1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
11 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
12 set the glyph and background colours.
14 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
17 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
18 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
24 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
25 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
30 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
33 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
35 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
41 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
42 installed automatically.
47 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
48 hasn't been installed previously.
53 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
58 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
59 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
60 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
67 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
68 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
69 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
72 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
73 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
74 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
75 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
76 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
78 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
81 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
82 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
85 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
86 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
89 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which will keep the
90 same point size as body text.
93 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
94 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
95 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1' will
96 produce 14pt headings, `.NH 2' will produce 12pt, and all other levels
97 will remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
99 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
100 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
103 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
108 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
109 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
113 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
115 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
116 <head>...</head> block.
121 o A new macro package (together with a build script) contributed by Keith
122 Marshall which implements PDF marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
127 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
128 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
129 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
130 troff always use unscaled character widths.
139 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
140 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
141 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
142 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
144 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
145 on standard error and run.
150 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
151 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
153 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
154 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
156 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
159 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
161 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
163 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
164 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
165 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
167 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
168 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
169 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
171 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
172 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
173 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
175 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
176 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
178 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
179 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
184 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
189 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
190 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
195 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
196 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
197 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
198 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
199 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
204 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
209 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
210 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
211 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
213 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
218 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
221 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
222 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
223 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
224 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
225 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
230 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
235 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
236 hpftodit manual page for more details.
241 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
242 the old single script style.
244 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
245 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
246 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
248 New documentation file: README_SH.
250 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
255 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
257 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
267 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
268 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
270 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
272 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
273 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
274 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
276 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
277 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
279 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
281 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
282 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
283 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
285 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
290 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
292 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
293 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
294 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
295 glyphs. The new request
299 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
300 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
304 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
305 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
307 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
310 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
311 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
312 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
314 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
315 new `rfschar' request.
317 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
318 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
319 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
321 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
322 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
323 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
324 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
326 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
327 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
328 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
330 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
337 \D'Fd' (default color)
339 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
340 position is *not* changed.
342 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
343 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
345 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
346 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
348 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
350 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
351 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
352 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
353 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
354 same glyph shape as with other devices.
359 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
360 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
362 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
363 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
364 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
366 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
367 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
368 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
369 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
370 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
371 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
373 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
375 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
376 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
382 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
383 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
385 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
386 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
389 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
391 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
392 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
394 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
395 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
396 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
401 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
404 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
405 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
410 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
411 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
416 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
422 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
423 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
428 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
430 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
431 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
436 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
437 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
439 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
441 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
442 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
443 afmtodit for more details.
448 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
451 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
452 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
453 sub-subheading indentation.
455 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
458 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
459 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
461 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
464 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
465 explicitly specified on the command line.
467 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
468 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
470 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
471 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
472 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
473 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
475 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
476 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
477 the driver specific DESC file.
479 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
482 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
491 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
492 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
493 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
494 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
495 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
496 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
498 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
499 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
500 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
503 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
508 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
514 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
515 drivers) to set the default line width.
520 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
525 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
530 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
531 compatibility with NetBSD.
533 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
536 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
537 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
540 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
545 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
546 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
547 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
551 papersize /etc/papersize a4
553 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
554 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
555 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
558 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
560 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
566 ***************************************************************************
568 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
570 ***************************************************************************
575 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
576 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
577 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
578 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
579 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
580 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
581 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
582 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
585 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
586 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
589 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
590 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
593 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
594 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
595 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
597 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
598 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
599 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
602 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
605 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
606 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
608 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
609 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
611 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
612 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
614 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
615 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
617 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
618 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
620 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
622 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
625 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
628 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
629 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
635 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
636 . nop I will now define `bar'.
638 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
642 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
643 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
645 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
646 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
647 control their output format.
649 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
650 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
651 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
652 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
653 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
654 before checking special fonts.
656 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
657 doesn't emit a final newline.
659 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
660 with \c counts as one input line.
662 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
663 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
666 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
667 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
668 Note that this is an incompatible change.
670 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
671 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
673 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
674 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
675 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
676 for more information.
678 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
681 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
682 already existing patterns).
684 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
685 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
686 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
687 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
689 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
690 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
691 final `0' can be omitted.
693 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
694 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
695 any) before the character translation. Example:
707 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
709 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
710 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
711 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
712 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
713 post-vertical line space.
715 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
725 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
726 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
728 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
729 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
730 single space characters.
732 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
735 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
736 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
737 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
738 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
739 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
744 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
745 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
746 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
747 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
748 for PostScript output only.
