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 An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
24 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
26 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
28 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
29 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
30 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
32 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
33 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
34 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
36 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
37 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
38 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
40 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
41 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
43 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
44 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
49 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
54 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
55 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
60 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
61 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
62 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
67 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
73 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
74 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
75 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
77 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
83 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
85 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
95 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
96 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
98 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
100 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
101 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
102 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
104 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
105 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
107 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
109 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
110 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
111 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
113 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
118 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
120 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
121 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
122 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
123 glyphs. The new request
127 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
128 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
132 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
133 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
135 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
138 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
139 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
140 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
142 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
143 new `rfschar' request.
145 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
146 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
147 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
149 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
150 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
151 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
152 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
154 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
155 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
156 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
158 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
165 \D'Fd' (default color)
167 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
168 position is *not* changed.
170 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
171 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
173 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
174 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
176 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
178 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
179 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
180 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
181 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
182 same glyph shape as with other devices.
187 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
188 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
190 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
191 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
192 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
194 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
195 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
196 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
197 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
198 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
199 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
201 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
203 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
204 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
210 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
211 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
213 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
214 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
217 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
219 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
220 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
222 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
223 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
224 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
229 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
232 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
233 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
238 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
239 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
244 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
250 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
251 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
256 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
258 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
259 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
264 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
265 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
267 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
269 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
270 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
271 afmtodit for more details.
276 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
279 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
280 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
281 sub-subheading indentation.
283 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
286 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
287 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
289 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
292 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
293 explicitly specified on the command line.
295 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
296 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
298 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
299 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
300 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
301 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
303 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
304 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
305 the driver specific DESC file.
307 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
310 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
319 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
320 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
321 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
322 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
323 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
324 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
326 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
327 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
328 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
331 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
336 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
342 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
343 drivers) to set the default line width.
348 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
353 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
358 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
359 compatibility with NetBSD.
361 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
364 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
365 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
368 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
373 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
374 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
375 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
379 papersize /etc/papersize a4
381 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
382 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
383 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
386 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
388 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
394 ***************************************************************************
396 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
398 ***************************************************************************
403 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
404 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
405 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
406 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
407 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
408 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
409 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
410 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
413 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
414 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
417 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
418 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
421 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
422 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
423 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
425 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
426 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
427 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
430 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
433 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
434 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
436 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
437 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
439 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
440 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
442 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
443 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
445 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
446 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
448 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
450 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
453 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
456 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
457 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
463 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
464 . nop I will now define `bar'.
466 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
470 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
471 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
473 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
474 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
475 control their output format.
477 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
478 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
479 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
480 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
481 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
482 before checking special fonts.
484 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
485 doesn't emit a final newline.
487 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
488 with \c counts as one input line.
490 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
491 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
494 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
495 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
496 Note that this is an incompatible change.
498 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
499 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
501 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
502 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
503 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
504 for more information.
506 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
509 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
510 already existing patterns).
512 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
513 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
514 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
515 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
517 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
518 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
519 final `0' can be omitted.
521 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
522 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
523 any) before the character translation. Example:
535 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
537 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
538 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
539 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
540 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
541 post-vertical line space.
543 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
553 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
554 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
556 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
557 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
558 single space characters.
560 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
563 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
564 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
565 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
566 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
567 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
572 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
573 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
574 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
575 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
576 for PostScript output only.
578 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
579 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
581 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
582 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
583 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
584 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
585 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
587 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
588 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
589 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
591 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
594 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
595 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
598 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
599 works in compatibility mode.
601 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
602 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
604 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
607 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
608 reference to the ms macros.
610 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
612 o Changes in www.tmac:
614 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
615 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
616 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
619 The following macros have been renamed:
625 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
626 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
628 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
629 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
631 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
632 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
634 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
635 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
637 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
638 generation to headings.
640 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
643 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
644 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
646 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
647 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
650 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
652 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
654 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
656 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
657 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
662 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
663 disabled in compatibility mode).
668 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
669 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
670 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
675 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
676 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
677 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
679 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
681 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
683 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
688 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
689 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
690 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
695 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
696 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
697 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
702 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
703 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
709 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
714 o Color support has been added.
716 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
717 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
722 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
723 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
724 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
727 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
728 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
730 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
731 extended) has been added.
