1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Fabrice Ménard contributed locales support. In particular, it is now
11 possible to get French localization of the main macro packages (-ms, -mm,
12 -me, and -mom, but not -man and -mdoc which are localized differently) by
13 appending `-mfr' to the list of macro packages. Example:
15 groff -ms -mfr foo > foo.ps
17 Note that latin-9 input encoding is used for French (to support the `oe'
20 o Swedish macro localization (with `-msv') has been added.
22 o German macro localization (with `-mde' and `-mden' for traditional and
23 new orthography, respectively) has been added.
25 o Two new requests `device' and `devicem' have been added which are
26 equivalents to the \X and \Y escapes, respectively.
28 o A new read-only number register `.br' is available which is set to 1
29 if a macro is called as .foo and to 0 if called as 'foo. This allows to
30 reliably modify requests.
35 . ie \\n[.br] .bp@orig
40 o A new request `fzoom' has been added to adjust the optical size of a
41 font in relation to the others. The zoom factor is given in integer
42 multiples of 1/1000th. In the following example, the CR font is
43 magnified by 10% (the zoom factor is 1.1).
48 Palatino and \f[CR]Courier\f[]
50 The new number register `.zoom' holds the zoom value of the current font,
51 in multiples of 1/1000th.
53 o The `cflags' request has been extended with a new flag value 64, to be
54 used in combination with values 2 (break before character) and 4 (break
55 after character). If set, the hyphenation codes of the surrounding
56 characters are ignored.
58 o A new debugging request, `pev', has been added to print all of the current
59 known environments to stderr. It first prints the state of the current
60 environment, then iterates through all of the known environments, printing
61 each except the one that is current.
63 o A new escape `\$^' has been added. It represents the parameters of a
64 macro as if they were an argument to the `ds' request. This is used by
67 o The PS font definition files have been regenerated with the newer AFM
68 versions from Adobe's 35 core fonts as present in most Level 2 PS
69 printers. The changes are minor (most notably, the addition of the
70 `Euro' glyph and an extended set of kerning values).
72 For backwards compatibility, the old set of font definition files is still
73 available; for details please read the man page of `grops(1)'.
79 o int(x) now really behaves as documented: It truncates the non-integer part
80 of x, this is, it rounds towards zero and not towards the next integer
81 less than or equal to x.
83 o Pic now supports up to 32 macro arguments (and up to 16 on EBCDIC
89 o The preprocessor `chem' was added. `chem' is a roff language to generate
90 chemical structure diagrams. It generates `pic' output.
95 o \D'p...' is now supported if the polygon consists entirely of horizontal
101 o `groffer' version 1.* exists now in a shell and a Perl version.
106 o New option `-c' to output more font information as comments.
111 o A new macro `Dx' has been added to the mdoc package which identifies the
114 o -mtrace has been considerably improved, now showing number and string
115 register assignments, among other things.
117 o The PSPIC macro now works with all devices (producing a hollow
118 rectangle on devices which don't support inclusion of PS images) and
119 is loaded in troffrc at start-up.
121 o A new auxiliary macro package `62bit' has been added which provides some
122 macros for adding, multiplying, and dividing signed 62bit integers (mainly
123 to handle normal groff number operations without risking overflow errors).
132 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
133 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
134 set the glyph and background colours.
136 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
139 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
140 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
143 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
149 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
150 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
155 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
157 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
158 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
159 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
162 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
164 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
165 ldots (three dots on the base line)
166 dollar (a dollar glyph)
168 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
169 hasn't been documented previously:
178 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
183 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
186 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
188 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
194 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
199 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
200 installed automatically.
205 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
206 hasn't been installed previously.
211 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
216 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
217 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
218 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
223 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
224 documents with groff.
231 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
232 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
233 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
236 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
237 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
238 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
239 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
240 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
242 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
245 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
246 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
249 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
250 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
253 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which keeps the
254 same point size as body text.
257 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
258 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
259 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1'
260 produces 14pt headings, `.NH 2' produces 12pt, and all other
261 levels remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
263 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
264 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
267 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
272 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
273 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
277 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
279 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
280 <head>...</head> block.
282 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
284 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
289 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
290 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
295 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
296 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
297 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
298 troff always use unscaled character widths.
307 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
308 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
309 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
310 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
312 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands are both printed
313 on standard error and run.
318 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
319 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
321 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
322 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
324 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
327 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
329 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
331 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
332 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
333 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
335 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
336 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
337 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
339 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
340 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
341 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
343 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
344 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
346 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
347 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
352 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
357 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
358 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
363 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
364 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
365 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
366 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
367 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
372 o New option `-j' to emit output split into multiple files.