750 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
751 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
753 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
754 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
755 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
756 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
757 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
759 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
760 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
761 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
763 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
766 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
767 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
770 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
771 works in compatibility mode.
773 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
774 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
776 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
779 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
780 reference to the ms macros.
782 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
784 o Changes in www.tmac:
786 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
787 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
788 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
791 The following macros have been renamed:
797 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
798 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
800 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
801 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
803 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
804 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
806 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
807 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
809 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
810 generation to headings.
812 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
815 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
816 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
818 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
819 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
822 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
824 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
826 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
828 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
829 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
834 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
835 disabled in compatibility mode).
840 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
841 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
842 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
847 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
848 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
849 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
851 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
853 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
855 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
860 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
861 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
862 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
867 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
868 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
869 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
874 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
875 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
881 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
886 o Color support has been added.
888 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
889 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
894 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
895 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
896 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
899 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
900 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
902 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
903 extended) has been added.
905 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
907 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
908 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
909 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
911 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
912 doesn't take care of hcode values.
914 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
915 to gray values currently.
920 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
921 ANSI color) escape sequences.
923 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
924 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
925 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
927 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
928 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
929 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
930 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
931 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
933 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
934 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
935 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
936 man(1) for more details.
938 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
939 reverting to the old behaviour.
941 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
942 enable SGR output (the default).
944 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
945 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
946 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
947 for this (including xterm).
952 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
954 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
956 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
958 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
959 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
962 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
967 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
968 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
969 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
974 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
976 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
979 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
982 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
984 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
985 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
987 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
989 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
990 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
991 currently. troff completely ignores it.
996 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1001 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1002 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1003 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1008 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1013 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1014 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1017 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1019 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1020 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1022 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1028 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1030 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1036 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1038 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1039 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1047 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1048 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1049 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1050 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1051 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1053 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1054 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1055 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1056 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1057 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1058 environment variables to groff.
1063 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1064 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1065 supported). Most important changes are:
1068 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1069 . `.Lb': prints library names
1070 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1072 . Updated `.St' command
1073 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1074 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1075 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1076 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1077 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1078 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1079 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1080 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1083 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1084 documents the mdoc package.
1086 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1087 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1089 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1090 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1091 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1094 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1096 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1097 `if 1'. For example,
1103 can now be written as
1109 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1110 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1111 ending the diversion).
1113 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1114 and some other escape sequences also.
1116 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1117 unbreakable space character.
1119 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1120 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1121 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1126 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1131 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1136 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1143 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1144 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1145 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1146 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1149 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1150 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1152 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1153 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1154 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1155 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1158 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1159 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1160 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1175 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1179 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1180 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1182 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1183 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1184 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1186 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1187 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1188 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1189 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1191 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1192 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1194 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1197 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1198 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1199 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1200 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1202 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1203 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1205 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1206 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1209 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1210 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1212 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1214 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1215 previous font family.
1217 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1218 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1220 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1221 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1222 macro or string is written to a stream.
1224 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1225 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1228 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1230 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1231 underlines spaces also).
1236 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1237 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1242 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1243 been added to select a different prologue file.
1245 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1246 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1247 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1252 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1254 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1255 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1256 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1259 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1260 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1261 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1262 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1263 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1264 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1266 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1267 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1270 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1271 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1272 variable if you really need the current directory.
1274 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1275 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1276 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1277 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1278 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1279 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1281 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1282 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1283 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1288 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1296 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1297 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1298 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1300 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1302 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1304 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1305 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1306 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1312 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1313 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1314 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1316 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1317 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1318 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1319 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1320 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1321 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1323 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1324 contains the current year.
1326 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1327 number of the groff package.
1329 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1330 font `foo' is undefined:
1333 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1335 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1337 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1339 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1340 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1342 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1345 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1346 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1348 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1349 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1350 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1352 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1354 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1355 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1358 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1359 (which is an alias to character `"').
1361 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1362 (which is an alias to character "'").
1364 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1365 better support of HTML output:
1367 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1370 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1372 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1373 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1374 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1375 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1377 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1380 use_charnames_in_special
1381 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1382 inside special commands.
1385 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1386 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1391 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1396 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1398 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1400 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1401 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1402 punctuation, for example).
1407 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1409 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1415 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1416 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1417 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1422 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1423 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1424 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1425 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1430 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1431 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1436 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1442 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1443 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1444 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1449 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1450 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1451 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1453 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1454 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1456 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1457 ========================
1459 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1464 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1465 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1466 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1469 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1470 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1472 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1473 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1476 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1477 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1479 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1480 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1482 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1485 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1486 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1488 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1489 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1491 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1492 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1498 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1499 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1500 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1501 reports are highly welcome.
