249 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
253 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
254 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
256 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
259 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
260 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
261 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
263 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
264 new `rfschar' request.
266 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
267 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
268 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
270 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
271 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
272 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
273 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
275 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
276 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
277 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
279 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
286 \D'Fd' (default color)
288 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
289 position is *not* changed.
291 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
292 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
294 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
295 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
297 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
299 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
300 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
301 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
302 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
303 same glyph shape as with other devices.
308 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
309 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
311 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
312 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
313 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
315 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
316 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
317 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
318 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
319 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
320 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
322 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
324 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
325 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
331 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
332 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
334 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
335 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
338 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
340 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
341 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
343 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
344 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
345 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
350 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
353 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
354 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
359 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
360 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
365 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
371 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
372 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
377 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
379 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
380 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
385 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
386 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
388 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
390 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
391 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
392 afmtodit for more details.
397 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
400 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
401 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
402 sub-subheading indentation.
404 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
407 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
408 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
410 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
413 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
414 explicitly specified on the command line.
416 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
417 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
419 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
420 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
421 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
422 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
424 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
425 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
426 the driver specific DESC file.
428 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
431 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
440 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
441 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
442 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
443 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
444 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
445 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
447 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
448 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
449 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
452 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
457 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
463 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
464 drivers) to set the default line width.
469 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
474 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
479 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
480 compatibility with NetBSD.
482 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
485 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
486 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
489 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
494 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
495 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
496 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
500 papersize /etc/papersize a4
502 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
503 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
504 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
507 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
509 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
515 ***************************************************************************
517 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
519 ***************************************************************************
524 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
525 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
526 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
527 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
528 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
529 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
530 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
531 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
534 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
535 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
538 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
539 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
542 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
543 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
544 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
546 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
547 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
548 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
551 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
554 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
555 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
557 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
558 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
560 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
561 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
563 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
564 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
566 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
567 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
569 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
571 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
574 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
577 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
578 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
584 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
585 . nop I will now define `bar'.
587 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
591 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
592 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
594 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
595 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
596 control their output format.
598 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
599 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
600 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
601 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
602 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
603 before checking special fonts.
605 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
606 doesn't emit a final newline.
608 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
609 with \c counts as one input line.
611 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
612 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
615 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
616 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
617 Note that this is an incompatible change.
619 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
620 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
622 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
623 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
624 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
625 for more information.
627 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
630 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
631 already existing patterns).
633 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
634 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
635 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
636 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
638 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
639 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
640 final `0' can be omitted.
642 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
643 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
644 any) before the character translation. Example:
656 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
658 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
659 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
660 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
661 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
662 post-vertical line space.
664 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
674 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
675 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
677 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
678 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
679 single space characters.
681 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
684 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
685 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
686 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
687 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
688 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
693 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
694 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
695 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
696 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
697 for PostScript output only.
699 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
700 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
702 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
703 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
704 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
705 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
706 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
708 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
709 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
710 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
712 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
715 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
716 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
719 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
720 works in compatibility mode.
722 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
723 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
725 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
728 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
729 reference to the ms macros.
731 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
733 o Changes in www.tmac:
735 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
736 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
737 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
740 The following macros have been renamed:
746 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
747 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
749 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
750 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
752 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
753 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
755 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
756 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
758 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
759 generation to headings.
761 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
764 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
765 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
767 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
768 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
771 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
773 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
775 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
777 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
778 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
783 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
784 disabled in compatibility mode).
789 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
790 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
791 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
796 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
797 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
798 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
800 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
802 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
804 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
809 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
810 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
811 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
816 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
817 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
818 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
823 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
824 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
830 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
835 o Color support has been added.
837 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
838 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
843 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
844 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
845 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
848 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
849 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
851 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
852 extended) has been added.
854 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
856 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
857 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
858 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
860 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
861 doesn't take care of hcode values.
863 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
864 to gray values currently.
869 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
870 ANSI color) escape sequences.
872 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
873 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
874 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
876 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
877 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
878 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
879 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
880 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
882 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
883 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
884 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
885 man(1) for more details.