377 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
378 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
379 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
381 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
386 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
389 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
390 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
391 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
392 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
393 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
398 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
403 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
404 hpftodit manual page for more details.
409 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
410 the old single script style.
412 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
413 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
414 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
416 New documentation file: README_SH.
418 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
423 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
425 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
435 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
436 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
438 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
440 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
441 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
442 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
444 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
445 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
447 http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/opentype/index_glyph.html
449 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
450 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
451 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
453 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
458 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
460 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
461 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
462 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
463 glyphs. The new request
467 changes the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
468 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
472 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
473 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
475 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
478 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
479 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
480 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
482 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
483 new `rfschar' request.
485 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
486 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
487 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
489 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
490 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
491 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
492 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
494 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
495 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
496 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
498 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
505 \D'Fd' (default color)
507 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
508 position is *not* changed.
510 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
511 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
513 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
514 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
516 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
518 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
519 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
520 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
521 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
522 same glyph shape as with other devices.
527 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
528 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
530 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
531 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
532 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
534 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
535 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
536 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
537 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
538 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
539 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
541 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
543 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
544 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
550 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
551 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
553 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
554 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
557 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
559 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
560 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
562 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
563 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
564 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
569 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
572 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
573 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
578 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
579 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
584 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
590 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
591 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
596 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
598 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
599 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
604 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
605 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
607 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
609 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
610 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
611 afmtodit for more details.
616 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
619 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
620 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
621 sub-subheading indentation.
623 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
626 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
627 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
629 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
632 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
633 explicitly specified on the command line.
635 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
636 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
638 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
639 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
640 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
641 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
643 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
644 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
645 the driver specific DESC file.
647 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
650 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
659 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
660 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
661 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
662 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
663 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
664 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
666 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
667 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
668 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
671 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
676 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
682 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
683 drivers) to set the default line width.
688 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
693 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
698 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
699 compatibility with NetBSD.
701 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
704 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
705 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
708 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
713 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
714 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
715 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
719 papersize /etc/papersize a4
721 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
722 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
723 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
726 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
728 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
734 ***************************************************************************
736 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
738 ***************************************************************************
743 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
744 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
745 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
746 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
747 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
748 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
749 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
750 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
753 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
754 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
757 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
758 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
761 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
762 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
763 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
765 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
766 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
767 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
770 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
773 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
774 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
776 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
777 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
779 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
780 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
782 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
783 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
785 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
786 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
788 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
790 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
793 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
796 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
797 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
803 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
804 . nop I will now define `bar'.
806 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
810 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
811 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
813 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
814 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
815 control their output format.
817 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
818 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
819 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
820 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
821 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
822 before checking special fonts.
824 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
825 doesn't emit a final newline.
827 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
828 with \c counts as one input line.
830 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
831 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
834 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
835 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
836 Note that this is an incompatible change.
838 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
839 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
841 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
842 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
843 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
844 for more information.
846 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
849 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
850 already existing patterns).
852 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
853 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
854 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
855 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
857 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
858 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
859 final `0' can be omitted.
861 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
862 the exception that the `asciify' request uses the character code (if
863 any) before the character translation. Example:
875 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
877 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
878 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
879 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
880 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
881 post-vertical line space.
883 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
893 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
894 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
896 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
897 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
898 single space characters.
900 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
903 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
904 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
905 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
906 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
907 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
912 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
913 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
914 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
915 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
916 for PostScript output only.
918 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
919 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
921 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
922 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
923 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
924 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
925 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
927 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
928 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
929 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
931 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
934 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
935 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
938 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
939 works in compatibility mode.
941 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
942 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
944 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
947 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
948 reference to the ms macros.
950 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
952 o Changes in www.tmac:
954 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
955 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
956 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
959 The following macros have been renamed:
965 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
966 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
968 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
969 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
971 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
972 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
974 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
975 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
977 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
978 generation to headings.
980 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
983 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it automatically
984 converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
986 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
987 (it automatically converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
989 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
991 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
993 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
995 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
996 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
1001 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
1002 disabled in compatibility mode).
1007 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
1008 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
1009 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
1014 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
1015 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
1016 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
1018 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
1020 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
1022 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
1027 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1028 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1029 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1034 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1035 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1036 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1041 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
1042 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
1048 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
1053 o Color support has been added.
1055 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
1056 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
1061 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
1062 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
1063 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
1066 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
1067 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
1069 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
1070 extended) has been added.
1072 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
1074 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
1075 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
1076 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
1078 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
1079 doesn't take care of hcode values.
1081 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
1082 to gray values currently.
