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 A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
13 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
14 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
21 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
22 installed automatically.
27 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
28 hasn't been installed previously.
37 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
38 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
39 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
40 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
42 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
43 on standard error and run.
48 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
49 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
51 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
52 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
54 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
57 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
59 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
61 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
62 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
63 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
65 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
66 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
67 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
69 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
70 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
71 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
73 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
74 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
76 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
77 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
82 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
87 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
88 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
93 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
94 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
95 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
96 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
97 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
102 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
107 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
108 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
109 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
111 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
116 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
119 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
120 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
121 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
122 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
123 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
128 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
133 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
134 hpftodit manual page for more details.
139 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
140 the old single script style.
142 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
143 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
144 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
146 New documentation file: README_SH.
148 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
153 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
155 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
165 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
166 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
168 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
170 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
171 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
172 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
174 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
175 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
177 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
179 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
180 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
181 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
183 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
188 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
190 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
191 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
192 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
193 glyphs. The new request
197 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
198 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
202 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
203 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
205 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
208 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
209 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
210 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
212 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
213 new `rfschar' request.
215 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
216 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
217 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
219 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
220 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
221 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
222 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
224 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
225 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
226 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
228 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
235 \D'Fd' (default color)
237 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
238 position is *not* changed.
240 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
241 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
243 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
244 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
246 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
248 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
249 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
250 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
251 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
252 same glyph shape as with other devices.
257 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
258 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
260 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
261 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
262 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
264 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
265 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
266 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
267 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
268 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
269 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
271 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
273 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
274 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
280 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
281 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
283 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
284 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
287 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
289 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
290 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
292 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
293 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
294 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
299 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
302 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
303 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
308 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
309 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
314 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
320 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
321 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
326 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
328 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
329 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
334 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
335 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
337 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
339 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
340 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
341 afmtodit for more details.
346 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
349 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
350 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
351 sub-subheading indentation.
353 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
356 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
357 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
359 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
362 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
363 explicitly specified on the command line.
365 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
366 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
368 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
369 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
370 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
371 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
373 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
374 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
375 the driver specific DESC file.
377 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
380 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
389 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
390 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
391 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
392 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
393 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
394 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
396 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
397 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
398 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
401 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
406 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
412 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
413 drivers) to set the default line width.
418 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
423 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
428 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
429 compatibility with NetBSD.
431 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
434 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
435 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
438 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
443 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
444 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
445 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
449 papersize /etc/papersize a4
451 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
452 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
453 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
456 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
458 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
464 ***************************************************************************
466 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
468 ***************************************************************************
473 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
474 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
475 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
476 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
477 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
478 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
479 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
480 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
483 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
484 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
487 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
488 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
491 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
492 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
493 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
495 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
496 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
497 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
500 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
503 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
504 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
506 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
507 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
509 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
510 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
512 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
513 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
515 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
516 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
518 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
520 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
523 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
526 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
527 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
533 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
534 . nop I will now define `bar'.
536 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
540 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
541 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
543 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
544 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
545 control their output format.
547 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
548 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
549 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
550 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
551 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
552 before checking special fonts.
554 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
555 doesn't emit a final newline.
557 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
558 with \c counts as one input line.
560 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
561 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
564 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
565 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
566 Note that this is an incompatible change.
568 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
569 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
571 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
572 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
573 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
574 for more information.
576 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
579 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
580 already existing patterns).
582 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
583 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
584 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
585 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
587 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
588 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
589 final `0' can be omitted.
591 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
592 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
593 any) before the character translation. Example:
605 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
607 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
608 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
609 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
610 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
611 post-vertical line space.
613 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
623 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
624 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
626 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
627 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
628 single space characters.
630 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
633 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
634 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
635 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
636 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
637 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
642 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
643 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
644 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
645 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
646 for PostScript output only.
648 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
649 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
651 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
652 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
653 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
654 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
655 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
657 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
658 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
659 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
661 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
664 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
665 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
668 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
669 works in compatibility mode.
671 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
672 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
674 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
677 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
678 reference to the ms macros.
680 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
682 o Changes in www.tmac:
684 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
685 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
686 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
689 The following macros have been renamed:
695 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
696 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
698 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
699 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
701 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
702 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
704 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
705 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
707 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
708 generation to headings.
710 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
713 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
714 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
716 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
717 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
720 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
722 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
724 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
726 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
727 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
732 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
733 disabled in compatibility mode).
738 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
739 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
740 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
745 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
746 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
747 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
749 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
751 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
753 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
758 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
759 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
760 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
765 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
766 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
767 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
772 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
773 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
779 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
784 o Color support has been added.
786 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
787 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
792 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
793 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
794 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
797 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
798 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
800 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
801 extended) has been added.
803 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
805 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
806 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
807 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
809 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
810 doesn't take care of hcode values.
812 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
813 to gray values currently.
818 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
819 ANSI color) escape sequences.
821 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
822 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
823 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
825 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
826 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
827 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
828 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
829 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
831 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
832 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
833 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
834 man(1) for more details.
836 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
837 reverting to the old behaviour.
839 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
840 enable SGR output (the default).
842 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
843 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
844 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
845 for this (including xterm).
