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 The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
11 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
12 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
13 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
15 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
16 on standard error and run.
21 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
22 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
24 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
27 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
29 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
31 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
32 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
33 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
35 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
36 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
37 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
39 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
40 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
41 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
43 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
44 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
46 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
47 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
52 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
57 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
58 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
63 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
64 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
65 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
70 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
75 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
76 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
77 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
79 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
84 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
89 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
91 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
101 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
102 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
104 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
106 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
107 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
108 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
110 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
111 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
113 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
115 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
116 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
117 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
119 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
124 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
126 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
127 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
128 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
129 glyphs. The new request
133 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
134 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
138 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
139 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
141 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
144 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
145 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
146 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
148 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
149 new `rfschar' request.
151 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
152 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
153 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
155 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
156 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
157 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
158 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
160 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
161 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
162 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
164 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
171 \D'Fd' (default color)
173 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
174 position is *not* changed.
176 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
177 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
179 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
180 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
182 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
184 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
185 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
186 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
187 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
188 same glyph shape as with other devices.
193 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
194 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
196 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
197 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
198 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
200 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
201 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
202 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
203 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
204 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
205 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
207 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
209 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
210 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
216 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
217 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
219 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
220 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
223 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
225 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
226 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
228 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
229 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
230 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
235 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
238 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
239 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
244 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
245 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
250 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
256 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
257 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
262 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
264 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
265 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
270 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
271 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
273 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
275 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
276 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
277 afmtodit for more details.
282 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
285 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
286 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
287 sub-subheading indentation.
289 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
292 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
293 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
295 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
298 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
299 explicitly specified on the command line.
301 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
302 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
304 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
305 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
306 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
307 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
309 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
310 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
311 the driver specific DESC file.
313 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
316 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
325 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
326 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
327 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
328 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
329 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
330 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
332 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
333 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
334 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
337 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
342 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
348 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
349 drivers) to set the default line width.
354 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
359 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
364 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
365 compatibility with NetBSD.
367 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
370 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
371 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
374 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
379 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
380 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
381 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
385 papersize /etc/papersize a4
387 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
388 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
389 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
392 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
394 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
400 ***************************************************************************
402 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
404 ***************************************************************************
409 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
410 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
411 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
412 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
413 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
414 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
415 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
416 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
419 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
420 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
423 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
424 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
427 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
428 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
429 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
431 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
432 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
433 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
436 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
439 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
440 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
442 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
443 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
445 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
446 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
448 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
449 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
451 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
452 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
454 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
456 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
459 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
462 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
463 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
469 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
470 . nop I will now define `bar'.
472 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
476 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
477 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
479 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
480 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
481 control their output format.
483 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
484 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
485 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
486 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
487 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
488 before checking special fonts.
490 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
491 doesn't emit a final newline.
493 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
494 with \c counts as one input line.
496 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
497 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
500 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
501 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
502 Note that this is an incompatible change.
504 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
505 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
507 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
508 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
509 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
510 for more information.
512 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
515 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
516 already existing patterns).
518 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
519 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
520 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
521 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
523 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
524 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
525 final `0' can be omitted.
527 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
528 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
529 any) before the character translation. Example:
541 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
543 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
544 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
545 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
546 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
547 post-vertical line space.
549 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
559 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
560 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
562 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
563 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
564 single space characters.
566 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
569 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
570 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
571 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
572 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
573 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
578 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
579 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
580 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
581 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
582 for PostScript output only.
584 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
585 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
587 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
588 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
589 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
590 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
591 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
593 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
594 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
595 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
597 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
600 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
601 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
604 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
605 works in compatibility mode.
607 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
608 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
610 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
613 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
614 reference to the ms macros.
616 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
618 o Changes in www.tmac:
620 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
621 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
622 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
625 The following macros have been renamed:
631 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
632 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
634 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
635 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
637 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
638 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
640 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
641 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
643 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
644 generation to headings.
646 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
649 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
650 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
652 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
653 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
656 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
658 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
660 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
662 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
663 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
668 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
669 disabled in compatibility mode).
674 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
675 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
676 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
681 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
682 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
683 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
685 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
687 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
689 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
694 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
695 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
696 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
701 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
702 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
703 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
708 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
709 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
715 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
720 o Color support has been added.
