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 Fabrice Ménard contributed locales support. In particular, it is now
11 possible to get French localization of the main macro packages (-ms, -mm,
12 -me, and -mom, but not -man and -mdoc which are localized differently) by
13 appending `-mfr' to the list of macro packages. Example:
15 groff -ms -mfr foo > foo.ps
17 Note that latin-9 input encoding is used for French (to support the `oe'
27 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
28 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
29 set the glyph and background colours.
31 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
34 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
35 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
38 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
44 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
45 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
50 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
52 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
53 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
54 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
57 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
59 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
60 ldots (three dots on the base line)
61 dollar (a dollar glyph)
63 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
64 hasn't been documented previously:
73 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
78 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
81 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
83 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
89 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
94 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
95 installed automatically.
100 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
101 hasn't been installed previously.
106 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
111 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
112 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
113 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
118 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
119 documents with groff.
126 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
127 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
128 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
131 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
132 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
133 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
134 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
135 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
137 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
140 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
141 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
144 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
145 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
148 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which keeps the
149 same point size as body text.
152 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
153 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
154 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1'
155 produces 14pt headings, `.NH 2' produces 12pt, and all other
156 levels remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
158 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
159 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
162 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
167 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
168 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
172 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
174 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
175 <head>...</head> block.
177 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
179 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
184 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
185 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
190 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
191 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
192 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
193 troff always use unscaled character widths.
202 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
203 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
204 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
205 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
207 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands are both printed
208 on standard error and run.
213 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
214 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
216 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
217 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
219 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
222 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
224 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
226 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
227 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
228 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
230 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
231 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
232 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
234 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
235 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
236 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
238 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
239 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
241 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
242 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
247 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
252 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
253 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
258 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
259 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
260 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
261 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
262 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
267 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
272 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
273 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
274 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
276 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
281 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
284 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
285 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
286 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
287 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
288 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
293 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
298 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
299 hpftodit manual page for more details.
304 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
305 the old single script style.
307 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
308 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
309 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
311 New documentation file: README_SH.
313 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
318 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
320 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
330 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
331 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
333 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
335 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
336 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
337 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
339 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
340 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
342 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
344 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
345 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
346 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
348 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
353 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
355 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
356 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
357 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
358 glyphs. The new request
362 changes the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
363 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
367 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
368 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
370 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
373 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
374 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
375 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
377 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
378 new `rfschar' request.
380 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
381 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
382 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
384 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
385 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
386 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
387 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
389 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
390 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
391 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
393 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
400 \D'Fd' (default color)
402 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
403 position is *not* changed.
405 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
406 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
408 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
409 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
411 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
413 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
414 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
415 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
416 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
417 same glyph shape as with other devices.
422 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
423 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
425 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
426 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
427 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
429 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
430 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
431 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
432 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
433 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
434 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
436 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
438 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
439 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
445 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
446 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
448 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
449 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
452 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
454 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
455 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
457 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
458 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
459 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
464 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
467 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
468 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
473 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
474 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
479 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
485 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
486 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
491 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
493 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
494 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
499 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
500 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
502 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
504 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
505 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
506 afmtodit for more details.
511 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
514 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
515 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
516 sub-subheading indentation.
518 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
521 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
522 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
524 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
527 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
528 explicitly specified on the command line.
530 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
531 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
533 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
534 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
535 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
536 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
538 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
539 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
540 the driver specific DESC file.
542 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
545 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
554 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
555 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
556 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
557 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
558 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
559 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
561 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
562 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
563 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
566 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
571 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
577 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
578 drivers) to set the default line width.
583 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
588 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
593 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
594 compatibility with NetBSD.
596 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
599 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
600 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
603 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
608 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
609 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
610 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
614 papersize /etc/papersize a4
616 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
617 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
618 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
621 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
623 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
629 ***************************************************************************
631 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
633 ***************************************************************************
638 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
639 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
640 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
641 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
642 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
643 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
644 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
645 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
648 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
649 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
652 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
653 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
656 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
657 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
658 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
660 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
661 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
662 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
665 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
668 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
669 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
671 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
672 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
674 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
675 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
677 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
678 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
680 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
681 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
683 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
685 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
688 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
691 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
692 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
698 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
699 . nop I will now define `bar'.
701 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
705 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
706 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
708 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
709 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
710 control their output format.
712 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
713 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
714 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
715 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
716 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
717 before checking special fonts.
719 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
720 doesn't emit a final newline.
722 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
723 with \c counts as one input line.
725 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
726 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
729 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
730 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
731 Note that this is an incompatible change.
733 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
734 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
736 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
737 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
738 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
739 for more information.
741 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
744 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
745 already existing patterns).
747 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
748 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
749 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
750 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
752 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
753 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
754 final `0' can be omitted.
756 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
757 the exception that the `asciify' request uses the character code (if
758 any) before the character translation. Example:
770 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
772 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
773 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
774 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
775 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
776 post-vertical line space.
778 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
788 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
789 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
791 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
792 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
793 single space characters.
795 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
798 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
799 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
800 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
801 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
802 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
807 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
808 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
809 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
810 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
811 for PostScript output only.
