1 Copyright (C) 1989-2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
2 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
5 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
6 notice and this notice are preserved.
8 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
9 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
17 o XHTML support has been added to grohtml and can be specified by
18 -Txhtml. This option also utilizes the MathML capability of
19 eqn and combines the outputs of both in the final XHTML file.
20 Users can also specify the `-P-V' option together with `-Txhtml'
21 in groff. This has the effect of creating an XHTML validator
22 button at the bottom of each page.
27 o Two new requests `device' and `devicem' have been added which are
28 equivalents to the \X and \Y escapes, respectively.
30 o A new read-only number register `.br' is available which is set to 1
31 if a macro is called as .foo and to 0 if called as 'foo. This allows to
32 reliably modify requests.
37 . ie \\n[.br] .bp@orig
42 o A new request `fzoom' has been added to adjust the optical size of a
43 font in relation to the others. The zoom factor is given in integer
44 multiples of 1/1000th. In the following example, the CR font is
45 magnified by 10% (the zoom factor is 1.1).
50 Palatino and \f[CR]Courier\f[]
52 The new number register `.zoom' holds the zoom value of the current font,
53 in multiples of 1/1000th.
55 o The `cflags' request has been extended with a new flag value 64, to be
56 used in combination with values 2 (break before character) and 4 (break
57 after character). If set, the hyphenation codes of the surrounding
58 characters are ignored.
60 o A new debugging request, `pev', has been added to print all of the current
61 known environments to stderr. It first prints the state of the current
62 environment, then iterates through all of the known environments, printing
63 each except the one that is current.
65 o A new escape `\$^' has been added. It represents the parameters of a
66 macro as if they were an argument to the `ds' request. This is used by
69 o A new read-only number register `.O' is available which returns the
70 current suppression level as set by the `\O' escape.
75 o int(x) now really behaves as documented: It truncates the non-integer part
76 of x, this is, it rounds towards zero and not towards the next integer
77 less than or equal to x.
79 o Pic now supports up to 32 macro arguments (and up to 16 on EBCDIC
82 o Heinz-Jürgen Örtel contributed code for two new keywords, `xslanted' and
83 `yslanted', which can change the shape of boxes into arbitrary
89 o Eric S. Raymond has added a new device type to eqn, MathML. When
90 -TMathML is enabled, eqn now emits MathML formula markup rather than
91 groff commands. The new groff -Txhtml device uses this.
96 o The preprocessor `chem' was added. `chem' is a roff language to generate
97 chemical structure diagrams. It generates `pic' output.
102 o The PS font definition files have been regenerated with newer AFM versions
103 from Adobe's 35 core fonts as present in most Level 2 PS printers. The
104 changes are minor (most notably, the addition of the `Euro' glyph and an
105 extended set of kerning values).
107 For backwards compatibility, the old set of font definition files is still
108 available; for details please read the man page of `grops(1)'.
113 o \D'p...' is now supported if the polygon consists entirely of horizontal
119 o XHTML support has been added.
121 o New command line option `-V' (to be used in XHTML mode) to produce an
122 XHTML validator button.
124 o New command line option `-y' to produce a right-justified groff signature
125 at the end of the document (in combination with option `-V').
130 o Support for keyboard navigation has been improved.
132 o Similar to other X11 applications, there are now two resource files,
133 `GXditview' and `GXditview-color'.
138 o `groffer' version 1.* exists now in a shell and a Perl version.
143 o New option `-c' to output more font information as comments.
148 o Fabrice Ménard contributed locales support. In particular, it is now
149 possible to get French localization of the main macro packages (-ms, -mm,
150 -me, and -mom, but not -man and -mdoc which are localized differently) by
151 appending `-mfr' to the list of macro packages. Example:
153 groff -ms -mfr foo > foo.ps
155 Note that latin-9 input encoding is used for French (to support the `oe'
158 o Swedish macro localization (with `-msv') has been added.
160 o German macro localization (with `-mde' and `-mden' for traditional and
161 new orthography, respectively) has been added.
163 o Czech macro localization (with `-mcs') has been added.
