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 Two new requests `device' and `devicem' have been added which are
11 equivalents to the \X and \Y escapes, respectively.
13 o A new read-only number register `.br' is available which is set to 1
14 if a macro is called as .foo and to 0 if called as 'foo. This allows to
15 reliably modify requests.
20 . ie \\n[.br] .bp@orig
25 o A new request `fzoom' has been added to adjust the optical size of a
26 font in relation to the others. The zoom factor is given in integer
27 multiples of 1/1000th. In the following example, the CR font is
28 magnified by 10% (the zoom factor is 1.1).
33 Palatino and \f[CR]Courier\f[]
35 The new number register `.zoom' holds the zoom value of the current font,
36 in multiples of 1/1000th.
38 o The `cflags' request has been extended with a new flag value 64, to be
39 used in combination with values 2 (break before character) and 4 (break
40 after character). If set, the hyphenation codes of the surrounding
41 characters are ignored.
43 o A new debugging request, `pev', has been added to print all of the current
44 known environments to stderr. It first prints the state of the current
45 environment, then iterates through all of the known environments, printing
46 each except the one that is current.
48 o A new escape `\$^' has been added. It represents the parameters of a
49 macro as if they were an argument to the `ds' request. This is used by
52 o The PS font definition files have been regenerated with newer AFM versions
53 from Adobe's 35 core fonts as present in most Level 2 PS printers. The
54 changes are minor (most notably, the addition of the `Euro' glyph and an
55 extended set of kerning values).
57 For backwards compatibility, the old set of font definition files is still
58 available; for details please read the man page of `grops(1)'.
63 o int(x) now really behaves as documented: It truncates the non-integer part
64 of x, this is, it rounds towards zero and not towards the next integer
65 less than or equal to x.
67 o Pic now supports up to 32 macro arguments (and up to 16 on EBCDIC
73 o Eric S. Raymond has added a new device type to eqn, MathML. When
74 -TMathML is enabled, eqn now emits MathML formula markup rather than
80 o The preprocessor `chem' was added. `chem' is a roff language to generate
81 chemical structure diagrams. It generates `pic' output.
86 o \D'p...' is now supported if the polygon consists entirely of horizontal
92 o Support for keyboard navigation has been improved.
94 o Similar to other X11 applications, there are now two resource files,
95 `GXditview' and `GXditview-color'.
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 Fabrice Ménard contributed locales support. In particular, it is now
112 possible to get French localization of the main macro packages (-ms, -mm,
113 -me, and -mom, but not -man and -mdoc which are localized differently) by
114 appending `-mfr' to the list of macro packages. Example:
116 groff -ms -mfr foo > foo.ps
118 Note that latin-9 input encoding is used for French (to support the `oe'
121 o Swedish macro localization (with `-msv') has been added.
123 o German macro localization (with `-mde' and `-mden' for traditional and
124 new orthography, respectively) has been added.
126 o A new macro `Dx' has been added to the mdoc package which identifies the
129 o -mtrace has been considerably improved, now showing number and string
130 register assignments, among other things.
132 o The PSPIC macro now works with all devices (producing a hollow
133 rectangle on devices which don't support inclusion of PS images) and
134 is loaded in troffrc at start-up.
136 o A new auxiliary macro package `62bit' has been added which provides some
137 macros for adding, multiplying, and dividing signed 62bit integers (mainly
138 to handle normal groff number operations without risking overflow errors).
140 o For -ms, Eric S. Raymond contributed support for ancient Bell Labs
141 localisms `.SC', `.UC', `.P1', and `.P2'. The latter three are enabled
142 only after .SC is called.
144 o A new string, `SN-STYLE', has been added to the ms macros, controlling
145 the formatting of section numbers in headings defined by `.NH'.
154 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
155 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
156 set the glyph and background colours.
158 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
161 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
162 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
165 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
171 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
172 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
177 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
179 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
180 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
181 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
184 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
186 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
187 ldots (three dots on the base line)
188 dollar (a dollar glyph)
190 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
191 hasn't been documented previously:
200 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
205 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
208 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
210 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
216 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
221 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
222 installed automatically.
227 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
228 hasn't been installed previously.
233 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
238 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
239 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
240 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
245 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
246 documents with groff.
253 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
254 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
255 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
258 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
259 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
260 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
261 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
262 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
264 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
267 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
268 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
271 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
272 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
275 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which keeps the
276 same point size as body text.
279 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
280 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
281 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1'
282 produces 14pt headings, `.NH 2' produces 12pt, and all other
283 levels remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
285 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
286 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
289 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
294 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
295 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
299 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
301 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
302 <head>...</head> block.
304 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
306 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
311 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
312 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
317 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
318 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
319 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
320 troff always use unscaled character widths.
329 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
330 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
331 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
332 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
334 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands are both printed
335 on standard error and run.
