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
21 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
27 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
28 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
33 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
35 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
36 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
37 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
40 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
42 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
43 ldots (three dots on the base line)
44 dollar (a dollar glyph)
46 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
47 hasn't been documented previously:
56 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
61 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
64 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
66 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
72 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
73 installed automatically.
78 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
79 hasn't been installed previously.
84 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
89 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
90 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
91 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
96 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
104 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
105 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
106 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
109 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
110 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
111 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
112 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
113 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
115 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
118 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
119 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
122 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
123 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
126 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which will keep the
127 same point size as body text.
130 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
131 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
132 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1' will
133 produce 14pt headings, `.NH 2' will produce 12pt, and all other levels
134 will remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
136 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
137 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
140 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
145 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
146 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
150 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
152 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
153 <head>...</head> block.
155 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
157 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
162 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
163 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
168 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
169 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
170 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
171 troff always use unscaled character widths.
180 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
181 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
182 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
183 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
185 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
186 on standard error and run.
191 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
192 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
194 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
195 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
197 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
200 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
202 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
204 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
205 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
206 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
208 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
209 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
210 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
212 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
213 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
214 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
216 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
217 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
219 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
220 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
225 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
230 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
231 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
236 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
237 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
238 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
239 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
240 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
245 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
250 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
251 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
252 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
254 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
259 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
262 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
263 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
264 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
265 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
266 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
271 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
276 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
277 hpftodit manual page for more details.
282 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
283 the old single script style.
285 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
286 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
287 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
289 New documentation file: README_SH.
291 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
296 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
298 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
308 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
309 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
311 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
313 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
314 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
315 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
317 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
318 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
320 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
322 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
323 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
324 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
326 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
331 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
333 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
334 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
335 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
336 glyphs. The new request
340 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
341 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
345 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
346 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
348 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
351 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
352 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
353 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
355 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
356 new `rfschar' request.
358 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
359 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
360 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
362 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
363 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
364 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
365 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
367 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
368 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
369 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
371 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
378 \D'Fd' (default color)
380 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
381 position is *not* changed.
383 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
384 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
386 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
387 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
389 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
391 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
392 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
393 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
394 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
395 same glyph shape as with other devices.
400 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
401 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
403 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
404 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
405 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
407 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
408 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
409 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
410 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
411 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
412 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
414 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
416 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
417 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
423 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
424 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
426 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
427 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
430 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
432 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
433 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
435 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
436 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
437 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
442 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
445 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
446 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
451 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
452 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
457 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
463 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
464 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
469 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
471 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
472 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
477 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
478 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
480 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
482 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
483 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
484 afmtodit for more details.
489 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
492 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
493 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
494 sub-subheading indentation.
496 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
499 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
500 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
502 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
505 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
506 explicitly specified on the command line.
508 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
509 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
511 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
512 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
513 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
514 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
516 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
517 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
518 the driver specific DESC file.
520 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
523 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
532 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
533 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
534 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
535 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
536 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
537 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
539 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
540 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
541 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
544 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
549 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
555 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
556 drivers) to set the default line width.
561 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
566 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
571 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
572 compatibility with NetBSD.
574 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
577 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
578 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
581 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
586 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
587 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
588 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
592 papersize /etc/papersize a4
594 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
595 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
596 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
599 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
601 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
607 ***************************************************************************
609 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
611 ***************************************************************************
616 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
617 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
618 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
619 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
620 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
621 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
622 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
623 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
626 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
627 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
630 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
631 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
634 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
635 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
636 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
638 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
639 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
640 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
643 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
646 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
647 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
649 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
650 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
652 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
653 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
655 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
656 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
658 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
659 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
661 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
663 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
666 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
669 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
670 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
676 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
677 . nop I will now define `bar'.
679 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
683 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
684 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
686 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
687 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
688 control their output format.
690 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
691 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
692 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
693 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
694 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
695 before checking special fonts.
697 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
698 doesn't emit a final newline.
700 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
701 with \c counts as one input line.
703 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
704 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
707 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
708 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
709 Note that this is an incompatible change.
711 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
712 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
714 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
715 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
716 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
717 for more information.
719 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
722 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
723 already existing patterns).
725 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
726 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
727 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
728 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
730 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
731 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
732 final `0' can be omitted.
734 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
735 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
736 any) before the character translation. Example:
748 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
750 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
751 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
752 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
753 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
754 post-vertical line space.
756 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
766 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
767 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
769 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
770 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
771 single space characters.
773 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
776 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
777 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
778 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
779 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
780 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
785 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
786 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
787 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
788 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
789 for PostScript output only.