165 Note that latin-2 input encoding is used for Czech.
167 o A new macro `Dx' has been added to the mdoc package which identifies the
170 o -mtrace has been considerably improved, now showing number and string
171 register assignments, among other things.
173 o The PSPIC macro now works with all devices (producing a hollow
174 rectangle on devices which don't support inclusion of PS images) and
175 is loaded in troffrc at start-up.
177 o A new auxiliary macro package `62bit' has been added which provides some
178 macros for adding, multiplying, and dividing signed 62bit integers (mainly
179 to handle normal groff number operations without risking overflow errors).
181 o For -ms, Eric S. Raymond contributed support for ancient Bell Labs
182 localisms `.SC', `.UC', `.P1', and `.P2'. The latter three are enabled
183 only after .SC is called.
185 o A new string, `SN-STYLE', has been added to the ms macros, controlling
186 the formatting of section numbers in headings defined by `.NH'.
195 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
196 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
197 set the glyph and background colours.
199 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
202 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
203 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
206 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
212 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
213 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
218 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
220 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
221 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
222 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
225 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
227 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
228 ldots (three dots on the base line)
229 dollar (a dollar glyph)
231 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
232 hasn't been documented previously:
241 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
246 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
249 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
251 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
257 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
262 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
263 installed automatically.
268 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
269 hasn't been installed previously.
274 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
279 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
280 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
281 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
286 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
287 documents with groff.
294 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
295 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
296 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
299 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
300 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
301 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
302 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
303 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
305 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
308 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
309 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
312 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
313 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
316 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which keeps the
317 same point size as body text.
320 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
321 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
322 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1'
323 produces 14pt headings, `.NH 2' produces 12pt, and all other
324 levels remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
326 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
327 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
330 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
335 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
336 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
340 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
342 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
343 <head>...</head> block.
345 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
347 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
352 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
353 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
358 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
359 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
360 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
361 troff always use unscaled character widths.
370 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
371 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
372 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
373 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
375 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands are both printed
376 on standard error and run.
381 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
382 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
384 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
385 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
387 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
390 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
392 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
394 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
395 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
396 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
398 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
399 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
400 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
402 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
403 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
404 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
406 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
407 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
409 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
410 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
415 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
420 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
421 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
426 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
427 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
428 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
429 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
430 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
435 o New option `-j' to emit output split into multiple files.
440 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
441 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
442 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
444 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
449 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
452 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
453 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
454 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
455 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
456 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
461 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
466 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
467 hpftodit manual page for more details.
472 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
473 the old single script style.
475 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
476 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
477 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
479 New documentation file: README_SH.
481 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
486 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
488 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
498 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
499 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
501 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
503 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
504 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
505 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
507 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
508 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
510 http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/opentype/index_glyph.html
512 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
513 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
514 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
516 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
521 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
523 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
524 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
525 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
526 glyphs. The new request
530 changes the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
531 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
535 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
536 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
538 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
541 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
542 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
543 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
545 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
546 new `rfschar' request.
548 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
549 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
550 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
552 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
553 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
554 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
555 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
557 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
558 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
559 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
561 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
568 \D'Fd' (default color)
570 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
571 position is *not* changed.
573 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
574 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
576 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
577 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
579 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
581 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
582 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
583 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
584 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
585 same glyph shape as with other devices.
590 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
591 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
593 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
594 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
595 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
597 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
598 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
599 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
600 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
601 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
602 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
604 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
606 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
607 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
613 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
614 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
616 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
617 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
620 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
622 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
623 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
625 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
626 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
627 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
632 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
635 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
636 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
641 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
642 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
647 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
653 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
654 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
659 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
661 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
662 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
667 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
668 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
670 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
672 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
673 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
674 afmtodit for more details.
679 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
682 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
683 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
684 sub-subheading indentation.
686 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
689 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
690 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
692 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
695 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
696 explicitly specified on the command line.
698 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
699 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
701 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
702 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
703 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
704 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
706 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
707 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
708 the driver specific DESC file.
710 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
713 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
722 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
723 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
724 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
725 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
726 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
727 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
729 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
730 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
731 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
734 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
739 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
745 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
746 drivers) to set the default line width.