733 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
735 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
736 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
737 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
739 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
740 doesn't take care of hcode values.
742 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
743 to gray values currently.
748 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
749 ANSI color) escape sequences.
751 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
752 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
753 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
755 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
756 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
757 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
758 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
759 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
761 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
762 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
763 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
764 man(1) for more details.
766 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
767 reverting to the old behaviour.
769 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
770 enable SGR output (the default).
772 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
773 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
774 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
775 for this (including xterm).
780 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
782 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
784 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
786 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
787 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
790 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
795 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
796 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
797 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
802 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
804 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
807 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
810 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
812 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
813 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
815 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
817 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
818 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
819 currently. troff completely ignores it.
824 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
829 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
830 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
831 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
836 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
841 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
842 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
845 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
847 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
848 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
850 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
856 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
858 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
864 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
866 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
867 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
875 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
876 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
877 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
878 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
879 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
881 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
882 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
883 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
884 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
885 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
886 environment variables to groff.
891 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
892 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
893 supported). Most important changes are:
896 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
897 . `.Lb': prints library names
898 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
900 . Updated `.St' command
901 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
902 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
903 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
904 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
905 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
906 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
907 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
908 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
911 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
912 documents the mdoc package.
914 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
915 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
917 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
918 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
919 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
922 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
924 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
931 can now be written as
937 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
938 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
939 ending the diversion).
941 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
942 and some other escape sequences also.
944 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
945 unbreakable space character.
947 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
948 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
949 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
954 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
959 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
964 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
971 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
972 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
973 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
974 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
977 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
978 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
980 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
981 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
982 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
983 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
986 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
987 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
988 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1003 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1007 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1008 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1010 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1011 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1012 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1014 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1015 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1016 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1017 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1019 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1020 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1022 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1025 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1026 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1027 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1028 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1030 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1031 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1033 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1034 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1037 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1038 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1040 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1042 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1043 previous font family.
1045 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1046 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1048 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1049 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1050 macro or string is written to a stream.
1052 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1053 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1056 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1058 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1059 underlines spaces also).
1064 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1065 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1070 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1071 been added to select a different prologue file.
1073 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1074 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1075 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1080 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1082 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1083 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1084 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1087 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1088 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1089 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1090 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1091 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1092 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1094 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1095 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1098 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1099 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1100 variable if you really need the current directory.
1102 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1103 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1104 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1105 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1106 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1107 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1109 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1110 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1111 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1116 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1124 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1125 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1126 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1128 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1130 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1132 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1133 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1134 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1140 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1141 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1142 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1144 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1145 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1146 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1147 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1148 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1149 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1151 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1152 contains the current year.
1154 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1155 number of the groff package.
1157 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1158 font `foo' is undefined:
1161 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1163 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1165 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1167 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1168 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1170 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1173 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1174 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1176 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1177 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1178 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1180 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1182 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1183 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1186 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1187 (which is an alias to character `"').
1189 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1190 (which is an alias to character "'").
1192 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1193 better support of HTML output:
1195 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1198 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1200 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1201 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1202 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1203 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1205 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1208 use_charnames_in_special
1209 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1210 inside special commands.
1213 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1214 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1219 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1224 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1226 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1228 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1229 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1230 punctuation, for example).
1235 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1237 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1243 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1244 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1245 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1250 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1251 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1252 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1253 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1258 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1259 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1264 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1270 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1271 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1272 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1277 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1278 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1279 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1281 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1282 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1284 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1285 ========================
1287 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1292 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1293 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1294 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1297 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1298 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1300 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1301 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1304 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1305 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1307 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1308 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1310 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1313 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1314 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1316 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1317 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1319 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1320 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1326 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1327 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1328 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1329 reports are highly welcome.
1334 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1340 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1341 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1346 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1347 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1349 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1354 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1359 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1360 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1361 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1362 half a dozen other projects.
1367 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1368 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1369 latest GNU coding standards.
1371 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1372 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1374 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1375 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1376 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1377 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1378 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1379 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1380 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1381 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1382 always installed as -me.
1384 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1390 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1391 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1397 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1403 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1408 The -m option enables manual feed.
1413 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1414 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1415 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1416 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1422 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1428 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1429 graphic to be specified.
1437 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1438 environment variable xxx.
