1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
11 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
12 set the glyph and background colours.
14 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
17 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
18 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
24 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
25 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
30 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
33 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
35 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
41 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
42 installed automatically.
47 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
48 hasn't been installed previously.
53 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
60 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
61 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
62 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
65 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
66 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
67 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
68 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
69 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
71 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
74 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
75 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
78 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
79 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
82 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which will keep the
83 same point size as body text.
86 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
87 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
88 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1' will
89 produce 14pt headings, `.NH 2' will produce 12pt, and all other levels
90 will remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
92 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
93 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
96 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
101 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
102 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
106 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
108 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
109 <head>...</head> block.
114 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
115 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
116 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
117 troff always use unscaled character widths.
126 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
127 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
128 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
129 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
131 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
132 on standard error and run.
137 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
138 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
140 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
141 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
143 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
146 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
148 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
150 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
151 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
152 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
154 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
155 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
156 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
158 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
159 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
160 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
162 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
163 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
165 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
166 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
171 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
176 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
177 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
182 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
183 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
184 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
185 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
186 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
191 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
196 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
197 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
198 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
200 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
205 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
208 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
209 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
210 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
211 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
212 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
217 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
222 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
223 hpftodit manual page for more details.
228 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
229 the old single script style.
231 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
232 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
233 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
235 New documentation file: README_SH.
237 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
242 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
244 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
254 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
255 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
257 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
259 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
260 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
261 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
263 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
264 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
266 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
268 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
269 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
270 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
272 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
277 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
279 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
280 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
281 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
282 glyphs. The new request
286 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
287 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
291 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
292 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
294 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
297 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
298 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
299 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
301 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
302 new `rfschar' request.
304 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
305 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
306 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
308 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
309 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
310 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
311 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
313 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
314 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
315 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
317 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
324 \D'Fd' (default color)
326 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
327 position is *not* changed.
329 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
330 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
332 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
333 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
335 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
337 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
338 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
339 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
340 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
341 same glyph shape as with other devices.
346 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
347 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
349 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
350 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
351 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
353 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
354 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
355 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
356 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
357 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
358 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
360 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
362 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
363 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
369 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
370 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
372 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
373 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
376 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
378 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
379 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
381 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
382 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
383 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
388 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
391 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
392 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
397 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
398 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
403 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
409 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
410 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
415 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
417 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
418 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
423 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
424 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
426 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
428 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
429 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
430 afmtodit for more details.
435 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
438 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
439 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
440 sub-subheading indentation.
442 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
445 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
446 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
448 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
451 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
452 explicitly specified on the command line.
454 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
455 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
457 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
458 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
459 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
460 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
462 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
463 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
464 the driver specific DESC file.
466 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
469 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
478 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
479 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
480 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
481 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
482 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
483 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
485 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
486 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
487 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
490 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
495 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
501 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
502 drivers) to set the default line width.
507 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
512 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
517 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
518 compatibility with NetBSD.
520 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
523 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
524 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
527 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
532 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
533 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
534 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
538 papersize /etc/papersize a4
540 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
541 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
542 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
545 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
547 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
553 ***************************************************************************
555 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
557 ***************************************************************************
562 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
563 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
564 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
565 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
566 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
567 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
568 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
569 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
572 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
573 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
576 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
577 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
580 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
581 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
582 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
584 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
585 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
586 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
589 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
592 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
593 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
595 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
596 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
598 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
599 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
601 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
602 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
604 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
605 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
607 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
609 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
612 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
615 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
616 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
622 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
623 . nop I will now define `bar'.
625 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
629 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
630 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
632 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
633 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
634 control their output format.
636 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
637 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
638 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
639 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
640 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
641 before checking special fonts.
643 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
644 doesn't emit a final newline.
646 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
647 with \c counts as one input line.
649 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
650 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
653 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
654 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
655 Note that this is an incompatible change.
657 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
658 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
660 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
661 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
662 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
663 for more information.
665 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
668 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
669 already existing patterns).
671 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
672 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
673 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
674 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
676 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
677 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
678 final `0' can be omitted.
680 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
681 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
682 any) before the character translation. Example:
694 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
696 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
697 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
698 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
699 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
700 post-vertical line space.
702 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
712 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
713 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
715 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
716 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
717 single space characters.
719 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
722 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
723 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
724 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
725 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
726 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
731 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
732 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
733 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
734 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
735 for PostScript output only.
737 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
738 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
740 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
741 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
742 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
743 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
744 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
746 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
747 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
748 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
750 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
753 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
754 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
757 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
758 works in compatibility mode.
