1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Fabrice Ménard contributed locales support. In particular, it is now
11 possible to get French localization of the main macro packages (-ms, -mm,
12 -me, and -mom, but not -man and -mdoc which are localized differently) by
13 appending `-mfr' to the list of macro packages. Example:
15 groff -ms -mfr foo > foo.ps
17 Note that latin-9 input encoding is used for French (to support the `oe'
20 o Swedish macro localization (with `-msv') has been added.
22 o German macro localization (with `-mde' and `-mden' for traditional and
23 new orthography, respectively) has been added.
25 o Two new requests `device' and `devicem' have been added which are
26 equivalents to the \X and \Y escapes, respectively.
28 o A new read-only number register `.br' is available which is set to 1
29 if a macro is called as .foo and to 0 if called as 'foo. This allows to
30 reliably modify requests.
35 . ie \\n[.br] .bp@orig
40 o A new request `fzoom' has been added to adjust the optical size of a
41 font in relation to the others. The zoom factor is given in integer
42 multiples of 1/1000th. In the following example, the CR font is
43 magnified by 10% (the zoom factor is 1.1).
48 Palatino and \f[CR]Courier\f[]
50 The new number register `.zoom' holds the zoom value of the current font,
51 in multiples of 1/1000th.
53 o The `cflags' request has been extended with a new flag value 64, to be
54 used in combination with values 2 (break before character) and 4 (break
55 after character). If set, the hyphenation codes of the surrounding
56 characters are ignored.
58 o A new debugging request, `pev', has been added to print all of the current
59 known environments to stderr. It first prints the state of the current
60 environment, then iterates through all of the known environments, printing
61 each except the one that is current.
63 o A new escape `\$^' has been added. It represents the parameters of a
64 macro as if they were an argument to the `ds' request. This is used by
67 o The PS font definition files have been regenerated with newer AFM versions
68 from Adobe's 35 core fonts as present in most Level 2 PS printers. The
69 changes are minor (most notably, the addition of the `Euro' glyph and an
70 extended set of kerning values).
72 For backwards compatibility, the old set of font definition files is still
73 available; for details please read the man page of `grops(1)'.
78 o int(x) now really behaves as documented: It truncates the non-integer part
79 of x, this is, it rounds towards zero and not towards the next integer
80 less than or equal to x.
82 o Pic now supports up to 32 macro arguments (and up to 16 on EBCDIC
88 o Eric S. Raymond has added a new device type to eqn, MathML. When
89 -TMathML is enabled, eqn now emits MathML formula markup rather than
95 o The preprocessor `chem' was added. `chem' is a roff language to generate
96 chemical structure diagrams. It generates `pic' output.
101 o \D'p...' is now supported if the polygon consists entirely of horizontal
107 o `groffer' version 1.* exists now in a shell and a Perl version.
112 o New option `-c' to output more font information as comments.
117 o A new macro `Dx' has been added to the mdoc package which identifies the
120 o -mtrace has been considerably improved, now showing number and string
121 register assignments, among other things.
123 o The PSPIC macro now works with all devices (producing a hollow
124 rectangle on devices which don't support inclusion of PS images) and
125 is loaded in troffrc at start-up.
127 o A new auxiliary macro package `62bit' has been added which provides some
128 macros for adding, multiplying, and dividing signed 62bit integers (mainly
129 to handle normal groff number operations without risking overflow errors).
131 o For -ms, Eric S. Raymond contributed support for ancient Bell Labs
132 localisms `.SC', `.UC', `.P1', and `.P2'. The latter three are enabled
133 only after .SC is called.
142 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
143 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
144 set the glyph and background colours.
146 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
149 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
150 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
153 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
159 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
160 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
165 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
167 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
168 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
169 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
172 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
174 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
175 ldots (three dots on the base line)
176 dollar (a dollar glyph)
178 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
179 hasn't been documented previously:
188 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
193 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
196 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
198 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
204 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
209 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
210 installed automatically.
215 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
216 hasn't been installed previously.
221 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
226 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
227 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
228 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
233 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
234 documents with groff.
241 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
242 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
243 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
246 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
247 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
248 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
249 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
250 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
252 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
255 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
256 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
259 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
260 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
263 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which keeps the
264 same point size as body text.
267 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
268 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
269 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1'
270 produces 14pt headings, `.NH 2' produces 12pt, and all other
271 levels remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
273 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
274 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
277 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
282 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
283 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
287 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
289 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
290 <head>...</head> block.
292 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
294 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
299 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
300 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
305 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
306 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
307 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
308 troff always use unscaled character widths.
317 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
318 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
319 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
320 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
322 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands are both printed
323 on standard error and run.