1443 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1444 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1453 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1454 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1460 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1461 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1462 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1464 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1465 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1467 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1468 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1473 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1474 try to keep the table on one page.
1479 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1480 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1481 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1482 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1487 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1488 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1489 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1494 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1495 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1497 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1499 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1500 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1502 ^L is now a legal input character.
1507 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1508 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1509 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1510 default device is ps.)
1512 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1513 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1514 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1515 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1517 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1518 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1519 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1520 draw_lines parameter.
1522 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1523 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1524 always loaded by troff.
1526 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1531 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1533 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1534 while a character definition is being processed.
1536 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1539 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1540 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1542 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1543 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1544 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1545 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1546 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1548 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1549 with compatibility mode disabled.
1551 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1552 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1553 for loading the device-specific macros.
1558 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1559 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1560 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1561 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1563 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1564 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1565 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1567 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1568 (the quotes are required).
1573 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1574 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1575 be prevented by the -R option.
1577 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1578 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1580 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1583 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1584 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1590 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1591 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1592 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1594 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1597 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1598 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1599 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1604 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1605 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1610 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1616 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1617 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1618 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1619 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1620 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1621 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1622 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1623 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1624 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1625 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1626 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1628 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1630 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1631 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1634 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1639 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1640 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1641 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1643 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1644 redisplays the current page.
1652 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1653 differently with blocks.
1655 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1656 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1658 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1660 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1666 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1667 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1668 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1673 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1674 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1675 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1676 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1677 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1679 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1680 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1685 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1687 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1688 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1693 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1698 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1699 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1700 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1706 Support for scalable fonts.
1711 No changes other than bug fixes.
1716 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1717 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1718 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1719 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1721 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1723 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1724 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1725 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1726 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1727 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1728 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1730 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1733 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1734 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1736 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1741 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1742 input level as the opening [.
1744 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1745 suitable for use as a name.
1747 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1750 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1751 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1752 the -mX option is given.
1754 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1759 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1760 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1765 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1770 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1771 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1772 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1773 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1775 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1776 Document Structuring Convention.
1778 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1779 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1780 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1781 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1782 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1785 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1786 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1791 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1792 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1795 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1796 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1799 Xditview now uses imake.
1804 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1806 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1807 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1808 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1809 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1810 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1811 that the `n' condition will be true.
1813 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1814 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1815 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1817 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1818 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1819 latest version of the tpic specials.
1824 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1825 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1826 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1831 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1832 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1834 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1835 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1836 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
1841 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
1846 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
1847 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
1849 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
1850 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
1851 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
1857 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
1859 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
1865 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
1866 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
1867 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
1868 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
1869 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
1871 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
1873 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
1876 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
1877 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
1878 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
1879 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
1880 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
1881 amount of extra space to each word space.
1883 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
1885 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
1886 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
1887 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
1888 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
1889 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
1895 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
1897 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
1898 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
1904 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
1905 complicated equations inside pictures.
1907 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
1908 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
1914 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
1915 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
1921 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
1922 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
1923 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
1926 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
1927 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
1929 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
1930 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
1932 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
1933 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
1934 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
1935 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
1936 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
1937 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
1939 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
1940 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
1941 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
1942 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
1945 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
1946 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
1948 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
1949 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
1954 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
1955 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
1956 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
1958 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
1959 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
1960 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
1961 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
1962 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
1963 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
1964 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
1965 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
1966 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
1972 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
1973 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
1975 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
1978 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
1979 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
1980 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
1981 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
1982 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
1983 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
1984 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
1986 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
1987 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
1988 when the diversion is reread.
1990 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
1993 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
1994 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
1995 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
1996 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
1997 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
1998 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
1999 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2001 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2004 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2007 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2009 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2010 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2012 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2014 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2015 of end of sentence recognition.
2017 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2018 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2020 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2021 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2023 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2025 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2026 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2027 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2032 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2033 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2035 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2036 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2039 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2040 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2042 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2044 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2045 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2047 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2048 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2051 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2052 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2054 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2055 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2056 of the `textht' variable.
2058 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2059 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2064 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2065 has been applied to a table.
2070 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2072 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2073 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2078 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2079 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2080 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2081 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2082 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2083 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2084 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2086 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2087 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2088 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'