760 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
761 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
763 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
766 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
767 reference to the ms macros.
769 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
771 o Changes in www.tmac:
773 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
774 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
775 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
778 The following macros have been renamed:
784 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
785 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
787 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
788 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
790 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
791 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
793 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
794 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
796 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
797 generation to headings.
799 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
802 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
803 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
805 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
806 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
809 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
811 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
813 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
815 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
816 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
821 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
822 disabled in compatibility mode).
827 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
828 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
829 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
834 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
835 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
836 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
838 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
840 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
842 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
847 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
848 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
849 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
854 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
855 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
856 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
861 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
862 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
868 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
873 o Color support has been added.
875 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
876 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
881 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
882 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
883 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
886 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
887 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
889 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
890 extended) has been added.
892 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
894 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
895 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
896 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
898 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
899 doesn't take care of hcode values.
901 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
902 to gray values currently.
907 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
908 ANSI color) escape sequences.
910 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
911 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
912 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
914 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
915 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
916 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
917 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
918 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
920 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
921 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
922 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
923 man(1) for more details.
925 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
926 reverting to the old behaviour.
928 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
929 enable SGR output (the default).
931 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
932 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
933 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
934 for this (including xterm).
939 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
941 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
943 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
945 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
946 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
949 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
954 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
955 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
956 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
961 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
963 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
966 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
969 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
971 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
972 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
974 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
976 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
977 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
978 currently. troff completely ignores it.
983 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
988 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
989 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
990 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
995 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1000 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1001 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1004 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1006 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1007 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1009 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1015 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1017 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1023 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1025 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1026 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1034 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1035 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1036 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1037 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1038 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1040 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1041 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1042 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1043 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1044 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1045 environment variables to groff.
1050 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1051 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1052 supported). Most important changes are:
1055 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1056 . `.Lb': prints library names
1057 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1059 . Updated `.St' command
1060 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1061 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1062 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1063 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1064 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1065 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1066 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1067 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1070 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1071 documents the mdoc package.
1073 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1074 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1076 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1077 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1078 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1081 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1083 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1084 `if 1'. For example,
1090 can now be written as
1096 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1097 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1098 ending the diversion).
1100 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1101 and some other escape sequences also.
1103 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1104 unbreakable space character.
1106 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1107 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1108 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1113 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1118 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1123 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1130 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1131 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1132 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1133 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1136 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1137 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1139 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1140 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1141 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1142 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1145 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1146 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1147 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1162 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1166 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1167 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1169 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1170 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1171 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1173 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1174 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1175 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1176 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1178 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1179 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1181 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1184 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1185 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1186 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1187 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1189 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1190 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1192 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1193 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1196 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1197 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1199 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1201 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1202 previous font family.
1204 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1205 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1207 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1208 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1209 macro or string is written to a stream.
1211 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1212 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1215 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1217 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1218 underlines spaces also).
1223 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1224 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1229 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1230 been added to select a different prologue file.
1232 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1233 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1234 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1239 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1241 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1242 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1243 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1246 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1247 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1248 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1249 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1250 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1251 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1253 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1254 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1257 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1258 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1259 variable if you really need the current directory.
1261 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1262 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1263 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1264 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1265 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1266 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1268 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1269 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1270 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1275 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1283 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1284 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1285 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1287 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1289 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1291 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1292 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1293 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1299 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1300 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1301 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1303 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1304 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1305 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1306 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1307 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1308 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1310 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1311 contains the current year.
1313 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1314 number of the groff package.
1316 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1317 font `foo' is undefined:
1320 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1322 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1324 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1326 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1327 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1329 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1332 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1333 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1335 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1336 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1337 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1339 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1341 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1342 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1345 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1346 (which is an alias to character `"').
1348 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1349 (which is an alias to character "'").
1351 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1352 better support of HTML output:
1354 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1357 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1359 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1360 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1361 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1362 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1364 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1367 use_charnames_in_special
1368 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1369 inside special commands.
1372 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1373 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1378 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1383 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1385 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1387 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1388 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1389 punctuation, for example).
1394 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1396 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1402 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1403 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1404 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1409 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1410 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1411 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1412 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1417 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1418 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1423 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1429 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1430 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1431 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1436 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1437 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1438 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1440 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1441 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1443 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1444 ========================
1446 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1451 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1452 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1453 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1456 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1457 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1459 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1460 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1463 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1464 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1466 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1467 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1469 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1472 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1473 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1475 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1476 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1478 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1479 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1485 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1486 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1487 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1488 reports are highly welcome.
