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.
7 ***************************************************************************
9 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
11 ***************************************************************************
16 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
17 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
18 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
19 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
20 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
21 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
22 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
23 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
26 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
27 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
30 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
31 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
32 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
34 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
35 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
36 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
39 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
42 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
43 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
45 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
46 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
48 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
49 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
51 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
52 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
54 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
55 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
57 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
59 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
60 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
66 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
67 . nop I will now define `bar'.
69 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
73 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
74 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
76 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
77 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
78 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
79 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
80 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
81 before checking special fonts.
83 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
84 doesn't emit a final newline.
86 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
87 with \c counts as one input line.
89 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
90 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
93 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
94 patterns file without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
95 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
98 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
101 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
102 already existing patterns).
104 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
105 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
106 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
107 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
109 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
110 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
111 final `0' can be omitted.
113 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
114 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
115 any) before the character translation. Example:
127 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
129 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
130 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
131 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
132 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
133 post-vertical line space.
135 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
145 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
146 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
148 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
149 they are ignored now.
151 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
154 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
155 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
156 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
157 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
158 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
163 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
164 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
165 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
166 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
167 for PostScript output only.
169 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
170 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
172 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
173 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
174 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
175 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
176 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
178 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
179 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
180 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
182 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
185 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
186 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
189 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
190 works in compatibility mode.
192 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
193 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
195 o `groff_mwww.1' has been renamed to `groff_www.1'. The file mwww.tmac
198 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
199 reference to the ms macros.
201 o Changes in www.tmac:
203 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
204 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
205 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
208 The following macros have been renamed:
214 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
215 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
217 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
218 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
220 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
221 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
223 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
224 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
226 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
227 generation to headings.
229 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
232 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
233 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
235 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
236 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
239 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
241 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
243 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
245 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
246 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
251 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
252 disabled in compatibility mode).
257 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
258 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
259 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
264 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
265 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
266 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
268 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
270 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
272 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
277 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
278 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
279 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
284 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
285 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
291 o Color support has been added.
296 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
297 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
298 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
301 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
302 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
304 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
305 extended) has been added.
307 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
309 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
310 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
311 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
313 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
314 doesn't take care of hcode values.
316 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
317 to gray values currently.
322 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
323 ANSI color) escape sequences.
325 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
326 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
327 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
329 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
330 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
331 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
332 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
333 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
335 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
336 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
337 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
338 man(1) for more details.
340 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
341 reverting to the old behaviour.
343 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
344 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
345 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
346 for this (including xterm).
351 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
353 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
355 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
357 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
358 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
364 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
366 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
372 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
377 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
378 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
379 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
384 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
389 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
390 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
393 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
395 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
396 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
398 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
404 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
406 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
412 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
414 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
415 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
423 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
424 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
425 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
426 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
427 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
429 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
430 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
431 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
432 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
433 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
434 environment variables to groff.
439 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
440 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
441 supported). Most important changes are:
444 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
445 . `.Lb': prints library names
446 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
448 . Updated `.St' command
449 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
450 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
451 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
452 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
453 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
454 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
455 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
456 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
459 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
460 documents the mdoc package.
462 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
463 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
465 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
466 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
467 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
470 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
472 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
479 can now be written as
485 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
486 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
487 ending the diversion).
489 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
490 and some other escape sequences also.
492 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
493 unbreakable space character.
495 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
496 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
497 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
502 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
507 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
512 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
519 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
520 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
521 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
522 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
525 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
526 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
528 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
529 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
530 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
531 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
534 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
535 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
536 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
551 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
555 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
556 mode, and 0 otherwise.
558 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
559 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
560 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
562 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
563 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
564 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
565 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
567 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
568 line are widened by a given limit or more.
570 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
573 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
574 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
575 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
576 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
578 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
579 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
581 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
582 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
585 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
586 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
588 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
590 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
591 previous font family.
593 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
594 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
596 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
597 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
598 macro or string is written to a stream.
600 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
601 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
604 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
606 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
607 underlines spaces also).
612 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
613 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
618 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
619 been added to select a different prologue file.
621 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
622 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
623 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
628 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
630 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
631 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
632 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
635 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
636 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
637 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
638 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
639 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
640 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
642 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
643 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
646 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
647 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
648 variable if you really need the current directory.
650 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
651 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
652 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
653 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
654 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
655 is searched before the local tmac directory.
657 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
658 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
659 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
664 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
672 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
673 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
674 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
676 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
678 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
680 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
681 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
682 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
688 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
689 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
690 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
692 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
693 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
694 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
695 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
696 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
697 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
699 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
700 contains the current year.
702 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
703 number of the groff package.
705 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
706 font `foo' is undefined:
709 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
711 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
713 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
715 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
716 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
718 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
721 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
722 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
724 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
725 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
726 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
728 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
730 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
731 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
734 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
735 (which is an alias to character `"').
737 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
738 (which is an alias to character "'").
740 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
741 better support of HTML output:
743 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
746 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
748 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
749 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
750 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
751 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
753 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
756 use_charnames_in_special
757 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
758 inside special commands.
761 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
762 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
767 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
772 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
774 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
776 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
777 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
778 punctuation, for example).
783 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
785 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
791 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
792 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
793 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
798 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
799 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
800 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
801 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
806 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
807 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
812 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
818 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
819 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
820 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
825 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
826 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
827 <blake@florida-software.com>.