340 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
341 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
343 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
344 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
346 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
349 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
351 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
353 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
354 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
355 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
357 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
358 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
359 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
361 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
362 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
363 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
365 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
366 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
368 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
369 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
374 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
379 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
380 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
385 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
386 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
387 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
388 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
389 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
394 o New option `-j' to emit output split into multiple files.
399 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
400 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
401 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
403 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
408 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
411 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
412 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
413 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
414 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
415 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
420 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
425 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
426 hpftodit manual page for more details.
431 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
432 the old single script style.
434 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
435 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
436 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
438 New documentation file: README_SH.
440 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
445 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
447 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
457 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
458 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
460 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
462 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
463 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
464 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
466 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
467 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
469 http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/opentype/index_glyph.html
471 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
472 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
473 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
475 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
480 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
482 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
483 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
484 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
485 glyphs. The new request
489 changes the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
490 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
494 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
495 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
497 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
500 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
501 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
502 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
504 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
505 new `rfschar' request.
507 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
508 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
509 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
511 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
512 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
513 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
514 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
516 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
517 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
518 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
520 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
527 \D'Fd' (default color)
529 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
530 position is *not* changed.
532 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
533 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
535 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
536 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
538 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
540 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
541 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
542 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
543 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
544 same glyph shape as with other devices.
549 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
550 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
552 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
553 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
554 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
556 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
557 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
558 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
559 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
560 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
561 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
563 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
565 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
566 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
572 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
573 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
575 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
576 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
579 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
581 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
582 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
584 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
585 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
586 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
591 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
594 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
595 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
600 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
601 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
606 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
612 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
613 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
618 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
620 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
621 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
626 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
627 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
629 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
631 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
632 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
633 afmtodit for more details.
638 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
641 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
642 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
643 sub-subheading indentation.
645 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
648 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
649 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
651 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
654 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
655 explicitly specified on the command line.
657 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
658 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
660 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
661 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
662 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
663 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
665 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
666 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
667 the driver specific DESC file.
669 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
672 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
681 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
682 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
683 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
684 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
685 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
686 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
688 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
689 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
690 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
693 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
698 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
704 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
705 drivers) to set the default line width.
710 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
715 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
720 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
721 compatibility with NetBSD.
723 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
726 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
727 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
730 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
735 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
736 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
737 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
741 papersize /etc/papersize a4
743 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
744 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
745 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
748 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
750 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
756 ***************************************************************************
758 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
760 ***************************************************************************
765 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
766 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
767 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
768 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
769 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
770 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
771 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
772 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
775 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
776 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
779 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
780 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
783 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
784 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
785 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
787 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
788 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
789 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
792 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
795 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
796 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
798 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
799 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
801 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
802 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
804 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
805 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
807 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
808 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
810 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
812 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
815 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
818 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
819 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
825 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
826 . nop I will now define `bar'.
828 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
832 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
833 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
835 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
836 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
837 control their output format.
839 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
840 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
841 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
842 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
843 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
844 before checking special fonts.
846 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
847 doesn't emit a final newline.
849 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
850 with \c counts as one input line.
852 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
853 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
856 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
857 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
858 Note that this is an incompatible change.
860 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
861 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
863 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
864 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
865 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
866 for more information.
868 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
871 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
872 already existing patterns).
874 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
875 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
876 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
877 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
879 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
880 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
881 final `0' can be omitted.
883 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
884 the exception that the `asciify' request uses the character code (if
885 any) before the character translation. Example:
897 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
899 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
900 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
901 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
902 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
903 post-vertical line space.
905 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
915 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
916 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
918 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
919 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
920 single space characters.
922 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
925 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
926 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
927 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
928 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
929 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
934 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
935 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
936 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
937 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
938 for PostScript output only.
940 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
941 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
943 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
944 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
945 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
946 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
947 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
949 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
950 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
951 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
953 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
956 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
957 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
960 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
961 works in compatibility mode.
963 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
964 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
966 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
969 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
970 reference to the ms macros.
972 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
974 o Changes in www.tmac:
976 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
977 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
978 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
981 The following macros have been renamed:
987 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
988 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
990 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
991 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
993 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
994 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
996 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
997 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
999 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
1000 generation to headings.
1002 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
1005 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it automatically
1006 converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
1008 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
1009 (it automatically converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
1011 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
1013 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
1015 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
1017 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
1018 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
1023 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
1024 disabled in compatibility mode).
1029 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
1030 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
1031 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
1036 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
1037 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
1038 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
1040 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
1042 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
1044 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
1049 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1050 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1051 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1056 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1057 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1058 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1063 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
1064 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
1070 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
1075 o Color support has been added.
1077 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
1078 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
1083 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
1084 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
1085 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
1088 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
1089 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
1091 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
1092 extended) has been added.