791 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
792 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
794 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
795 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
796 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
797 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
798 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
800 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
801 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
802 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
804 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
807 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
808 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
811 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
812 works in compatibility mode.
814 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
815 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
817 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
820 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
821 reference to the ms macros.
823 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
825 o Changes in www.tmac:
827 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
828 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
829 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
832 The following macros have been renamed:
838 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
839 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
841 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
842 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
844 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
845 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
847 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
848 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
850 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
851 generation to headings.
853 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
856 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
857 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
859 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
860 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
863 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
865 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
867 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
869 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
870 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
875 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
876 disabled in compatibility mode).
881 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
882 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
883 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
888 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
889 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
890 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
892 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
894 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
896 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
901 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
902 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
903 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
908 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
909 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
910 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
915 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
916 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
922 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
927 o Color support has been added.
929 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
930 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
935 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
936 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
937 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
940 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
941 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
943 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
944 extended) has been added.
946 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
948 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
949 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
950 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
952 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
953 doesn't take care of hcode values.
955 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
956 to gray values currently.
961 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
962 ANSI color) escape sequences.
964 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
965 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
966 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
968 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
969 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
970 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
971 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
972 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
974 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
975 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
976 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
977 man(1) for more details.
979 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
980 reverting to the old behaviour.
982 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
983 enable SGR output (the default).
985 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
986 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
987 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
988 for this (including xterm).
993 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
995 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
997 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
999 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1000 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1003 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1008 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1009 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1010 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1015 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1017 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
1020 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1023 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1025 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1026 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1028 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1030 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1031 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1032 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1037 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1042 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1043 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1044 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1049 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1054 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1055 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1058 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1060 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1061 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1063 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1069 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1071 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1077 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1079 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1080 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1088 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1089 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1090 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1091 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1092 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1094 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1095 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1096 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1097 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1098 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1099 environment variables to groff.
1104 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1105 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1106 supported). Most important changes are:
1109 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1110 . `.Lb': prints library names
1111 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1113 . Updated `.St' command
1114 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1115 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1116 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1117 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1118 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1119 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1120 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1121 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1124 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1125 documents the mdoc package.
1127 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1128 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1130 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1131 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1132 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1135 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1137 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1138 `if 1'. For example,
1144 can now be written as
1150 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1151 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1152 ending the diversion).
1154 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1155 and some other escape sequences also.
1157 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1158 unbreakable space character.
1160 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1161 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1162 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1167 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1172 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1177 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1184 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1185 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1186 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1187 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1190 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1191 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1193 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1194 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1195 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1196 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1199 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1200 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1201 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1216 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1220 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1221 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1223 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1224 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1225 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1227 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1228 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1229 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1230 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1232 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1233 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1235 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1238 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1239 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1240 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1241 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1243 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1244 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1246 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1247 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1250 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1251 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1253 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1255 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1256 previous font family.
1258 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1259 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1261 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1262 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1263 macro or string is written to a stream.
1265 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1266 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1269 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1271 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1272 underlines spaces also).
1277 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1278 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1283 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1284 been added to select a different prologue file.
1286 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1287 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1288 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1293 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1295 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1296 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1297 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1300 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1301 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1302 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1303 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1304 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1305 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1307 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1308 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1311 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1312 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1313 variable if you really need the current directory.
1315 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1316 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1317 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1318 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1319 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1320 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1322 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1323 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1324 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1329 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1337 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1338 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1339 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1341 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1343 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1345 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1346 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1347 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1353 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1354 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1355 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1357 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1358 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1359 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1360 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1361 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1362 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1364 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1365 contains the current year.
1367 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1368 number of the groff package.
1370 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1371 font `foo' is undefined:
1374 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1376 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1378 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1380 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1381 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1383 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1386 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1387 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1389 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1390 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1391 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1393 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1395 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1396 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1399 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1400 (which is an alias to character `"').
1402 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1403 (which is an alias to character "'").
1405 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1406 better support of HTML output:
1408 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1411 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1413 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1414 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1415 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1416 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1418 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1421 use_charnames_in_special
1422 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1423 inside special commands.
1426 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1427 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1432 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1437 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1439 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1441 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1442 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1443 punctuation, for example).
1448 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1450 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1456 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1457 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1458 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1463 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1464 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1465 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1466 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1471 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1472 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1477 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1483 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1484 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1485 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1490 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1491 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1492 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1494 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1495 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1497 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1498 ========================
1500 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1505 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1506 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1507 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1510 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1511 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1513 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1514 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1517 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1518 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1520 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1521 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1523 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1526 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1527 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1529 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1530 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1532 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1533 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1539 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1540 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1541 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1542 reports are highly welcome.