751 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
756 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
761 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
762 compatibility with NetBSD.
764 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
767 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
768 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
771 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
776 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
777 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
778 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
782 papersize /etc/papersize a4
784 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
785 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
786 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
789 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
791 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
797 ***************************************************************************
799 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
801 ***************************************************************************
806 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
807 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
808 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
809 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
810 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
811 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
812 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
813 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
816 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
817 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
820 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
821 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
824 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
825 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
826 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
828 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
829 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
830 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
833 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
836 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
837 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
839 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
840 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
842 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
843 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
845 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
846 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
848 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
849 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
851 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
853 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
856 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
859 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
860 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
866 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
867 . nop I will now define `bar'.
869 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
873 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
874 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
876 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
877 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
878 control their output format.
880 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
881 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
882 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
883 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
884 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
885 before checking special fonts.
887 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
888 doesn't emit a final newline.
890 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
891 with \c counts as one input line.
893 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
894 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
897 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
898 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
899 Note that this is an incompatible change.
901 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
902 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
904 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
905 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
906 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
907 for more information.
909 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
912 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
913 already existing patterns).
915 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
916 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
917 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
918 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
920 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
921 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
922 final `0' can be omitted.
924 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
925 the exception that the `asciify' request uses the character code (if
926 any) before the character translation. Example:
938 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
940 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
941 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
942 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
943 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
944 post-vertical line space.
946 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
956 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
957 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
959 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
960 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
961 single space characters.
963 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
966 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
967 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
968 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
969 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
970 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
975 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
976 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
977 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
978 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
979 for PostScript output only.
981 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
982 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
984 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
985 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
986 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
987 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
988 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
990 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
991 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
992 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
994 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
997 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
998 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
1001 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
1002 works in compatibility mode.
1004 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
1005 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
1007 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
1010 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
1011 reference to the ms macros.
1013 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
1015 o Changes in www.tmac:
1017 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
1018 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
1019 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
1022 The following macros have been renamed:
1028 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
1029 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
1031 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
1032 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
1034 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
1035 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
1037 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
1038 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
1040 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
1041 generation to headings.
1043 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
1046 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it automatically
1047 converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
1049 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
1050 (it automatically converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
1052 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
1054 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
1056 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
1058 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
1059 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
1064 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
1065 disabled in compatibility mode).
1070 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
1071 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
1072 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
1077 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
1078 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
1079 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
1081 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
1083 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
1085 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
1090 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1091 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1092 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1097 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1098 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1099 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1104 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
1105 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
1111 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
1116 o Color support has been added.
1118 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
1119 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
1124 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
1125 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
1126 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
1129 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
1130 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
1132 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
1133 extended) has been added.
1135 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
1137 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
1138 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
1139 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
1141 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
1142 doesn't take care of hcode values.
1144 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
1145 to gray values currently.
1150 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
1151 ANSI color) escape sequences.
1153 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
1154 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
1155 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
1157 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
1158 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
1159 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
1160 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
1161 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
1163 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
1164 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable (or $MANPAGER, depending on the
1165 used `man' program); alternatively, you can use `man's `-P' option (or
1166 adapt its configuration file accordingly). See man(1) for more details.
1168 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
1169 reverting to the old behaviour.
1171 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
1172 enable SGR output (the default).
1174 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
1175 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
1176 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
1177 for this (including xterm).
1182 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1184 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1186 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1188 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1189 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1192 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1197 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1198 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1199 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1204 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1206 o The groff texinfo manual is installed now, together with a bunch
1209 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1212 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1214 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1215 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1217 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1219 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1220 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1221 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1227 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1232 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1233 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1234 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1240 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1245 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1246 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1249 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1251 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1252 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1254 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1260 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1262 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1268 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1270 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1271 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1280 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1281 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1282 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1283 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1284 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1286 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1287 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1288 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1289 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1290 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1291 environment variables to groff.
1296 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1297 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1298 supported). Most important changes are:
1301 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1302 . `.Lb': prints library names
1303 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1305 . Updated `.St' command
1306 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1307 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1308 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1309 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1310 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1311 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1312 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1313 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1316 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1317 documents the mdoc package.