1094 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
1096 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
1097 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
1098 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
1100 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
1101 doesn't take care of hcode values.
1103 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
1104 to gray values currently.
1109 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
1110 ANSI color) escape sequences.
1112 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
1113 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
1114 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
1116 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
1117 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
1118 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
1119 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
1120 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
1122 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
1123 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable (or $MANPAGER, depending on the
1124 used `man' program); alternatively, you can use `man's `-P' option (or
1125 adapt its configuration file accordingly). See man(1) for more details.
1127 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
1128 reverting to the old behaviour.
1130 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
1131 enable SGR output (the default).
1133 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
1134 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
1135 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
1136 for this (including xterm).
1141 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1143 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1145 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1147 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1148 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1151 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1156 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1157 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1158 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1163 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1165 o The groff texinfo manual is installed now, together with a bunch
1168 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1171 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1173 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1174 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1176 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1178 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1179 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1180 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1185 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1190 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1191 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1192 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1197 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1202 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1203 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1206 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1208 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1209 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1211 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1217 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1219 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1225 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1227 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1228 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1236 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1237 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1238 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1239 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1240 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1242 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1243 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1244 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1245 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1246 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1247 environment variables to groff.
1252 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1253 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1254 supported). Most important changes are:
1257 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1258 . `.Lb': prints library names
1259 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1261 . Updated `.St' command
1262 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1263 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1264 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1265 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1266 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1267 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1268 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1269 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1272 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1273 documents the mdoc package.
1275 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1276 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1278 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1279 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1280 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1283 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1285 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1286 `if 1'. For example,
1292 can now be written as
1298 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1299 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1300 ending the diversion).
1302 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1303 and some other escape sequences also.
1305 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1306 unbreakable space character.
1308 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1309 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1310 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1315 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1320 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1325 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1332 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1333 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1334 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1335 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1338 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1339 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1341 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1342 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1343 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1344 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1347 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1348 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1349 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1364 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1368 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1369 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1371 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1372 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1373 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1375 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1376 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1377 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1378 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1380 o The new `spreadwarn' request makes troff warn if spaces in an output
1381 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1383 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff uses for
1386 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1387 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1388 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1389 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1391 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1392 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1394 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1395 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1398 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1399 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1401 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1403 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1404 previous font family.
1406 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1407 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1409 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1410 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1411 macro or string is written to a stream.
1413 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1414 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1417 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1419 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1420 underlines spaces also).
1425 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1426 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1431 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1432 been added to select a different prologue file.
1434 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1435 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1436 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1441 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1443 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1444 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1445 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1448 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1449 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1450 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1451 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1452 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1453 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1455 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1456 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1459 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1460 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1461 variable if you really need the current directory.
1463 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1464 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1465 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1466 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1467 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1468 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1470 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1471 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1472 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1477 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1485 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1486 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1487 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1489 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1491 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1493 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1494 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1495 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1501 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1502 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1503 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1505 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1506 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1507 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1508 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1509 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1510 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1512 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1513 contains the current year.
1515 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1516 number of the groff package.
1518 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1519 font `foo' is undefined:
1522 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1524 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1526 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1528 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1529 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1531 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1534 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1535 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1537 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1538 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1539 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1541 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1543 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1544 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1547 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1548 (which is an alias to character `"').
1550 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1551 (which is an alias to character "'").
1553 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1554 better support of HTML output:
1556 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1559 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1561 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1562 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1563 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1564 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1566 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1569 use_charnames_in_special
1570 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1571 inside special commands.
1574 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1575 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1580 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1585 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1587 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1589 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1590 is immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1591 punctuation, for example).
1596 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1598 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1604 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1605 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1606 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1611 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1612 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1613 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1614 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1619 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1620 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1625 Simplified installation: The Imakefile is now configured (by groff's
1631 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1632 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1633 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1638 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1639 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1640 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1642 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1643 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1645 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1646 ========================
1648 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1653 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1654 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1655 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1658 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1659 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1661 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1662 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1665 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1666 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1668 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1669 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1671 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1674 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1675 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1677 Following the GNU standards, groff now uses the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1678 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1680 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1681 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1687 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1688 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1689 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1690 reports are highly welcome.
1695 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1701 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1702 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1707 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1708 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1710 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1715 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1720 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1721 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1722 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1723 half a dozen other projects.
1728 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1729 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1730 latest GNU coding standards.
1732 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1733 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1735 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1736 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1737 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1738 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1739 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1740 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1741 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1742 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1743 always installed as -me.
1745 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1751 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1752 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1758 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1764 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1769 The -m option enables manual feed.
1774 \(rn now produces a character that has the traditional metrics,
1775 and form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it does not
1776 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1777 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1783 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1789 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1790 graphic to be specified.