813 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
814 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
816 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
817 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
818 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
819 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
820 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
822 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
823 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
824 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
826 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
829 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
830 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
833 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
834 works in compatibility mode.
836 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
837 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
839 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
842 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
843 reference to the ms macros.
845 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
847 o Changes in www.tmac:
849 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
850 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
851 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
854 The following macros have been renamed:
860 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
861 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
863 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
864 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
866 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
867 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
869 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
870 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
872 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
873 generation to headings.
875 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
878 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it automatically
879 converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
881 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
882 (it automatically converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
884 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
886 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
888 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
890 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
891 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
896 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
897 disabled in compatibility mode).
902 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
903 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
904 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
909 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
910 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
911 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
913 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
915 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
917 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
922 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
923 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
924 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
929 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
930 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
931 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
936 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
937 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
943 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
948 o Color support has been added.
950 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
951 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
956 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
957 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
958 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
961 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
962 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
964 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
965 extended) has been added.
967 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
969 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
970 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
971 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
973 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
974 doesn't take care of hcode values.
976 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
977 to gray values currently.
982 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
983 ANSI color) escape sequences.
985 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
986 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
987 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
989 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
990 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
991 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
992 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
993 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
995 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
996 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable (or $MANPAGER, depending on the
997 used `man' program); alternatively, you can use `man's `-P' option (or
998 adapt its configuration file accordingly). See man(1) for more details.
1000 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
1001 reverting to the old behaviour.
1003 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
1004 enable SGR output (the default).
1006 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
1007 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
1008 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
1009 for this (including xterm).
1014 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1016 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1018 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1020 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1021 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1024 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1029 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1030 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1031 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1036 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1038 o The groff texinfo manual is installed now, together with a bunch
1041 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1044 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1046 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1047 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1049 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1051 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1052 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1053 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1058 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1063 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1064 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1065 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1070 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1075 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1076 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1079 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1081 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1082 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1084 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1090 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1092 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1098 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1100 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1101 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1109 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1110 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1111 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1112 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1113 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1115 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1116 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1117 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1118 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1119 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1120 environment variables to groff.
1125 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1126 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1127 supported). Most important changes are:
1130 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1131 . `.Lb': prints library names
1132 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1134 . Updated `.St' command
1135 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1136 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1137 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1138 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1139 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1140 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1141 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1142 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1145 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1146 documents the mdoc package.
1148 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1149 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1151 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1152 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1153 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1156 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1158 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1159 `if 1'. For example,
1165 can now be written as
1171 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1172 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1173 ending the diversion).
1175 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1176 and some other escape sequences also.
1178 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1179 unbreakable space character.
1181 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1182 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1183 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1188 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1193 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1198 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1205 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1206 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1207 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1208 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1211 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1212 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1214 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1215 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1216 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1217 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1220 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1221 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1222 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1237 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1241 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1242 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1244 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1245 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1246 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1248 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1249 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1250 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1251 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1253 o The new `spreadwarn' request makes troff warn if spaces in an output
1254 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1256 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff uses for
1259 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1260 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1261 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1262 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1264 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1265 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1267 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1268 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1271 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1272 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1274 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1276 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1277 previous font family.
1279 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1280 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1282 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1283 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1284 macro or string is written to a stream.
1286 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1287 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1290 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1292 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1293 underlines spaces also).
1298 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1299 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1304 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1305 been added to select a different prologue file.
1307 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1308 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1309 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1314 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1316 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1317 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1318 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1321 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1322 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1323 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1324 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1325 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1326 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1328 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1329 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1332 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1333 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1334 variable if you really need the current directory.
1336 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1337 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1338 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1339 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1340 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1341 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1343 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1344 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1345 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1350 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1358 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1359 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1360 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1362 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1364 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1366 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1367 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1368 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1374 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1375 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1376 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1378 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1379 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1380 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1381 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1382 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1383 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1385 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1386 contains the current year.
1388 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1389 number of the groff package.
1391 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1392 font `foo' is undefined:
1395 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1397 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1399 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1401 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1402 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1404 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1407 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1408 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1410 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1411 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1412 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1414 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1416 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1417 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1420 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1421 (which is an alias to character `"').
1423 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1424 (which is an alias to character "'").
1426 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1427 better support of HTML output:
1429 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1432 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1434 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1435 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1436 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1437 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1439 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1442 use_charnames_in_special
1443 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1444 inside special commands.
1447 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1448 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1453 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1458 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1460 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1462 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1463 is immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1464 punctuation, for example).
1469 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1471 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1477 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1478 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1479 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1484 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1485 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1486 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1487 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1492 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1493 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1498 Simplified installation: The Imakefile is now configured (by groff's
1504 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1505 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1506 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1511 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1512 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1513 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1515 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1516 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1518 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1519 ========================
1521 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1526 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1527 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1528 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1531 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1532 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1534 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1535 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1538 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1539 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1541 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1542 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1544 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1547 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1548 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1550 Following the GNU standards, groff now uses the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1551 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1553 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1554 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1560 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1561 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1562 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1563 reports are highly welcome.