722 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
723 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
728 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
729 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
730 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
733 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
734 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
736 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
737 extended) has been added.
739 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
741 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
742 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
743 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
745 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
746 doesn't take care of hcode values.
748 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
749 to gray values currently.
754 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
755 ANSI color) escape sequences.
757 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
758 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
759 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
761 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
762 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
763 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
764 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
765 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
767 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
768 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
769 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
770 man(1) for more details.
772 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
773 reverting to the old behaviour.
775 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
776 enable SGR output (the default).
778 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
779 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
780 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
781 for this (including xterm).
786 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
788 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
790 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
792 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
793 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
796 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
801 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
802 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
803 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
808 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
810 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
813 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
816 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
818 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
819 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
821 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
823 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
824 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
825 currently. troff completely ignores it.
830 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
835 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
836 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
837 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
842 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
847 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
848 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
851 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
853 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
854 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
856 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
862 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
864 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
870 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
872 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
873 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
881 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
882 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
883 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
884 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
885 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
887 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
888 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
889 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
890 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
891 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
892 environment variables to groff.
897 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
898 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
899 supported). Most important changes are:
902 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
903 . `.Lb': prints library names
904 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
906 . Updated `.St' command
907 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
908 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
909 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
910 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
911 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
912 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
913 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
914 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
917 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
918 documents the mdoc package.
920 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
921 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
923 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
924 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
925 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
928 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
930 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
937 can now be written as
943 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
944 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
945 ending the diversion).
947 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
948 and some other escape sequences also.
950 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
951 unbreakable space character.
953 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
954 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
955 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
960 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
965 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
970 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
977 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
978 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
979 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
980 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
983 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
984 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
986 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
987 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
988 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
989 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
992 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
993 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
994 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1009 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1013 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1014 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1016 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1017 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1018 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1020 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1021 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1022 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1023 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1025 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1026 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1028 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1031 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1032 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1033 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1034 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1036 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1037 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1039 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1040 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1043 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1044 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1046 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1048 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1049 previous font family.
1051 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1052 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1054 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1055 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1056 macro or string is written to a stream.
1058 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1059 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1062 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1064 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1065 underlines spaces also).
1070 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1071 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1076 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1077 been added to select a different prologue file.
1079 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1080 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1081 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1086 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1088 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1089 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1090 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1093 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1094 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1095 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1096 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1097 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1098 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1100 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1101 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1104 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1105 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1106 variable if you really need the current directory.
1108 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1109 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1110 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1111 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1112 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1113 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1115 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1116 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1117 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1122 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1130 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1131 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1132 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1134 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1136 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1138 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1139 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1140 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1146 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1147 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1148 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1150 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1151 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1152 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1153 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1154 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1155 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1157 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1158 contains the current year.
1160 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1161 number of the groff package.
1163 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1164 font `foo' is undefined:
1167 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1169 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1171 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1173 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1174 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1176 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1179 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1180 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1182 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1183 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1184 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1186 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1188 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1189 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1192 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1193 (which is an alias to character `"').
1195 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1196 (which is an alias to character "'").
1198 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1199 better support of HTML output:
1201 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1204 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1206 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1207 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1208 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1209 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1211 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1214 use_charnames_in_special
1215 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1216 inside special commands.
1219 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1220 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1225 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1230 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1232 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1234 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1235 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1236 punctuation, for example).
1241 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1243 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1249 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1250 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1251 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1256 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1257 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1258 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1259 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1264 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1265 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1270 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1276 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1277 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1278 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1283 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1284 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1285 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1287 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1288 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1290 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1291 ========================
1293 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1298 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1299 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1300 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1303 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1304 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1306 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1307 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1310 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1311 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1313 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1314 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1316 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1319 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1320 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1322 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1323 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1325 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1326 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1332 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1333 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1334 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1335 reports are highly welcome.
1340 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1346 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1347 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1352 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1353 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1355 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1360 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1365 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1366 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1367 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1368 half a dozen other projects.
1373 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1374 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1375 latest GNU coding standards.
1377 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1378 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1380 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1381 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1382 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1383 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1384 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1385 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1386 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1387 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1388 always installed as -me.
1390 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1396 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1397 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1403 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1409 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1414 The -m option enables manual feed.
1419 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1420 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1421 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1422 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1428 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1434 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1435 graphic to be specified.
