1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Fabrice Ménard contributed locales support. In particular, it is now
11 possible to get French localization of the main macro packages (-ms, -mm,
12 -me, and -mom, but not -man and -mdoc which are localized differently) by
13 appending `-mfr' to the list of macro packages. Example:
15 groff -ms -mfr foo > foo.ps
17 Note that latin-9 input encoding is used for French (to support the `oe'
20 o Swedish macro localization (with `-msv') has been added also.
22 o Two new requests `device' and `devicem' have been added which are
23 equivalents to the \X and \Y escapes, respectively.
25 o A new read-only number register `.br' is available which is set to 1
26 if a macro is called as .foo and to 0 if called as 'foo. This allows to
27 reliably modify requests.
32 . ie \\n[.br] .bp@orig
37 o A new request `fzoom' has been added to adjust the optical size of a
38 font in relation to the others. The zoom factor is given in integer
39 multiples of 1/1000th. In the following example, the CR font is
40 magnified by 10% (the zoom factor is 1.1).
45 Palatino and \f[CR]Courier\f[]
47 The new number register `.zoom' holds the zoom value of the current font,
48 in multiples of 1/1000th.
50 o The `cflags' request has been extended with a new flag value 64, to be
51 used in combination with values 2 (break before character) and 4 (break
52 after character). If set, the hyphenation codes of the surrounding
53 characters are ignored.
55 o A new debugging request, `pev', has been added to print all of the current
56 known environments to stderr. It first prints the state of the current
57 environment, then iterates through all of the known environments, printing
58 each except the one that is current.
60 o A new escape `\$^' has been added. It represents the parameters of a
61 macro as if they were an argument to the `ds' request. This is used by
64 o `groffer' version 1.* exists now in a shell and a Perl version.
71 o int(x) now really behaves as documented: It truncates the non-integer part
72 of x, this is, it rounds towards zero and not towards the next integer
73 less than or equal to x.
75 o The preprocessor `chem' was added. `chem' is a roff language to generate
76 chemical structure diagrams. It generates `pic' output.
81 o \D'p...' is now supported if the polygon consists entirely of horizontal
87 o New option `-c' to output more font information as comments.
92 o A new macro `Dx' has been added to the mdoc package which identifies the
95 o -mtrace has been considerably improved, now showing number and string
96 register assignments, among other things.
98 o The PSPIC macro now works with all devices (producing a hollow
99 rectangle on devices which don't support inclusion of PS images) and
100 is loaded in troffrc at start-up.
102 o A new auxiliary macro package `62bit' has been added which provides some
103 macros for adding, multiplying, and dividing signed 62bit integers (mainly
104 to handle normal groff number operations without risking overflow errors).
113 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
114 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
115 set the glyph and background colours.
117 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
120 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
121 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
124 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
130 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
131 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
136 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
138 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
139 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
140 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
143 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
145 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
146 ldots (three dots on the base line)
147 dollar (a dollar glyph)
149 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
150 hasn't been documented previously:
159 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
164 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
167 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
169 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
175 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
180 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
181 installed automatically.
186 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
187 hasn't been installed previously.
192 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
197 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
198 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
199 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
204 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
205 documents with groff.
212 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
213 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
214 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
217 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
218 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
219 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
220 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
221 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
223 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
226 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
227 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
230 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
231 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
234 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which keeps the
235 same point size as body text.
238 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
239 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
240 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1'
241 produces 14pt headings, `.NH 2' produces 12pt, and all other
242 levels remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
244 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
245 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
248 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
253 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
254 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
258 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
260 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
261 <head>...</head> block.
263 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
265 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
270 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
271 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
276 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
277 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
278 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
279 troff always use unscaled character widths.
288 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
289 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
290 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
291 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
293 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands are both printed
294 on standard error and run.
299 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
300 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
302 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
303 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
305 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
308 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
310 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
312 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
313 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
314 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
316 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
317 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
318 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
320 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
321 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
322 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
324 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
325 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
327 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
328 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
333 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
338 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
339 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
344 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
345 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
346 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
347 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
348 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
353 o New option `-j' to emit output split into multiple files.
358 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
359 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
360 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
362 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
367 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
370 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
371 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
372 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
373 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
374 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
379 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
384 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
385 hpftodit manual page for more details.
390 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
391 the old single script style.