1506 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1512 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1513 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1518 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1519 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1521 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1526 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1531 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1532 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1533 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1534 half a dozen other projects.
1539 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1540 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1541 latest GNU coding standards.
1543 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1544 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1546 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1547 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1548 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1549 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1550 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1551 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1552 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1553 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1554 always installed as -me.
1556 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1562 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1563 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1569 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1575 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1580 The -m option enables manual feed.
1585 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1586 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1587 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1588 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1594 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1600 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1601 graphic to be specified.
1609 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1610 environment variable xxx.
1615 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1616 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1625 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1626 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1632 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1633 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1634 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1636 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1637 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1639 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1640 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1645 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1646 try to keep the table on one page.
1651 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1652 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1653 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1654 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1659 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1660 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1661 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1666 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1667 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1669 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1671 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1672 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1674 ^L is now a legal input character.
1679 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1680 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1681 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1682 default device is ps.)
1684 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1685 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1686 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1687 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1689 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1690 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1691 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1692 draw_lines parameter.
1694 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1695 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1696 always loaded by troff.
1698 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1703 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1705 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1706 while a character definition is being processed.
1708 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1711 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1712 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1714 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1715 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1716 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1717 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1718 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1720 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1721 with compatibility mode disabled.
1723 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1724 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1725 for loading the device-specific macros.
1730 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1731 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1732 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1733 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1735 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1736 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1737 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1739 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1740 (the quotes are required).
1745 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1746 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1747 be prevented by the -R option.
1749 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1750 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1752 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1755 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1756 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1762 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1763 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1764 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1766 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1769 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1770 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1771 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1776 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1777 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1782 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1788 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1789 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1790 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1791 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1792 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1793 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1794 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1795 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1796 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1797 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1798 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1800 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1802 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1803 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1806 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1811 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1812 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1813 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1815 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1816 redisplays the current page.
1824 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1825 differently with blocks.
1827 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1828 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1830 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1832 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1838 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1839 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1840 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1845 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1846 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1847 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1848 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1849 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1851 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1852 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1857 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1859 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1860 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1865 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1870 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1871 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1872 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1878 Support for scalable fonts.
1883 No changes other than bug fixes.
1888 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1889 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1890 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1891 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1893 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1895 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1896 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1897 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1898 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1899 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1900 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1902 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1905 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1906 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1908 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1913 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1914 input level as the opening [.
1916 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1917 suitable for use as a name.
1919 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1922 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1923 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1924 the -mX option is given.
1926 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1931 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1932 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1937 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1942 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1943 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1944 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1945 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1947 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1948 Document Structuring Convention.
1950 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1951 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1952 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1953 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1954 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1957 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1958 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1963 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1964 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1967 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1968 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1971 Xditview now uses imake.
1976 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1978 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1979 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1980 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1981 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1982 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1983 that the `n' condition will be true.
1985 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1986 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1987 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1989 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1990 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1991 latest version of the tpic specials.
1996 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1997 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1998 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
2003 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2004 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2006 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2007 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2008 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2013 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2018 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2019 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2021 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2022 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2023 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2029 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2031 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2037 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2038 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2039 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2040 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2041 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2043 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2045 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2048 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2049 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
2050 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2051 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
2052 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2053 amount of extra space to each word space.
2055 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2057 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
2058 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2059 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2060 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2061 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2067 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2069 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2070 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2076 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2077 complicated equations inside pictures.
2079 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2080 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2086 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2087 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2093 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2094 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2095 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2098 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2099 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2101 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2102 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2104 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2105 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2106 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2107 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2108 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2109 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2111 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2112 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2113 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2114 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2117 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2118 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2120 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2121 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2126 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2127 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2128 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2130 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2131 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2132 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2133 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2134 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2135 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2136 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2137 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2138 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2144 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2145 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2147 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2150 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2151 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2152 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2153 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2154 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2155 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2156 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2158 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2159 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
2160 when the diversion is reread.
2162 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2165 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2166 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2167 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2168 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2169 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2170 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2171 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2173 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2176 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2179 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2181 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2182 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2184 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2186 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2187 of end of sentence recognition.
2189 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2190 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2192 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2193 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2195 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2197 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2198 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2199 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2204 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2205 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2207 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2208 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2211 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2212 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2214 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2216 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2217 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2219 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2220 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2223 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2224 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2226 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2227 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2228 of the `textht' variable.
2230 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2231 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2236 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2237 has been applied to a table.
2242 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2244 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2245 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2250 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2251 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2252 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2253 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2254 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2255 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2256 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2258 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2259 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2260 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'