887 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
888 reverting to the old behaviour.
890 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
891 enable SGR output (the default).
893 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
894 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
895 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
896 for this (including xterm).
901 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
903 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
905 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
907 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
908 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
911 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
916 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
917 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
918 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
923 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
925 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
928 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
931 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
933 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
934 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
936 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
938 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
939 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
940 currently. troff completely ignores it.
945 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
950 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
951 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
952 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
957 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
962 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
963 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
966 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
968 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
969 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
971 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
977 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
979 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
985 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
987 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
988 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
996 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
997 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
998 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
999 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1000 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1002 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1003 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1004 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1005 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1006 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1007 environment variables to groff.
1012 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1013 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1014 supported). Most important changes are:
1017 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1018 . `.Lb': prints library names
1019 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1021 . Updated `.St' command
1022 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1023 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1024 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1025 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1026 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1027 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1028 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1029 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1032 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1033 documents the mdoc package.
1035 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1036 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1038 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1039 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1040 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1043 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1045 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1046 `if 1'. For example,
1052 can now be written as
1058 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1059 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1060 ending the diversion).
1062 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1063 and some other escape sequences also.
1065 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1066 unbreakable space character.
1068 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1069 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1070 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1075 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1080 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1085 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1092 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1093 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1094 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1095 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1098 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1099 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1101 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1102 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1103 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1104 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1107 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1108 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1109 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1124 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1128 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1129 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1131 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1132 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1133 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1135 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1136 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1137 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1138 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1140 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1141 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1143 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1146 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1147 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1148 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1149 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1151 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1152 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1154 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1155 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1158 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1159 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1161 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1163 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1164 previous font family.
1166 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1167 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1169 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1170 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1171 macro or string is written to a stream.
1173 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1174 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1177 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1179 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1180 underlines spaces also).
1185 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1186 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1191 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1192 been added to select a different prologue file.
1194 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1195 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1196 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1201 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1203 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1204 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1205 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1208 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1209 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1210 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1211 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1212 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1213 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1215 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1216 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1219 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1220 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1221 variable if you really need the current directory.
1223 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1224 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1225 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1226 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1227 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1228 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1230 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1231 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1232 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1237 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1245 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1246 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1247 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1249 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1251 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1253 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1254 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1255 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1261 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1262 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1263 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1265 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1266 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1267 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1268 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1269 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1270 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1272 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1273 contains the current year.
1275 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1276 number of the groff package.
1278 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1279 font `foo' is undefined:
1282 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1284 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1286 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1288 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1289 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1291 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1294 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1295 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1297 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1298 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1299 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1301 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1303 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1304 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1307 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1308 (which is an alias to character `"').
1310 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1311 (which is an alias to character "'").
1313 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1314 better support of HTML output:
1316 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1319 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1321 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1322 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1323 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1324 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1326 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1329 use_charnames_in_special
1330 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1331 inside special commands.
1334 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1335 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1340 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1345 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1347 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1349 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1350 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1351 punctuation, for example).
1356 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1358 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1364 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1365 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1366 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1371 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1372 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1373 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1374 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1379 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1380 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1385 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1391 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1392 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1393 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1398 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1399 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1400 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1402 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1403 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1405 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1406 ========================
1408 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1413 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1414 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1415 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1418 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1419 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1421 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1422 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1425 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1426 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1428 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1429 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1431 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1434 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1435 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1437 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1438 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1440 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1441 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1447 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1448 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1449 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1450 reports are highly welcome.
1455 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1461 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1462 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1467 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1468 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1470 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1475 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1480 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1481 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1482 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1483 half a dozen other projects.
1488 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1489 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1490 latest GNU coding standards.
1492 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1493 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1495 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1496 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1497 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1498 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1499 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1500 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1501 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1502 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1503 always installed as -me.
1505 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1511 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1512 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1518 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1524 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1529 The -m option enables manual feed.
1534 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1535 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1536 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1537 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1543 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1549 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1550 graphic to be specified.
1558 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1559 environment variable xxx.