1319 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1320 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1322 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1323 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1324 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1327 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1329 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1330 `if 1'. For example,
1336 can now be written as
1342 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1343 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1344 ending the diversion).
1346 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1347 and some other escape sequences also.
1349 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1350 unbreakable space character.
1352 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1353 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1354 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1359 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1364 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1369 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1376 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1377 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1378 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1379 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1382 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1383 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1385 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1386 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1387 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1388 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1391 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1392 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1393 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1408 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1412 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1413 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1415 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1416 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1417 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1419 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1420 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1421 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1422 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1424 o The new `spreadwarn' request makes troff warn if spaces in an output
1425 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1427 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff uses for
1430 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1431 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1432 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1433 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1435 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1436 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1438 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1439 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1442 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1443 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1445 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1447 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1448 previous font family.
1450 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1451 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1453 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1454 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1455 macro or string is written to a stream.
1457 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1458 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1461 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1463 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1464 underlines spaces also).
1469 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1470 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1475 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1476 been added to select a different prologue file.
1478 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1479 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1480 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1485 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1487 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1488 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1489 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1492 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1493 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1494 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1495 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1496 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1497 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1499 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1500 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1503 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1504 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1505 variable if you really need the current directory.
1507 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1508 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1509 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1510 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1511 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1512 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1514 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1515 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1516 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1522 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1531 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1532 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1533 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1535 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1537 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1539 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1540 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1541 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1547 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1548 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1549 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1551 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1552 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1553 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1554 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1555 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1556 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1558 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1559 contains the current year.
1561 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1562 number of the groff package.
1564 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1565 font `foo' is undefined:
1568 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1570 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1572 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1574 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1575 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1577 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1580 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1581 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1583 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1584 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1585 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1587 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1589 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1590 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1593 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1594 (which is an alias to character `"').
1596 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1597 (which is an alias to character "'").
1599 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1600 better support of HTML output:
1602 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1605 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1607 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1608 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1609 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1610 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1612 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1615 use_charnames_in_special
1616 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1617 inside special commands.
1620 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1621 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1626 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1631 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1633 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1635 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1636 is immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1637 punctuation, for example).
1642 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1644 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1650 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1651 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1652 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1657 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1658 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1659 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1660 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1665 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1666 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1671 Simplified installation: The Imakefile is now configured (by groff's
1677 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1678 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1679 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1684 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1685 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1686 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1688 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1689 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1692 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1693 ========================
1695 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1701 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1702 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1703 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1706 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1707 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1709 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1710 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1713 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1714 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1716 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1717 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1719 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1722 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1723 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1725 Following the GNU standards, groff now uses the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1726 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1728 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1729 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1735 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1736 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1737 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1738 reports are highly welcome.
1743 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1749 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1750 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1755 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1756 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1758 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1763 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1769 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1770 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1771 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1772 half a dozen other projects.
1778 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1779 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1780 latest GNU coding standards.
1782 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1783 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1785 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1786 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1787 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1788 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1789 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1790 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1791 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1792 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1793 always installed as -me.
1795 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1801 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1802 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1808 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1814 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1819 The -m option enables manual feed.
1825 \(rn now produces a character that has the traditional metrics,
1826 and form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it does not
1827 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1828 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1834 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1840 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1841 graphic to be specified.
1850 The escape sequence \V[xxx] interpolates the value of the
1851 environment variable xxx.
1856 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1857 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1867 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1868 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1874 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1875 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1876 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1878 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1879 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1881 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1882 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1887 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1888 try to keep the table on one page.
1893 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1894 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1895 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1896 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1901 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1902 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1903 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1909 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1910 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1912 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1914 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1915 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1917 ^L is now a valid input character.
1922 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1923 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1924 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1925 default device is ps.)
1927 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1928 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1929 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1930 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1932 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1933 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1934 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1935 draw_lines parameter.
1937 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1938 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1939 always loaded by troff.
1941 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1946 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1948 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1949 while a character definition is being processed.