1493 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1499 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1500 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1505 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1506 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1508 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1513 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1518 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1519 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1520 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1521 half a dozen other projects.
1526 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1527 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1528 latest GNU coding standards.
1530 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1531 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1533 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1534 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1535 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1536 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1537 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1538 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1539 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1540 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1541 always installed as -me.
1543 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1549 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1550 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1556 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1562 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1567 The -m option enables manual feed.
1572 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1573 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1574 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1575 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1581 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1587 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1588 graphic to be specified.
1596 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1597 environment variable xxx.
1602 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1603 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1612 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1613 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1619 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1620 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1621 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1623 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1624 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1626 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1627 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1632 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1633 try to keep the table on one page.
1638 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1639 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1640 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1641 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1646 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1647 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1648 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1653 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1654 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1656 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1658 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1659 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1661 ^L is now a legal input character.
1666 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1667 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1668 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1669 default device is ps.)
1671 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1672 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1673 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1674 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1676 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1677 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1678 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1679 draw_lines parameter.
1681 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1682 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1683 always loaded by troff.
1685 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1690 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1692 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1693 while a character definition is being processed.
1695 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1698 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1699 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1701 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1702 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1703 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1704 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1705 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1707 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1708 with compatibility mode disabled.
1710 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1711 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1712 for loading the device-specific macros.
1717 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1718 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1719 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1720 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1722 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1723 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1724 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1726 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1727 (the quotes are required).
1732 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1733 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1734 be prevented by the -R option.
1736 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1737 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1739 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1742 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1743 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1749 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1750 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1751 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1753 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1756 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1757 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1758 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1763 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1764 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1769 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1775 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1776 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1777 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1778 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1779 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1780 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1781 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1782 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1783 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1784 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1785 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1787 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1789 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1790 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1793 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1798 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1799 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1800 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1802 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1803 redisplays the current page.
1811 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1812 differently with blocks.
1814 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1815 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1817 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1819 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1825 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1826 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1827 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1832 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1833 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1834 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1835 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1836 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1838 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1839 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1844 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1846 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1847 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1852 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1857 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1858 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1859 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1865 Support for scalable fonts.
1870 No changes other than bug fixes.
1875 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1876 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1877 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1878 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1880 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1882 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1883 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1884 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1885 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1886 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1887 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1889 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1892 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1893 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1895 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1900 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1901 input level as the opening [.
1903 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1904 suitable for use as a name.
1906 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1909 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1910 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1911 the -mX option is given.
1913 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1918 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1919 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1924 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1929 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1930 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1931 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1932 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1934 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1935 Document Structuring Convention.
1937 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1938 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1939 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1940 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1941 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1944 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1945 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1950 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1951 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1954 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1955 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1958 Xditview now uses imake.
1963 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1965 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1966 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1967 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1968 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1969 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1970 that the `n' condition will be true.
1972 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1973 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1974 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1976 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1977 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1978 latest version of the tpic specials.
1983 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1984 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1985 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1990 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1991 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1993 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1994 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1995 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2000 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2005 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2006 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2008 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2009 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2010 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2016 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2018 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2024 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2025 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2026 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2027 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2028 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2030 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2032 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2035 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2036 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
2037 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2038 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
2039 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2040 amount of extra space to each word space.
2042 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2044 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
2045 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2046 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2047 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2048 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2054 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2056 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2057 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2063 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2064 complicated equations inside pictures.
2066 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2067 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2073 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2074 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2080 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2081 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2082 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2085 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2086 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2088 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2089 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2091 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2092 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2093 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2094 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2095 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2096 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2098 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2099 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2100 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2101 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2104 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2105 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2107 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2108 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2113 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2114 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2115 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2117 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2118 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2119 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2120 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2121 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2122 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2123 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2124 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2125 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2131 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2132 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2134 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2137 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2138 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2139 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2140 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2141 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2142 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2143 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2145 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2146 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
2147 when the diversion is reread.
2149 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2152 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2153 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2154 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2155 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2156 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2157 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2158 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2160 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2163 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2166 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2168 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2169 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2171 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2173 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2174 of end of sentence recognition.
2176 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2177 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2179 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2180 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2182 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2184 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2185 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2186 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2191 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2192 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2194 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2195 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2198 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2199 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2201 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2203 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2204 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2206 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2207 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2210 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2211 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2213 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2214 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2215 of the `textht' variable.
2217 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2218 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2223 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2224 has been applied to a table.
2229 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2231 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2232 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2237 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2238 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2239 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2240 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2241 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2242 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2243 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2245 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2246 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2247 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'