1564 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1565 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1574 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1575 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1581 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1582 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1583 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1585 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1586 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1588 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1589 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1594 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1595 try to keep the table on one page.
1600 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1601 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1602 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1603 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1608 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1609 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1610 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1615 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1616 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1618 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1620 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1621 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1623 ^L is now a legal input character.
1628 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1629 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1630 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1631 default device is ps.)
1633 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1634 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1635 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1636 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1638 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1639 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1640 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1641 draw_lines parameter.
1643 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1644 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1645 always loaded by troff.
1647 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1652 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1654 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1655 while a character definition is being processed.
1657 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1660 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1661 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1663 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1664 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1665 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1666 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1667 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1669 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1670 with compatibility mode disabled.
1672 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1673 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1674 for loading the device-specific macros.
1679 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1680 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1681 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1682 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1684 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1685 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1686 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1688 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1689 (the quotes are required).
1694 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1695 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1696 be prevented by the -R option.
1698 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1699 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1701 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1704 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1705 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1711 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1712 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1713 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1715 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1718 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1719 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1720 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1725 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1726 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1731 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1737 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1738 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1739 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1740 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1741 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1742 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1743 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1744 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1745 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1746 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1747 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1749 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1751 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1752 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1755 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1760 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1761 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1762 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1764 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1765 redisplays the current page.
1773 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1774 differently with blocks.
1776 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1777 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1779 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1781 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1787 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1788 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1789 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1794 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1795 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1796 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1797 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1798 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1800 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1801 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1806 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1808 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1809 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1814 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1819 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1820 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1821 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1827 Support for scalable fonts.
1832 No changes other than bug fixes.
1837 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1838 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1839 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1840 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1842 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1844 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1845 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1846 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1847 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1848 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1849 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1851 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1854 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1855 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1857 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1862 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1863 input level as the opening [.
1865 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1866 suitable for use as a name.
1868 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1871 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1872 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1873 the -mX option is given.
1875 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1880 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1881 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1886 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1891 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1892 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1893 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1894 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1896 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1897 Document Structuring Convention.
1899 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1900 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1901 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1902 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1903 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1906 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1907 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1912 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1913 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1916 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1917 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1920 Xditview now uses imake.
1925 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1927 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1928 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1929 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1930 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1931 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1932 that the `n' condition will be true.
1934 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1935 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1936 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1938 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1939 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1940 latest version of the tpic specials.
1945 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1946 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1947 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1952 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1953 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1955 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1956 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1957 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
1962 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
1967 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
1968 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
1970 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
1971 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
1972 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
1978 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
1980 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
1986 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
1987 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
1988 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
1989 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
1990 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
1992 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
1994 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
1997 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
1998 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
1999 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2000 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
2001 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2002 amount of extra space to each word space.
2004 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2006 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
2007 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2008 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2009 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2010 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2016 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2018 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2019 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2025 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2026 complicated equations inside pictures.
2028 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2029 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2035 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2036 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2042 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2043 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2044 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2047 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2048 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2050 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2051 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2053 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2054 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2055 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2056 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2057 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2058 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2060 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2061 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2062 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2063 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2066 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2067 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2069 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2070 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2075 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2076 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2077 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2079 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2080 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2081 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2082 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2083 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2084 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2085 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2086 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2087 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2093 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2094 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2096 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2099 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2100 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2101 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2102 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2103 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2104 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2105 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2107 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2108 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
2109 when the diversion is reread.
2111 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2114 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2115 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2116 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2117 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2118 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2119 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2120 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2122 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2125 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2128 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2130 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2131 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2133 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2135 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2136 of end of sentence recognition.
2138 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2139 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2141 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2142 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2144 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2146 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2147 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2148 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2153 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2154 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2156 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2157 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2160 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2161 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2163 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2165 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2166 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2168 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2169 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2172 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2173 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2175 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2176 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2177 of the `textht' variable.
2179 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2180 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2185 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2186 has been applied to a table.
2191 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2193 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2194 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2199 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2200 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2201 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2202 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2203 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2204 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2205 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2207 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2208 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2209 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'