1951 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1954 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1955 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1957 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file causes no font to be
1958 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1959 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1960 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1961 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1963 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1964 with compatibility mode disabled.
1966 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1967 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1968 for loading the device-specific macros.
1973 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1974 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1975 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1976 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1978 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1979 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1980 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1982 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1983 (the quotes are required).
1988 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1989 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1990 be prevented by the -R option.
1992 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1993 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1995 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1998 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1999 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
2005 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
2006 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
2007 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
2009 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
2012 With the -g option, grops generates PostScript code that guesses
2013 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
2014 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
2019 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
2020 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
2025 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
2031 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
2032 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
2033 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
2034 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
2035 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
2036 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
2037 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
2038 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
2039 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
2040 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register
2041 is derived from the $r or $R register.
2043 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
2045 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
2046 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ is only usable
2049 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
2054 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
2055 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
2056 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
2058 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
2059 redisplays the current page.
2068 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
2069 differently with blocks.
2071 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
2072 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
2074 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
2076 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
2082 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' are rendered
2083 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
2084 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
2089 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
2090 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
2091 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
2092 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
2093 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
2095 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro produces a box
2096 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
2102 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
2104 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
2105 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
2110 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
2115 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
2116 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
2117 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
2123 Support for scalable fonts.
2129 No changes other than bug fixes.
2135 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
2136 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
2137 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
2138 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
2140 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
2142 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
2143 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
2144 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
2145 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi uses the
2146 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
2147 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
2149 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
2152 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
2153 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
2155 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
2160 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
2161 input level as the opening [.
2163 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
2164 suitable for use as a name.
2166 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
2169 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
2170 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
2171 the -mX option is given.
2173 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
2178 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
2179 constructs by writing a troff macro.
2184 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
2189 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
2190 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
2191 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
2192 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
2194 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
2195 Document Structuring Convention.
2197 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
2198 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
2199 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
2200 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2201 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2204 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2205 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2210 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2211 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps runs gtroff -Tps with
2214 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2215 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2218 Xditview now uses imake.
2224 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2226 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2227 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2228 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2229 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2230 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2231 that the `n' condition is true.
2233 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2234 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2235 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2237 groff -Tdvi -p now passes pic the -x flag; this enables filling
2238 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2239 latest version of the tpic specials.
2244 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2245 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2246 delimiters. The groff command passes on a `-N' option to eqn.
2251 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2252 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2254 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2255 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2256 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2261 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2266 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2267 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2269 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2270 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2271 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2278 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2280 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2286 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2287 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2288 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2289 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2290 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2292 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2294 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2297 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2298 adjustment mode is not `b' a line is not hyphenated if it is no
2299 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2300 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line is not
2301 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2302 amount of extra space to each word space.
2304 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2306 A warning of type `space' is given when a call is made to an
2307 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2308 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2309 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2310 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2316 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2318 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2319 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2325 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2326 complicated equations inside pictures.
2328 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2329 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2335 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2336 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2343 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2344 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2345 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2348 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2349 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2351 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2352 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2354 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2355 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2356 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2357 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2358 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2359 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2361 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2362 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2363 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2364 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2367 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer valid input
2368 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2370 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2371 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2376 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2377 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2378 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2380 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2381 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2382 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2383 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2384 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2385 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2386 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2387 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2388 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2394 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2395 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2397 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2400 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2401 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2402 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2403 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2404 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2405 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2406 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2408 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2409 diversion, it now arranges for the file to be copied to the output
2410 when the diversion is reread.
2412 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2415 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2416 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2417 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2418 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2419 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2420 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2421 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2423 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2426 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2429 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2431 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2432 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2434 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2436 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2437 of end of sentence recognition.
2439 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2440 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2442 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2443 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2445 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2447 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2448 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2449 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2454 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2455 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2457 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2458 lines are drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2461 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2462 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2464 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2466 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2467 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2469 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2470 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2473 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2474 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2476 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2477 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2478 of the `textht' variable.
2480 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2481 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2486 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2487 has been applied to a table.
2492 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2494 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2495 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2500 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2501 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2502 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2503 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2504 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2505 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2506 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2508 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2509 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2510 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
2514 version-control: never