328 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
329 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
331 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
332 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
334 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
337 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
339 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
341 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
342 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
343 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
345 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
346 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
347 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
349 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
350 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
351 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
353 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
354 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
356 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
357 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
362 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
367 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
368 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
373 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
374 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
375 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
376 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
377 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
382 o New option `-j' to emit output split into multiple files.
387 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
388 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
389 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
391 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
396 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
399 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
400 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
401 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
402 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
403 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
408 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
413 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
414 hpftodit manual page for more details.
419 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
420 the old single script style.
422 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
423 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
424 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
426 New documentation file: README_SH.
428 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
433 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
435 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
445 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
446 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
448 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
450 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
451 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
452 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
454 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
455 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
457 http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/opentype/index_glyph.html
459 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
460 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
461 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
463 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
468 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
470 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
471 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
472 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
473 glyphs. The new request
477 changes the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
478 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
482 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
483 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
485 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
488 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
489 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
490 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
492 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
493 new `rfschar' request.
495 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
496 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
497 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
499 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
500 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
501 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
502 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
504 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
505 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
506 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
508 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
515 \D'Fd' (default color)
517 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
518 position is *not* changed.
520 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
521 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
523 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
524 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
526 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
528 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
529 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
530 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
531 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
532 same glyph shape as with other devices.
537 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
538 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
540 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
541 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
542 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
544 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
545 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
546 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
547 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
548 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
549 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
551 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
553 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
554 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
560 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
561 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
563 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
564 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
567 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
569 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
570 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
572 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
573 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
574 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
579 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
582 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
583 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
588 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
589 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
594 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
600 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
601 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
606 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
608 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
609 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
614 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
615 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
617 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
619 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
620 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
621 afmtodit for more details.
626 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
629 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
630 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
631 sub-subheading indentation.
633 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
636 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
637 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
639 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
642 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
643 explicitly specified on the command line.
645 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
646 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
648 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
649 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
650 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
651 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
653 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
654 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
655 the driver specific DESC file.
657 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
660 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
669 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
670 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
671 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
672 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
673 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
674 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
676 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
677 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
678 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
681 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
686 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
692 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
693 drivers) to set the default line width.
698 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
703 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
708 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
709 compatibility with NetBSD.
711 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
714 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
715 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
718 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
723 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
724 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
725 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
729 papersize /etc/papersize a4
731 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
732 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
733 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
736 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
738 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
744 ***************************************************************************
746 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
748 ***************************************************************************
753 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
754 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
755 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
756 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
757 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
758 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
759 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
760 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
763 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
764 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
767 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
768 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
771 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
772 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
773 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
775 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
776 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
777 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
780 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
783 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
784 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
786 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
787 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
789 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
790 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
792 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
793 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
795 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
796 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
798 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
800 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
803 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
806 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
807 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
813 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
814 . nop I will now define `bar'.
816 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
820 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
821 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
823 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
824 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
825 control their output format.
827 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
828 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
829 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
830 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
831 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
832 before checking special fonts.
834 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
835 doesn't emit a final newline.
837 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
838 with \c counts as one input line.
840 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
841 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
844 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
845 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
846 Note that this is an incompatible change.
848 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
849 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
851 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
852 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
853 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
854 for more information.
856 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
859 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
860 already existing patterns).
862 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
863 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
864 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
865 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
867 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
868 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
869 final `0' can be omitted.
871 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
872 the exception that the `asciify' request uses the character code (if
873 any) before the character translation. Example:
885 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
887 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
888 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
889 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
890 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
891 post-vertical line space.
893 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
903 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
904 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
906 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
907 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
908 single space characters.
910 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
913 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
914 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
915 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
916 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
917 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
922 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
923 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
924 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
925 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
926 for PostScript output only.
928 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
929 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
931 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
932 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
933 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
934 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
935 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
937 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
938 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
939 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
941 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
944 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
945 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
948 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
949 works in compatibility mode.
951 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
952 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
954 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
957 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
958 reference to the ms macros.
960 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
962 o Changes in www.tmac:
964 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
965 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
966 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
969 The following macros have been renamed:
975 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
976 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
978 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
979 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
981 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
982 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
984 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
985 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
987 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
988 generation to headings.
990 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
993 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it automatically
994 converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
996 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
997 (it automatically converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
999 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
1001 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
1003 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
1005 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
1006 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
1011 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
1012 disabled in compatibility mode).
1017 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
1018 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
1019 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
1024 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
1025 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
1026 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
1028 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
1030 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
1032 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
1037 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1038 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1039 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1044 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1045 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1046 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1051 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
1052 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
1058 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
1063 o Color support has been added.
1065 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
1066 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
1071 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
1072 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
1073 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
1076 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
1077 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
1079 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
1080 extended) has been added.
1082 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
1084 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
1085 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
1086 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
1088 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
1089 doesn't take care of hcode values.