1087 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
1088 ANSI color) escape sequences.
1090 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
1091 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
1092 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
1094 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
1095 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
1096 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
1097 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
1098 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
1100 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
1101 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable (or $MANPAGER, depending on the
1102 used `man' program); alternatively, you can use `man's `-P' option (or
1103 adapt its configuration file accordingly). See man(1) for more details.
1105 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
1106 reverting to the old behaviour.
1108 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
1109 enable SGR output (the default).
1111 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
1112 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
1113 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
1114 for this (including xterm).
1119 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1121 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1123 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1125 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1126 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1129 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1134 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1135 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1136 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1141 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1143 o The groff texinfo manual is installed now, together with a bunch
1146 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1149 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1151 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1152 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1154 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1156 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1157 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1158 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1163 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1168 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1169 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1170 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1175 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1180 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1181 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1184 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1186 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1187 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1189 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1195 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1197 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1203 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1205 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1206 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1214 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1215 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1216 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1217 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1218 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1220 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1221 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1222 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1223 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1224 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1225 environment variables to groff.
1230 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1231 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1232 supported). Most important changes are:
1235 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1236 . `.Lb': prints library names
1237 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1239 . Updated `.St' command
1240 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1241 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1242 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1243 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1244 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1245 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1246 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1247 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1250 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1251 documents the mdoc package.
1253 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1254 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1256 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1257 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1258 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1261 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1263 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1264 `if 1'. For example,
1270 can now be written as
1276 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1277 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1278 ending the diversion).
1280 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1281 and some other escape sequences also.
1283 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1284 unbreakable space character.
1286 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1287 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1288 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1293 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1298 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1303 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1310 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1311 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1312 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1313 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1316 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1317 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1319 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1320 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1321 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1322 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1325 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1326 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1327 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1342 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1346 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1347 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1349 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1350 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1351 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1353 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1354 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1355 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1356 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1358 o The new `spreadwarn' request makes troff warn if spaces in an output
1359 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1361 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff uses for
1364 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1365 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1366 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1367 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1369 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1370 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1372 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1373 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1376 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1377 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1379 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1381 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1382 previous font family.
1384 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1385 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1387 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1388 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1389 macro or string is written to a stream.
1391 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1392 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1395 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1397 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1398 underlines spaces also).
1403 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1404 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1409 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1410 been added to select a different prologue file.
1412 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1413 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1414 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1419 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1421 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1422 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1423 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1426 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1427 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1428 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1429 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1430 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1431 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1433 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1434 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1437 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1438 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1439 variable if you really need the current directory.
1441 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1442 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1443 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1444 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1445 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1446 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1448 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1449 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1450 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1455 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1463 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1464 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1465 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1467 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1469 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1471 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1472 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1473 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1479 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1480 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1481 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1483 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1484 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1485 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1486 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1487 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1488 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1490 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1491 contains the current year.
1493 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1494 number of the groff package.
1496 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1497 font `foo' is undefined:
1500 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1502 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1504 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1506 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1507 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1509 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1512 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1513 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1515 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1516 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1517 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1519 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1521 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1522 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1525 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1526 (which is an alias to character `"').
1528 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1529 (which is an alias to character "'").
1531 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1532 better support of HTML output:
1534 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1537 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1539 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1540 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1541 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1542 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1544 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1547 use_charnames_in_special
1548 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1549 inside special commands.
1552 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1553 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1558 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1563 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1565 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1567 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1568 is immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1569 punctuation, for example).
1574 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1576 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1582 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1583 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1584 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1589 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1590 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1591 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1592 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1597 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1598 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1603 Simplified installation: The Imakefile is now configured (by groff's
1609 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1610 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1611 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1616 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1617 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1618 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1620 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1621 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1623 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1624 ========================
1626 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1631 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1632 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1633 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1636 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1637 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1639 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1640 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1643 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1644 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1646 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1647 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1649 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1652 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1653 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1655 Following the GNU standards, groff now uses the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1656 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1658 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1659 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1665 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1666 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1667 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1668 reports are highly welcome.
1673 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1679 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1680 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1685 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1686 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1688 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1693 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1698 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1699 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1700 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1701 half a dozen other projects.
1706 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1707 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1708 latest GNU coding standards.
1710 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1711 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1713 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1714 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1715 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1716 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1717 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1718 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1719 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1720 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1721 always installed as -me.
1723 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1729 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1730 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1736 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1742 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1747 The -m option enables manual feed.
1752 \(rn now produces a character that has the traditional metrics,
1753 and form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it does not
1754 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1755 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1761 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1767 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1768 graphic to be specified.
1776 The escape sequence \V[xxx] interpolates the value of the
1777 environment variable xxx.