1443 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1444 environment variable xxx.
1449 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1450 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1459 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1460 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1466 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1467 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1468 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1470 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1471 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1473 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1474 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1479 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1480 try to keep the table on one page.
1485 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1486 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1487 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1488 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1493 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1494 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1495 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1500 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1501 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1503 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1505 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1506 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1508 ^L is now a legal input character.
1513 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1514 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1515 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1516 default device is ps.)
1518 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1519 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1520 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1521 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1523 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1524 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1525 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1526 draw_lines parameter.
1528 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1529 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1530 always loaded by troff.
1532 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1537 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1539 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1540 while a character definition is being processed.
1542 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1545 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1546 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1548 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1549 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1550 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1551 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1552 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1554 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1555 with compatibility mode disabled.
1557 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1558 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1559 for loading the device-specific macros.
1564 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1565 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1566 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1567 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1569 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1570 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1571 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1573 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1574 (the quotes are required).
1579 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1580 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1581 be prevented by the -R option.
1583 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1584 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1586 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1589 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1590 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1596 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1597 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1598 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1600 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1603 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1604 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1605 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1610 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1611 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1616 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1622 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1623 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1624 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1625 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1626 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1627 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1628 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1629 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1630 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1631 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1632 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1634 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1636 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1637 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1640 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1645 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1646 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1647 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1649 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1650 redisplays the current page.
1658 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1659 differently with blocks.
1661 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1662 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1664 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1666 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1672 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1673 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1674 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1679 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1680 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1681 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1682 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1683 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1685 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1686 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1691 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1693 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1694 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1699 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1704 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1705 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1706 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1712 Support for scalable fonts.
1717 No changes other than bug fixes.
1722 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1723 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1724 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1725 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1727 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1729 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1730 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1731 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1732 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1733 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1734 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1736 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1739 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1740 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1742 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1747 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1748 input level as the opening [.
1750 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1751 suitable for use as a name.
1753 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1756 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1757 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1758 the -mX option is given.
1760 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1765 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1766 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1771 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1776 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1777 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1778 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1779 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1781 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1782 Document Structuring Convention.
1784 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1785 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1786 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1787 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1788 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1791 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1792 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1797 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1798 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1801 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1802 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1805 Xditview now uses imake.
1810 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1812 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1813 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1814 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1815 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1816 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1817 that the `n' condition will be true.
1819 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1820 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1821 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1823 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1824 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1825 latest version of the tpic specials.
1830 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1831 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1832 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1837 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1838 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1840 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1841 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1842 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
1847 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
1852 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
1853 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
1855 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
1856 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
1857 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
1863 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
1865 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
1871 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
1872 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
1873 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
1874 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
1875 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
1877 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
1879 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
1882 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
1883 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
1884 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
1885 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
1886 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
1887 amount of extra space to each word space.
1889 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
1891 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
1892 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
1893 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
1894 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
1895 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
1901 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
1903 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
1904 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
1910 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
1911 complicated equations inside pictures.
1913 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
1914 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
1920 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
1921 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
1927 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
1928 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
1929 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
1932 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
1933 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
1935 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
1936 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
1938 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
1939 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
1940 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
1941 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
1942 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
1943 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
1945 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
1946 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
1947 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
1948 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
1951 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
1952 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
1954 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
1955 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
1960 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
1961 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
1962 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
1964 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
1965 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
1966 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
1967 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
1968 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
1969 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
1970 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
1971 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
1972 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
1978 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
1979 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
1981 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
1984 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
1985 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
1986 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
1987 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
1988 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
1989 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
1990 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
1992 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
1993 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
1994 when the diversion is reread.
1996 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
1999 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2000 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2001 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2002 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2003 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2004 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2005 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2007 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2010 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2013 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2015 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2016 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2018 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2020 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2021 of end of sentence recognition.
2023 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2024 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2026 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2027 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2029 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2031 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2032 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2033 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2038 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2039 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2041 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2042 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2045 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2046 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2048 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2050 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2051 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2053 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2054 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2057 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2058 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2060 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2061 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2062 of the `textht' variable.
2064 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2065 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2070 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2071 has been applied to a table.
2076 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2078 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2079 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2084 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2085 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2086 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2087 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2088 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2089 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2090 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2092 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2093 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2094 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'