1091 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
1092 to gray values currently.
1097 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
1098 ANSI color) escape sequences.
1100 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
1101 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
1102 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
1104 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
1105 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
1106 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
1107 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
1108 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
1110 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
1111 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable (or $MANPAGER, depending on the
1112 used `man' program); alternatively, you can use `man's `-P' option (or
1113 adapt its configuration file accordingly). See man(1) for more details.
1115 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
1116 reverting to the old behaviour.
1118 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
1119 enable SGR output (the default).
1121 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
1122 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
1123 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
1124 for this (including xterm).
1129 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1131 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1133 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1135 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1136 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1139 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1144 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1145 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1146 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1151 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1153 o The groff texinfo manual is installed now, together with a bunch
1156 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1159 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1161 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1162 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1164 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1166 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1167 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1168 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1173 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1178 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1179 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1180 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1185 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1190 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1191 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1194 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1196 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1197 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1199 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1205 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1207 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1213 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1215 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1216 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1224 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1225 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1226 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1227 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1228 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1230 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1231 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1232 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1233 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1234 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1235 environment variables to groff.
1240 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1241 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1242 supported). Most important changes are:
1245 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1246 . `.Lb': prints library names
1247 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1249 . Updated `.St' command
1250 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1251 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1252 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1253 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1254 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1255 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1256 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1257 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1260 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1261 documents the mdoc package.
1263 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1264 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1266 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1267 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1268 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1271 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1273 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1274 `if 1'. For example,
1280 can now be written as
1286 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1287 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1288 ending the diversion).
1290 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1291 and some other escape sequences also.
1293 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1294 unbreakable space character.
1296 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1297 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1298 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1303 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1308 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1313 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1320 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1321 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1322 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1323 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1326 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1327 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1329 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1330 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1331 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1332 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1335 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1336 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1337 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1352 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1356 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1357 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1359 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1360 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1361 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1363 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1364 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1365 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1366 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1368 o The new `spreadwarn' request makes troff warn if spaces in an output
1369 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1371 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff uses for
1374 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1375 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1376 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1377 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1379 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1380 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1382 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1383 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1386 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1387 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1389 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1391 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1392 previous font family.
1394 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1395 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1397 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1398 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1399 macro or string is written to a stream.
1401 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1402 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1405 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1407 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1408 underlines spaces also).
1413 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1414 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1419 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1420 been added to select a different prologue file.
1422 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1423 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1424 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1429 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1431 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1432 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1433 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1436 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1437 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1438 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1439 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1440 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1441 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1443 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1444 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1447 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1448 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1449 variable if you really need the current directory.
1451 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1452 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1453 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1454 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1455 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1456 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1458 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1459 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1460 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1465 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1473 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1474 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1475 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1477 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1479 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1481 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1482 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1483 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1489 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1490 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1491 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1493 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1494 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1495 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1496 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1497 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1498 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1500 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1501 contains the current year.
1503 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1504 number of the groff package.
1506 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1507 font `foo' is undefined:
1510 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1512 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1514 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1516 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1517 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1519 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1522 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1523 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1525 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1526 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1527 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1529 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1531 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1532 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1535 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1536 (which is an alias to character `"').
1538 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1539 (which is an alias to character "'").
1541 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1542 better support of HTML output:
1544 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1547 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1549 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1550 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1551 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1552 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1554 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1557 use_charnames_in_special
1558 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1559 inside special commands.
1562 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1563 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1568 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1573 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1575 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1577 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1578 is immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1579 punctuation, for example).
1584 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1586 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1592 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1593 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1594 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1599 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1600 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1601 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1602 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1607 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1608 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1613 Simplified installation: The Imakefile is now configured (by groff's
1619 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1620 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1621 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1626 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1627 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1628 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1630 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1631 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1633 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1634 ========================
1636 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1641 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1642 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1643 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1646 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1647 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1649 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1650 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1653 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1654 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1656 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1657 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1659 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1662 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1663 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1665 Following the GNU standards, groff now uses the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1666 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1668 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1669 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1675 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1676 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1677 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1678 reports are highly welcome.
1683 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1689 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1690 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1695 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1696 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1698 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1703 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1708 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1709 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1710 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1711 half a dozen other projects.
1716 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1717 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1718 latest GNU coding standards.
1720 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1721 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1723 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1724 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1725 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1726 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1727 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1728 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1729 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1730 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1731 always installed as -me.
1733 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1739 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1740 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1746 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1752 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1757 The -m option enables manual feed.
1762 \(rn now produces a character that has the traditional metrics,
1763 and form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it does not
1764 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1765 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1771 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1777 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1778 graphic to be specified.
1786 The escape sequence \V[xxx] interpolates the value of the
1787 environment variable xxx.