1798 The escape sequence \V[xxx] interpolates the value of the
1799 environment variable xxx.
1804 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1805 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1814 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1815 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1821 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1822 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1823 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1825 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1826 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1828 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1829 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1834 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1835 try to keep the table on one page.
1840 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1841 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1842 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1843 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1848 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1849 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1850 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1855 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1856 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1858 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1860 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1861 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1863 ^L is now a valid input character.
1868 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1869 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1870 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1871 default device is ps.)
1873 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1874 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1875 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1876 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1878 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1879 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1880 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1881 draw_lines parameter.
1883 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1884 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1885 always loaded by troff.
1887 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1892 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1894 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1895 while a character definition is being processed.
1897 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1900 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1901 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1903 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file causes no font to be
1904 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1905 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1906 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1907 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1909 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1910 with compatibility mode disabled.
1912 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1913 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1914 for loading the device-specific macros.
1919 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1920 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1921 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1922 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1924 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1925 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1926 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1928 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1929 (the quotes are required).
1934 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1935 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1936 be prevented by the -R option.
1938 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1939 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1941 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1944 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1945 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1951 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1952 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1953 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1955 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1958 With the -g option, grops generates PostScript code that guesses
1959 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1960 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1965 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1966 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1971 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1977 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1978 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1979 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1980 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1981 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1982 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1983 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1984 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1985 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1986 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register
1987 is derived from the $r or $R register.
1989 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1991 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1992 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ is only usable
1995 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
2000 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
2001 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
2002 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
2004 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
2005 redisplays the current page.
2013 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
2014 differently with blocks.
2016 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
2017 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
2019 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
2021 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
2027 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' are rendered
2028 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
2029 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
2034 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
2035 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
2036 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
2037 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
2038 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
2040 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro produces a box
2041 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
2046 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
2048 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
2049 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
2054 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
2059 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
2060 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
2061 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
2067 Support for scalable fonts.
2072 No changes other than bug fixes.
2077 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
2078 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
2079 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
2080 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
2082 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
2084 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
2085 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
2086 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
2087 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi uses the
2088 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
2089 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
2091 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
2094 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
2095 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
2097 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
2102 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
2103 input level as the opening [.
2105 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
2106 suitable for use as a name.
2108 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
2111 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
2112 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
2113 the -mX option is given.
2115 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
2120 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
2121 constructs by writing a troff macro.
2126 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
2131 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
2132 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
2133 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
2134 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
2136 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
2137 Document Structuring Convention.
2139 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
2140 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
2141 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
2142 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2143 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2146 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2147 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2152 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2153 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps runs gtroff -Tps with
2156 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2157 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2160 Xditview now uses imake.
2165 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2167 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2168 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2169 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2170 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2171 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2172 that the `n' condition is true.
2174 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2175 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2176 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2178 groff -Tdvi -p now passes pic the -x flag; this enables filling
2179 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2180 latest version of the tpic specials.
2185 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2186 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2187 delimiters. The groff command passes on a `-N' option to eqn.
2192 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2193 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2195 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2196 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2197 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2202 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2207 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2208 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2210 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2211 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2212 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2218 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2220 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2226 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2227 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2228 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2229 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2230 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2232 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2234 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2237 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2238 adjustment mode is not `b' a line is not hyphenated if it is no
2239 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2240 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line is not
2241 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2242 amount of extra space to each word space.
2244 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2246 A warning of type `space' is given when a call is made to an
2247 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2248 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2249 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2250 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2256 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2258 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2259 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2265 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2266 complicated equations inside pictures.
2268 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2269 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2275 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2276 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2282 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2283 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2284 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2287 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2288 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2290 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2291 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2293 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2294 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2295 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2296 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2297 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2298 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2300 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2301 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2302 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2303 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2306 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer valid input
2307 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2309 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2310 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2315 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2316 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2317 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2319 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2320 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2321 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2322 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2323 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2324 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2325 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2326 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2327 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2333 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2334 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2336 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2339 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2340 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2341 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2342 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2343 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2344 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2345 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2347 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2348 diversion, it now arranges for the file to be copied to the output
2349 when the diversion is reread.
2351 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2354 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2355 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2356 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2357 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2358 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2359 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2360 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2362 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2365 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2368 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2370 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2371 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2373 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2375 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2376 of end of sentence recognition.
2378 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2379 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2381 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2382 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2384 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2386 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2387 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2388 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2393 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2394 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2396 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2397 lines are drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2400 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2401 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2403 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2405 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2406 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2408 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2409 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2412 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2413 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2415 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2416 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2417 of the `textht' variable.
2419 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2420 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2425 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2426 has been applied to a table.
2431 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2433 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2434 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2439 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2440 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2441 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2442 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2443 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2444 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2445 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2447 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2448 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2449 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
2453 version-control: never