1568 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1574 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1575 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1580 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1581 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1583 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1588 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1593 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1594 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1595 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1596 half a dozen other projects.
1601 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1602 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1603 latest GNU coding standards.
1605 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1606 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1608 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1609 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1610 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1611 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1612 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1613 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1614 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1615 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1616 always installed as -me.
1618 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1624 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1625 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1631 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1637 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1642 The -m option enables manual feed.
1647 \(rn now produces a character that has the traditional metrics,
1648 and form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it does not
1649 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1650 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1656 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1662 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1663 graphic to be specified.
1671 The escape sequence \V[xxx] interpolates the value of the
1672 environment variable xxx.
1677 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1678 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1687 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1688 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1694 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1695 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1696 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1698 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1699 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1701 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1702 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1707 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1708 try to keep the table on one page.
1713 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1714 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1715 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1716 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1721 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1722 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1723 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1728 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1729 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1731 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1733 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1734 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1736 ^L is now a legal input character.
1741 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1742 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1743 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1744 default device is ps.)
1746 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1747 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1748 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1749 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1751 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1752 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1753 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1754 draw_lines parameter.
1756 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1757 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1758 always loaded by troff.
1760 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1765 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1767 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1768 while a character definition is being processed.
1770 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1773 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1774 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1776 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file causes no font to be
1777 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1778 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1779 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1780 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1782 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1783 with compatibility mode disabled.
1785 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1786 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1787 for loading the device-specific macros.
1792 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1793 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1794 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1795 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1797 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1798 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1799 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1801 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1802 (the quotes are required).
1807 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1808 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1809 be prevented by the -R option.
1811 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1812 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1814 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1817 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1818 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1824 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1825 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1826 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1828 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1831 With the -g option, grops generates PostScript code that guesses
1832 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1833 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1838 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1839 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1844 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1850 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1851 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1852 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1853 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1854 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1855 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1856 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1857 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1858 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1859 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register
1860 is derived from the $r or $R register.
1862 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1864 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1865 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ is only usable
1868 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1873 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1874 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1875 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1877 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1878 redisplays the current page.
1886 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1887 differently with blocks.
1889 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1890 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1892 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1894 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1900 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' are rendered
1901 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1902 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1907 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1908 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1909 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1910 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1911 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1913 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro produces a box
1914 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1919 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1921 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1922 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1927 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1932 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1933 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1934 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1940 Support for scalable fonts.
1945 No changes other than bug fixes.
1950 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1951 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1952 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1953 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1955 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1957 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1958 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1959 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1960 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi uses the
1961 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1962 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1964 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1967 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1968 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1970 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1975 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1976 input level as the opening [.
1978 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1979 suitable for use as a name.
1981 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1984 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1985 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1986 the -mX option is given.
1988 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1993 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1994 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1999 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
2004 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
2005 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
2006 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
2007 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
2009 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
2010 Document Structuring Convention.
2012 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
2013 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
2014 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
2015 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2016 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2019 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2020 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2025 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2026 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps runs gtroff -Tps with
2029 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2030 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2033 Xditview now uses imake.
2038 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2040 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2041 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2042 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2043 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2044 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2045 that the `n' condition is true.
2047 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2048 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2049 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2051 groff -Tdvi -p now passes pic the -x flag; this enables filling
2052 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2053 latest version of the tpic specials.
2058 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2059 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2060 delimiters. The groff command passes on a `-N' option to eqn.
2065 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2066 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2068 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2069 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2070 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2075 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2080 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2081 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2083 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2084 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2085 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2091 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2093 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2099 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2100 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2101 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2102 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2103 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2105 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2107 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2110 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2111 adjustment mode is not `b' a line is not hyphenated if it is no
2112 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2113 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line is not
2114 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2115 amount of extra space to each word space.
2117 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2119 A warning of type `space' is given when a call is made to an
2120 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2121 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2122 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2123 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2129 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2131 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2132 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2138 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2139 complicated equations inside pictures.
2141 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2142 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2148 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2149 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2155 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2156 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2157 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2160 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2161 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2163 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2164 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2166 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2167 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2168 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2169 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2170 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2171 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2173 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2174 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2175 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2176 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2179 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2180 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2182 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2183 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2188 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2189 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2190 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2192 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2193 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2194 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2195 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2196 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2197 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2198 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2199 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2200 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2206 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2207 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2209 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2212 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2213 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2214 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2215 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2216 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2217 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2218 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2220 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2221 diversion, it now arranges for the file to be copied to the output
2222 when the diversion is reread.
2224 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2227 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2228 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2229 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2230 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2231 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2232 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2233 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2235 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2238 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2241 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2243 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2244 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2246 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2248 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2249 of end of sentence recognition.
2251 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2252 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2254 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2255 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2257 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2259 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2260 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2261 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2266 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2267 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2269 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2270 lines are drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2273 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2274 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2276 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2278 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2279 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2281 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2282 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2285 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2286 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2288 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2289 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2290 of the `textht' variable.
2292 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2293 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2298 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2299 has been applied to a table.
2304 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2306 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2307 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2312 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2313 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2314 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2315 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2316 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2317 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2318 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2320 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2321 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2322 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'