1792 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1793 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1802 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1803 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1809 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1810 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1811 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1813 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1814 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1816 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1817 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1822 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1823 try to keep the table on one page.
1828 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1829 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1830 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1831 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1836 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1837 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1838 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1843 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1844 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1846 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1848 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1849 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1851 ^L is now a valid input character.
1856 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1857 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1858 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1859 default device is ps.)
1861 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1862 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1863 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1864 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1866 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1867 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1868 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1869 draw_lines parameter.
1871 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1872 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1873 always loaded by troff.
1875 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1880 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1882 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1883 while a character definition is being processed.
1885 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1888 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1889 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1891 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file causes no font to be
1892 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1893 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1894 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1895 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1897 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1898 with compatibility mode disabled.
1900 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1901 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1902 for loading the device-specific macros.
1907 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1908 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1909 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1910 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1912 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1913 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1914 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1916 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1917 (the quotes are required).
1922 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1923 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1924 be prevented by the -R option.
1926 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1927 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1929 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1932 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1933 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1939 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1940 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1941 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1943 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1946 With the -g option, grops generates PostScript code that guesses
1947 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1948 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1953 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1954 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1959 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1965 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1966 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1967 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1968 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1969 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1970 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1971 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1972 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1973 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1974 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register
1975 is derived from the $r or $R register.
1977 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1979 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1980 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ is only usable
1983 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1988 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1989 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1990 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1992 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1993 redisplays the current page.
2001 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
2002 differently with blocks.
2004 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
2005 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
2007 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
2009 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
2015 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' are rendered
2016 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
2017 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
2022 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
2023 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
2024 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
2025 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
2026 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
2028 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro produces a box
2029 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
2034 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
2036 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
2037 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
2042 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
2047 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
2048 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
2049 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
2055 Support for scalable fonts.
2060 No changes other than bug fixes.
2065 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
2066 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
2067 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
2068 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
2070 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
2072 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
2073 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
2074 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
2075 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi uses the
2076 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
2077 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
2079 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
2082 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
2083 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
2085 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
2090 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
2091 input level as the opening [.
2093 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
2094 suitable for use as a name.
2096 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
2099 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
2100 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
2101 the -mX option is given.
2103 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
2108 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
2109 constructs by writing a troff macro.
2114 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
2119 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
2120 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
2121 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
2122 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
2124 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
2125 Document Structuring Convention.
2127 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
2128 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
2129 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
2130 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2131 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2134 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2135 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2140 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2141 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps runs gtroff -Tps with
2144 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2145 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2148 Xditview now uses imake.
2153 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2155 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2156 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2157 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2158 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2159 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2160 that the `n' condition is true.
2162 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2163 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2164 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2166 groff -Tdvi -p now passes pic the -x flag; this enables filling
2167 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2168 latest version of the tpic specials.
2173 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2174 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2175 delimiters. The groff command passes on a `-N' option to eqn.
2180 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2181 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2183 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2184 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2185 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2190 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2195 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2196 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2198 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2199 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2200 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2206 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2208 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2214 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2215 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2216 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2217 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2218 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2220 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2222 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2225 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2226 adjustment mode is not `b' a line is not hyphenated if it is no
2227 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2228 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line is not
2229 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2230 amount of extra space to each word space.
2232 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2234 A warning of type `space' is given when a call is made to an
2235 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2236 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2237 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2238 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2244 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2246 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2247 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2253 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2254 complicated equations inside pictures.
2256 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2257 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2263 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2264 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2270 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2271 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2272 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2275 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2276 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2278 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2279 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2281 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2282 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2283 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2284 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2285 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2286 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2288 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2289 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2290 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2291 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2294 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer valid input
2295 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2297 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2298 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2303 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2304 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2305 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2307 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2308 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2309 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2310 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2311 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2312 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2313 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2314 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2315 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2321 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2322 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2324 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2327 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2328 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2329 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2330 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2331 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2332 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2333 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2335 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2336 diversion, it now arranges for the file to be copied to the output
2337 when the diversion is reread.
2339 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2342 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2343 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2344 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2345 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2346 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2347 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2348 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2350 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2353 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2356 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2358 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2359 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2361 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2363 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2364 of end of sentence recognition.
2366 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2367 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2369 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2370 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2372 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2374 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2375 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2376 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2381 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2382 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2384 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2385 lines are drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2388 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2389 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2391 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2393 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2394 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2396 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2397 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2400 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2401 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2403 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2404 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2405 of the `textht' variable.
2407 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2408 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2413 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2414 has been applied to a table.
2419 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2421 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2422 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2427 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2428 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2429 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2430 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2431 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2432 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2433 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2435 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2436 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2437 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
2441 version-control: never