1782 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1783 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1792 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1793 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1799 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1800 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1801 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1803 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1804 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1806 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1807 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1812 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1813 try to keep the table on one page.
1818 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1819 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1820 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1821 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1826 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1827 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1828 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1833 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1834 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1836 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1838 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1839 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1841 ^L is now a valid input character.
1846 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1847 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1848 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1849 default device is ps.)
1851 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1852 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1853 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1854 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1856 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1857 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1858 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1859 draw_lines parameter.
1861 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1862 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1863 always loaded by troff.
1865 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1870 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1872 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1873 while a character definition is being processed.
1875 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1878 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1879 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1881 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file causes no font to be
1882 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1883 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1884 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1885 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1887 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1888 with compatibility mode disabled.
1890 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1891 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1892 for loading the device-specific macros.
1897 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1898 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1899 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1900 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1902 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1903 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1904 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1906 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1907 (the quotes are required).
1912 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1913 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1914 be prevented by the -R option.
1916 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1917 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1919 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1922 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1923 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1929 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1930 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1931 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1933 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1936 With the -g option, grops generates PostScript code that guesses
1937 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1938 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1943 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1944 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1949 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1955 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1956 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1957 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1958 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1959 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1960 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1961 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1962 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1963 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1964 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register
1965 is derived from the $r or $R register.
1967 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1969 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1970 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ is only usable
1973 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1978 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1979 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1980 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1982 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1983 redisplays the current page.
1991 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1992 differently with blocks.
1994 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1995 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1997 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1999 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
2005 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' are rendered
2006 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
2007 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
2012 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
2013 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
2014 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
2015 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
2016 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
2018 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro produces a box
2019 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
2024 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
2026 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
2027 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
2032 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
2037 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
2038 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
2039 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
2045 Support for scalable fonts.
2050 No changes other than bug fixes.
2055 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
2056 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
2057 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
2058 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
2060 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
2062 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
2063 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
2064 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
2065 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi uses the
2066 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
2067 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
2069 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
2072 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
2073 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
2075 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
2080 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
2081 input level as the opening [.
2083 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
2084 suitable for use as a name.
2086 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
2089 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
2090 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
2091 the -mX option is given.
2093 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
2098 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
2099 constructs by writing a troff macro.
2104 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
2109 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
2110 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
2111 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
2112 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
2114 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
2115 Document Structuring Convention.
2117 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
2118 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
2119 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
2120 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2121 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2124 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2125 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2130 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2131 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps runs gtroff -Tps with
2134 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2135 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2138 Xditview now uses imake.
2143 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2145 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2146 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2147 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2148 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2149 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2150 that the `n' condition is true.
2152 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2153 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2154 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2156 groff -Tdvi -p now passes pic the -x flag; this enables filling
2157 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2158 latest version of the tpic specials.
2163 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2164 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2165 delimiters. The groff command passes on a `-N' option to eqn.
2170 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2171 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2173 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2174 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2175 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2180 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2185 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2186 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2188 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2189 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2190 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2196 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2198 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2204 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2205 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2206 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2207 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2208 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2210 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2212 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2215 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2216 adjustment mode is not `b' a line is not hyphenated if it is no
2217 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2218 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line is not
2219 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2220 amount of extra space to each word space.
2222 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2224 A warning of type `space' is given when a call is made to an
2225 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2226 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2227 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2228 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2234 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2236 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2237 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2243 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2244 complicated equations inside pictures.
2246 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2247 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2253 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2254 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2260 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2261 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2262 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2265 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2266 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2268 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2269 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2271 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2272 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2273 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2274 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2275 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2276 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2278 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2279 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2280 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2281 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2284 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer valid input
2285 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2287 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2288 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2293 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2294 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2295 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2297 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2298 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2299 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2300 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2301 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2302 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2303 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2304 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2305 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2311 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2312 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2314 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2317 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2318 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2319 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2320 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2321 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2322 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2323 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2325 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2326 diversion, it now arranges for the file to be copied to the output
2327 when the diversion is reread.
2329 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2332 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2333 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2334 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2335 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2336 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2337 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2338 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2340 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2343 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2346 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2348 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2349 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2351 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2353 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2354 of end of sentence recognition.
2356 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2357 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2359 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2360 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2362 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2364 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2365 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2366 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2371 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2372 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2374 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2375 lines are drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2378 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2379 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2381 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2383 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2384 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2386 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2387 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2390 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2391 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2393 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2394 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2395 of the `textht' variable.
2397 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2398 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2403 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2404 has been applied to a table.
2409 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2411 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2412 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2417 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2418 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2419 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2420 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2421 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2422 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2423 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2425 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2426 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2427 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
2431 version-control: never