829 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
830 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
832 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
833 ========================
835 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
840 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
841 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
842 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
845 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
846 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
848 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
849 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
852 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
853 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
855 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
856 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
858 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
861 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
862 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
864 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
865 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
867 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
868 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
874 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
875 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
876 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
877 reports are highly welcome.
882 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
888 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
889 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
894 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
895 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
897 Will now support 8 gray levels.
902 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
907 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
908 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
909 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
910 half a dozen other projects.
915 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
916 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
917 latest GNU coding standards.
919 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
920 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
922 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
923 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
924 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
925 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
926 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
927 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
928 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
929 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
930 always installed as -me.
932 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
938 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
939 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
945 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
951 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
956 The -m option enables manual feed.
961 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
962 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
963 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
964 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
970 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
976 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
977 graphic to be specified.
985 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
986 environment variable xxx.
991 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
992 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1001 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1002 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1008 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1009 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1010 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1012 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1013 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1015 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1016 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1021 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1022 try to keep the table on one page.
1027 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1028 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1029 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1030 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1035 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1036 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1037 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1042 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1043 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1045 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1047 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1048 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1050 ^L is now a legal input character.
1055 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1056 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1057 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1058 default device is ps.)
1060 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1061 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1062 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1063 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1065 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1066 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1067 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1068 draw_lines parameter.
1070 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1071 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1072 always loaded by troff.
1074 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1079 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1081 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1082 while a character definition is being processed.
1084 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1087 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1088 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1090 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1091 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1092 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1093 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1094 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1096 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1097 with compatibility mode disabled.
1099 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1100 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1101 for loading the device-specific macros.
1106 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1107 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1108 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1109 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1111 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1112 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1113 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1115 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1116 (the quotes are required).
1121 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1122 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1123 be prevented by the -R option.
1125 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1126 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1128 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1131 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1132 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1138 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1139 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1140 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1142 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1145 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1146 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1147 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1152 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1153 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1158 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1164 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1165 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1166 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1167 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1168 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1169 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1170 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1171 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1172 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1173 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1174 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1176 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1178 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1179 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1182 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1187 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1188 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1189 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1191 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1192 redisplays the current page.
1200 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1201 differently with blocks.
1203 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1204 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1206 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1208 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1214 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1215 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1216 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1221 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1222 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1223 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1224 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1225 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1227 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1228 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1233 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1235 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1236 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1241 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1246 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1247 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1248 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1254 Support for scalable fonts.
1259 No changes other than bug fixes.
1264 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1265 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1266 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1267 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1269 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1271 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1272 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1273 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1274 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1275 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1276 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1278 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1281 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1282 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1284 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1289 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1290 input level as the opening [.
1292 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1293 suitable for use as a name.
1295 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1298 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1299 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1300 the -mX option is given.
1302 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1307 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1308 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1313 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1318 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1319 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1320 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1321 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1323 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1324 Document Structuring Convention.
1326 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1327 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1328 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1329 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1330 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1333 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1334 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1339 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1340 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1343 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1344 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1347 Xditview now uses imake.
1352 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1354 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1355 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1356 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1357 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1358 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1359 that the `n' condition will be true.
1361 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1362 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1363 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1365 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1366 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1367 latest version of the tpic specials.
1372 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1373 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1374 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1379 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1380 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1382 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1383 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1384 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
1389 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
1394 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
1395 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
1397 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
1398 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
1399 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
1405 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
1407 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
1413 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
1414 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
1415 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
1416 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
1417 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
1419 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
1421 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
1424 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
1425 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
1426 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
1427 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
1428 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
1429 amount of extra space to each word space.
1431 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
1433 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
1434 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
1435 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
1436 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
1437 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
1443 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
1445 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
1446 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
1452 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
1453 complicated equations inside pictures.
1455 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
1456 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
1462 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
1463 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
1469 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
1470 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
1471 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
1474 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
1475 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
1477 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
1478 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
1480 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
1481 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
1482 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
1483 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
1484 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
1485 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
1487 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
1488 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
1489 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
1490 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
1493 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
1494 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
1496 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
1497 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
1502 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
1503 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
1504 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
1506 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
1507 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
1508 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
1509 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
1510 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
1511 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
1512 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
1513 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
1514 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
1520 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
1521 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
1523 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
1526 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
1527 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
1528 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
1529 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
1530 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
1531 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
1532 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
1534 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
1535 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
1536 when the diversion is reread.
1538 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
1541 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
1542 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
1543 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
1544 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
1545 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
1546 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
1547 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
1549 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
1552 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
1555 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
1557 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
1558 containing the hyphenation patterns.
1560 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
1562 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
1563 of end of sentence recognition.
1565 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
1566 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
1568 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
1569 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
1571 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
1573 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
1574 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
1575 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
1580 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
1581 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
1583 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
1584 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
1587 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
1588 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
1590 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
1592 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
1593 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
1595 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
1596 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
1599 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
1600 wherever a quoted string can be used.
1602 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
1603 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
1604 of the `textht' variable.
1606 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
1607 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
1612 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
1613 has been applied to a table.
1618 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
1620 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
1621 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
1626 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
1627 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
1628 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
1629 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
1630 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
1631 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
1632 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
1634 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
1635 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
1636 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'