1547 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1553 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1554 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1559 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1560 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1562 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1567 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1572 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1573 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1574 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1575 half a dozen other projects.
1580 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1581 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1582 latest GNU coding standards.
1584 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1585 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1587 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1588 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1589 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1590 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1591 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1592 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1593 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1594 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1595 always installed as -me.
1597 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1603 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1604 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1610 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1616 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1621 The -m option enables manual feed.
1626 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1627 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1628 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1629 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1635 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1641 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1642 graphic to be specified.
1650 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1651 environment variable xxx.
1656 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1657 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1666 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1667 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1673 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1674 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1675 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1677 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1678 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1680 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1681 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1686 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1687 try to keep the table on one page.
1692 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1693 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1694 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1695 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1700 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1701 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1702 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1707 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1708 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1710 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1712 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1713 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1715 ^L is now a legal input character.
1720 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1721 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1722 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1723 default device is ps.)
1725 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1726 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1727 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1728 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1730 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1731 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1732 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1733 draw_lines parameter.
1735 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1736 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1737 always loaded by troff.
1739 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1744 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1746 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1747 while a character definition is being processed.
1749 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1752 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1753 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1755 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1756 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1757 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1758 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1759 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1761 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1762 with compatibility mode disabled.
1764 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1765 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1766 for loading the device-specific macros.
1771 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1772 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1773 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1774 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1776 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1777 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1778 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1780 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1781 (the quotes are required).
1786 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1787 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1788 be prevented by the -R option.
1790 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1791 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1793 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1796 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1797 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1803 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1804 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1805 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1807 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1810 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1811 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1812 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1817 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1818 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1823 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1829 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1830 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1831 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1832 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1833 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1834 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1835 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1836 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1837 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1838 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1839 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1841 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1843 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1844 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1847 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1852 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1853 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1854 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1856 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1857 redisplays the current page.
1865 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1866 differently with blocks.
1868 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1869 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1871 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1873 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1879 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1880 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1881 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1886 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1887 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1888 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1889 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1890 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1892 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1893 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1898 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1900 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1901 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1906 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1911 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1912 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1913 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1919 Support for scalable fonts.
1924 No changes other than bug fixes.
1929 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1930 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1931 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1932 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1934 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1936 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1937 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1938 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1939 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1940 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1941 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1943 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1946 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1947 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1949 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1954 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1955 input level as the opening [.
1957 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1958 suitable for use as a name.
1960 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1963 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1964 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1965 the -mX option is given.
1967 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1972 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1973 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1978 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1983 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1984 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1985 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1986 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1988 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1989 Document Structuring Convention.
1991 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1992 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1993 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1994 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1995 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1998 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1999 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2004 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2005 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
2008 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2009 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2012 Xditview now uses imake.
2017 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2019 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2020 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2021 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2022 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2023 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2024 that the `n' condition will be true.
2026 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2027 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2028 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2030 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
2031 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2032 latest version of the tpic specials.
2037 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2038 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2039 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
2044 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2045 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2047 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2048 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2049 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2054 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2059 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2060 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2062 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2063 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2064 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2070 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2072 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2078 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2079 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2080 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2081 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2082 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2084 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2086 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2089 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2090 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
2091 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2092 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
2093 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2094 amount of extra space to each word space.
2096 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2098 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
2099 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2100 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2101 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2102 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2108 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2110 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2111 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2117 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2118 complicated equations inside pictures.
2120 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2121 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2127 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2128 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2134 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2135 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2136 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2139 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2140 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2142 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2143 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2145 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2146 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2147 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2148 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2149 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2150 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2152 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2153 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2154 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2155 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2158 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2159 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2161 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2162 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2167 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2168 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2169 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2171 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2172 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2173 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2174 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2175 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2176 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2177 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2178 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2179 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2185 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2186 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2188 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2191 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2192 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2193 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2194 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2195 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2196 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2197 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2199 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2200 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
2201 when the diversion is reread.
2203 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2206 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2207 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2208 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2209 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2210 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2211 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2212 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2214 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2217 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2220 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2222 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2223 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2225 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2227 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2228 of end of sentence recognition.
2230 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2231 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2233 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2234 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2236 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2238 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2239 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2240 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2245 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2246 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2248 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2249 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2252 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2253 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2255 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2257 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2258 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2260 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2261 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2264 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2265 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2267 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2268 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2269 of the `textht' variable.
2271 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2272 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2277 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2278 has been applied to a table.
2283 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2285 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2286 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2291 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2292 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2293 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2294 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2295 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2296 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2297 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2299 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2300 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2301 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'