393 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
394 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
395 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
397 New documentation file: README_SH.
399 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
404 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
406 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
416 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
417 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
419 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
421 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
422 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
423 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
425 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
426 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
428 http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/opentype/index_glyph.html
430 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
431 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
432 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
434 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
439 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
441 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
442 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
443 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
444 glyphs. The new request
448 changes the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
449 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
453 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
454 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
456 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
459 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
460 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
461 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
463 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
464 new `rfschar' request.
466 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
467 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
468 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
470 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
471 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
472 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
473 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
475 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
476 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
477 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
479 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
486 \D'Fd' (default color)
488 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
489 position is *not* changed.
491 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
492 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
494 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
495 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
497 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
499 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
500 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
501 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
502 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
503 same glyph shape as with other devices.
508 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
509 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
511 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
512 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
513 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
515 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
516 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
517 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
518 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
519 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
520 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
522 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
524 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
525 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
531 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
532 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
534 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
535 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
538 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
540 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
541 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
543 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
544 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
545 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
550 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
553 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
554 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
559 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
560 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
565 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
571 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
572 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
577 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
579 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
580 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
585 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
586 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
588 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
590 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
591 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
592 afmtodit for more details.
597 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
600 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
601 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
602 sub-subheading indentation.
604 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
607 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
608 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
610 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
613 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
614 explicitly specified on the command line.
616 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
617 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
619 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
620 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
621 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
622 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
624 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
625 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
626 the driver specific DESC file.
628 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
631 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
640 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
641 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
642 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
643 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
644 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
645 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
647 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
648 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
649 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
652 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
657 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
663 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
664 drivers) to set the default line width.
669 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
674 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
679 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
680 compatibility with NetBSD.
682 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
685 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
686 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
689 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
694 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
695 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
696 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
700 papersize /etc/papersize a4
702 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
703 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
704 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
707 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
709 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
715 ***************************************************************************
717 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
719 ***************************************************************************
724 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
725 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
726 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
727 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
728 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
729 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
730 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
731 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
734 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
735 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
738 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
739 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
742 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
743 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
744 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
746 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
747 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
748 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
751 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
754 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
755 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
757 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
758 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
760 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
761 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
763 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
764 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
766 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
767 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
769 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
771 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
774 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
777 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
778 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
784 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
785 . nop I will now define `bar'.
787 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
791 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
792 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
794 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
795 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
796 control their output format.
798 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
799 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
800 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
801 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
802 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
803 before checking special fonts.
805 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
806 doesn't emit a final newline.
808 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
809 with \c counts as one input line.
811 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
812 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
815 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
816 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
817 Note that this is an incompatible change.
819 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
820 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
822 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
823 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
824 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
825 for more information.
827 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
830 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
831 already existing patterns).
833 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
834 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
835 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
836 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
838 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
839 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
840 final `0' can be omitted.
842 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
843 the exception that the `asciify' request uses the character code (if
844 any) before the character translation. Example:
856 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
858 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
859 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
860 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
861 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
862 post-vertical line space.
864 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
874 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
875 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
877 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
878 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
879 single space characters.
881 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
884 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
885 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
886 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
887 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
888 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
893 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
894 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
895 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
896 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
897 for PostScript output only.
899 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
900 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
902 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
903 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
904 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
905 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
906 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
908 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
909 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
910 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
912 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
915 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
916 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
919 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
920 works in compatibility mode.
922 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
923 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
925 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
928 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
929 reference to the ms macros.
931 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
933 o Changes in www.tmac:
935 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
936 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
937 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
940 The following macros have been renamed:
946 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
947 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
949 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
950 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
952 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
953 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
955 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
956 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
958 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
959 generation to headings.
961 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
964 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it automatically
965 converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
967 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
968 (it automatically converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
970 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
972 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
974 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
976 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
977 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
982 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
983 disabled in compatibility mode).
988 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
989 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
990 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
995 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
996 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
997 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
999 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
1001 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
1003 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
1008 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1009 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1010 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1015 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1016 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1017 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1022 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
1023 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
1029 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
1034 o Color support has been added.
1036 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
1037 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
1042 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
1043 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
1044 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
1047 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
1048 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
1050 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
1051 extended) has been added.
1053 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
1055 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
1056 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
1057 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
1059 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
1060 doesn't take care of hcode values.
1062 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
1063 to gray values currently.
1068 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
1069 ANSI color) escape sequences.
1071 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
1072 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
1073 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
1075 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
1076 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
1077 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
1078 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
1079 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
1081 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
1082 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable (or $MANPAGER, depending on the
1083 used `man' program); alternatively, you can use `man's `-P' option (or
1084 adapt its configuration file accordingly). See man(1) for more details.
1086 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
1087 reverting to the old behaviour.
1089 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
1090 enable SGR output (the default).
1092 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
1093 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
1094 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
1095 for this (including xterm).
1100 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1102 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1104 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1106 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1107 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1110 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1115 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1116 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1117 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1122 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1124 o The groff texinfo manual is installed now, together with a bunch
1127 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1130 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1132 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1133 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1135 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1137 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1138 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1139 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1144 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1149 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1150 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1151 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1156 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1161 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1162 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1165 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1167 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1168 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1170 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1176 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1178 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1184 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1186 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1187 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1195 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1196 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1197 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1198 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1199 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1201 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1202 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1203 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1204 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1205 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1206 environment variables to groff.
1211 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1212 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1213 supported). Most important changes are:
1216 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1217 . `.Lb': prints library names
1218 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1220 . Updated `.St' command
1221 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1222 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1223 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1224 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1225 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1226 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1227 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1228 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1231 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1232 documents the mdoc package.
1234 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1235 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1237 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1238 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1239 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1242 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1244 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1245 `if 1'. For example,
1251 can now be written as
1257 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1258 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1259 ending the diversion).
1261 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1262 and some other escape sequences also.
1264 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1265 unbreakable space character.
1267 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1268 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1269 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1274 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1279 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1284 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1291 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1292 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1293 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1294 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1297 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1298 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1300 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1301 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1302 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1303 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1306 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1307 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1308 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1323 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1327 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1328 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1330 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1331 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1332 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1334 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1335 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1336 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1337 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1339 o The new `spreadwarn' request makes troff warn if spaces in an output
1340 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1342 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff uses for
1345 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1346 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1347 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1348 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1350 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1351 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1353 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1354 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1357 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1358 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1360 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1362 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1363 previous font family.
1365 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1366 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1368 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1369 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1370 macro or string is written to a stream.
1372 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1373 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1376 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1378 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1379 underlines spaces also).
1384 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1385 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1390 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1391 been added to select a different prologue file.
1393 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1394 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1395 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1400 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1402 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1403 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1404 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1407 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1408 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1409 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1410 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1411 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1412 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1414 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1415 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1418 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1419 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1420 variable if you really need the current directory.
1422 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1423 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1424 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1425 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1426 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1427 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1429 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1430 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1431 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1436 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1444 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1445 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1446 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1448 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1450 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1452 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1453 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1454 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1460 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1461 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1462 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1464 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1465 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1466 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1467 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1468 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1469 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1471 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1472 contains the current year.
1474 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1475 number of the groff package.
1477 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1478 font `foo' is undefined:
1481 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1483 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1485 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1487 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1488 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1490 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1493 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1494 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1496 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1497 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1498 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1500 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1502 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1503 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1506 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1507 (which is an alias to character `"').
1509 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1510 (which is an alias to character "'").
1512 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1513 better support of HTML output:
1515 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1518 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1520 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1521 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1522 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1523 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1525 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1528 use_charnames_in_special
1529 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1530 inside special commands.
1533 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1534 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1539 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1544 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1546 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1548 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1549 is immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1550 punctuation, for example).
1555 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1557 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1563 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1564 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1565 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1570 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1571 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1572 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1573 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1578 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1579 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1584 Simplified installation: The Imakefile is now configured (by groff's
1590 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1591 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1592 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1597 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1598 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1599 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1601 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1602 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1604 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1605 ========================
1607 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1612 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1613 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1614 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1617 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1618 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1620 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1621 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1624 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1625 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1627 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1628 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1630 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1633 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1634 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1636 Following the GNU standards, groff now uses the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1637 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1639 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1640 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1646 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1647 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1648 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1649 reports are highly welcome.
1654 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1660 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1661 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1666 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1667 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1669 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1674 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1679 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1680 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1681 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1682 half a dozen other projects.
1687 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1688 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1689 latest GNU coding standards.
1691 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1692 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1694 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1695 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1696 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1697 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1698 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1699 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1700 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1701 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1702 always installed as -me.
1704 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1710 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1711 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1717 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1723 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1728 The -m option enables manual feed.
1733 \(rn now produces a character that has the traditional metrics,
1734 and form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it does not
1735 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1736 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1742 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1748 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1749 graphic to be specified.
1757 The escape sequence \V[xxx] interpolates the value of the
1758 environment variable xxx.
1763 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1764 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1773 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1774 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1780 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1781 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1782 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1784 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1785 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1787 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1788 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1793 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1794 try to keep the table on one page.
1799 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1800 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1801 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1802 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1807 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1808 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1809 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1814 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1815 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1817 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1819 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1820 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1822 ^L is now a valid input character.
1827 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1828 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1829 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1830 default device is ps.)
1832 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1833 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1834 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1835 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1837 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1838 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1839 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1840 draw_lines parameter.
1842 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1843 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1844 always loaded by troff.
1846 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1851 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1853 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1854 while a character definition is being processed.
1856 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1859 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1860 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1862 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file causes no font to be
1863 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1864 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1865 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1866 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1868 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1869 with compatibility mode disabled.
1871 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1872 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1873 for loading the device-specific macros.
1878 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1879 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1880 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1881 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1883 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1884 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1885 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1887 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1888 (the quotes are required).
1893 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1894 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1895 be prevented by the -R option.
1897 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1898 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1900 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1903 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1904 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1910 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1911 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1912 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1914 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1917 With the -g option, grops generates PostScript code that guesses
1918 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1919 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1924 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1925 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1930 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1936 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1937 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1938 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1939 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1940 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1941 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1942 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1943 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1944 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1945 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register
1946 is derived from the $r or $R register.
1948 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1950 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1951 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ is only usable
1954 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1959 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1960 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1961 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1963 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1964 redisplays the current page.
1972 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1973 differently with blocks.
1975 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1976 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1978 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1980 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1986 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' are rendered
1987 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1988 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1993 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1994 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1995 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1996 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1997 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1999 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro produces a box
2000 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
2005 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
2007 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
2008 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
2013 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
2018 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
2019 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
2020 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
2026 Support for scalable fonts.
2031 No changes other than bug fixes.
2036 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
2037 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
2038 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
2039 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
2041 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
2043 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
2044 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
2045 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
2046 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi uses the
2047 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
2048 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
2050 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
2053 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
2054 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
2056 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
2061 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
2062 input level as the opening [.
2064 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
2065 suitable for use as a name.
2067 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
2070 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
2071 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
2072 the -mX option is given.
2074 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
2079 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
2080 constructs by writing a troff macro.
2085 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
2090 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
2091 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
2092 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
2093 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
2095 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
2096 Document Structuring Convention.
2098 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
2099 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
2100 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
2101 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2102 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2105 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2106 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2111 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2112 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps runs gtroff -Tps with
2115 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2116 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2119 Xditview now uses imake.
2124 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2126 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2127 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2128 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2129 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2130 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2131 that the `n' condition is true.
2133 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2134 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2135 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2137 groff -Tdvi -p now passes pic the -x flag; this enables filling
2138 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2139 latest version of the tpic specials.
2144 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2145 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2146 delimiters. The groff command passes on a `-N' option to eqn.
2151 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2152 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2154 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2155 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2156 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2161 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2166 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2167 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2169 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2170 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2171 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2177 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2179 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2185 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2186 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2187 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2188 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2189 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2191 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2193 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2196 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2197 adjustment mode is not `b' a line is not hyphenated if it is no
2198 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2199 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line is not
2200 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2201 amount of extra space to each word space.
2203 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2205 A warning of type `space' is given when a call is made to an
2206 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2207 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2208 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2209 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2215 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2217 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2218 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2224 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2225 complicated equations inside pictures.
2227 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2228 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2234 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2235 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2241 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2242 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2243 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2246 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2247 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2249 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2250 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2252 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2253 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2254 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2255 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2256 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2257 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2259 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2260 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2261 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2262 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2265 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer valid input
2266 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2268 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2269 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2274 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2275 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2276 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2278 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2279 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2280 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2281 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2282 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2283 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2284 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2285 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2286 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2292 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2293 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2295 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2298 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2299 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2300 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2301 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2302 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2303 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2304 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2306 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2307 diversion, it now arranges for the file to be copied to the output
2308 when the diversion is reread.
2310 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2313 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2314 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2315 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2316 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2317 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2318 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2319 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2321 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2324 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2327 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2329 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2330 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2332 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2334 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2335 of end of sentence recognition.
2337 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2338 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2340 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2341 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2343 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2345 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2346 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2347 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2352 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2353 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2355 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2356 lines are drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2359 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2360 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2362 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2364 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2365 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2367 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2368 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2371 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2372 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2374 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2375 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2376 of the `textht' variable.
2378 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2379 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2384 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2385 has been applied to a table.
2390 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2392 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2393 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2398 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2399 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2400 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2401 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2402 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2403 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2404 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2406 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2407 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2408 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
2412 version-control: never