850 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
852 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
854 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
856 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
857 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
860 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
865 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
866 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
867 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
872 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
874 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
877 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
880 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
882 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
883 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
885 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
887 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
888 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
889 currently. troff completely ignores it.
894 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
899 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
900 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
901 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
906 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
911 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
912 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
915 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
917 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
918 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
920 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
926 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
928 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
934 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
936 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
937 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
945 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
946 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
947 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
948 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
949 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
951 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
952 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
953 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
954 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
955 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
956 environment variables to groff.
961 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
962 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
963 supported). Most important changes are:
966 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
967 . `.Lb': prints library names
968 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
970 . Updated `.St' command
971 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
972 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
973 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
974 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
975 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
976 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
977 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
978 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
981 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
982 documents the mdoc package.
984 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
985 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
987 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
988 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
989 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
992 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
994 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1001 can now be written as
1007 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1008 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1009 ending the diversion).
1011 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1012 and some other escape sequences also.
1014 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1015 unbreakable space character.
1017 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1018 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1019 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1024 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1029 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1034 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1041 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1042 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1043 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1044 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1047 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1048 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1050 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1051 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1052 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1053 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1056 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1057 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1058 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1073 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1077 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1078 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1080 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1081 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1082 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1084 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1085 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1086 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1087 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1089 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1090 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1092 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1095 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1096 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1097 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1098 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1100 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1101 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1103 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1104 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1107 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1108 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1110 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1112 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1113 previous font family.
1115 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1116 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1118 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1119 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1120 macro or string is written to a stream.
1122 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1123 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1126 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1128 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1129 underlines spaces also).
1134 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1135 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1140 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1141 been added to select a different prologue file.
1143 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1144 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1145 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1150 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1152 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1153 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1154 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1157 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1158 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1159 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1160 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1161 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1162 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1164 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1165 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1168 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1169 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1170 variable if you really need the current directory.
1172 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1173 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1174 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1175 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1176 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1177 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1179 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1180 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1181 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1186 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1194 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1195 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1196 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1198 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1200 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1202 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1203 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1204 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1210 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1211 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1212 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1214 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1215 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1216 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1217 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1218 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1219 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1221 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1222 contains the current year.
1224 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1225 number of the groff package.
1227 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1228 font `foo' is undefined:
1231 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1233 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1235 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1237 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1238 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1240 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1243 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1244 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1246 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1247 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1248 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1250 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1252 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1253 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1256 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1257 (which is an alias to character `"').
1259 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1260 (which is an alias to character "'").
1262 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1263 better support of HTML output:
1265 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1268 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1270 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1271 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1272 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1273 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1275 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1278 use_charnames_in_special
1279 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1280 inside special commands.
1283 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1284 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1289 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1294 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1296 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1298 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1299 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1300 punctuation, for example).
1305 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1307 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1313 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1314 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1315 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1320 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1321 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1322 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1323 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1328 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1329 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1334 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1340 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1341 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1342 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1347 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1348 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1349 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1351 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1352 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1354 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1355 ========================
1357 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1362 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1363 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1364 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1367 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1368 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1370 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1371 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1374 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1375 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1377 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1378 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1380 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1383 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1384 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1386 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1387 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1389 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1390 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1396 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1397 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1398 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1399 reports are highly welcome.
1404 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1410 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1411 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1416 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1417 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1419 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1424 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1429 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1430 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1431 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1432 half a dozen other projects.
1437 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1438 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1439 latest GNU coding standards.
1441 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1442 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1444 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1445 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1446 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1447 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1448 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1449 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1450 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1451 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1452 always installed as -me.
1454 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1460 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1461 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1467 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1473 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1478 The -m option enables manual feed.
1483 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1484 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1485 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1486 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1492 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1498 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1499 graphic to be specified.
1507 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1508 environment variable xxx.
1513 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1514 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1523 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1524 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1530 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1531 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1532 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1534 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1535 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1537 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1538 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1543 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1544 try to keep the table on one page.
1549 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1550 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1551 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1552 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1557 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1558 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1559 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1564 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1565 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1567 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1569 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1570 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1572 ^L is now a legal input character.
1577 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1578 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1579 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1580 default device is ps.)
1582 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1583 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1584 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1585 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1587 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1588 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1589 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1590 draw_lines parameter.
1592 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1593 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1594 always loaded by troff.
1596 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1601 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1603 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1604 while a character definition is being processed.
1606 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1609 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1610 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1612 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1613 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1614 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1615 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1616 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1618 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1619 with compatibility mode disabled.
1621 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1622 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1623 for loading the device-specific macros.
1628 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1629 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1630 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1631 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1633 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1634 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1635 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1637 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1638 (the quotes are required).
1643 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1644 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1645 be prevented by the -R option.
1647 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1648 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1650 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1653 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1654 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1660 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1661 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1662 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1664 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1667 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1668 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1669 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1674 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1675 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1680 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1686 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1687 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1688 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1689 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1690 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1691 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1692 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1693 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1694 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1695 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1696 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1698 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1700 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1701 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1704 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1709 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1710 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1711 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1713 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1714 redisplays the current page.
1722 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1723 differently with blocks.
1725 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1726 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1728 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1730 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1736 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1737 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1738 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1743 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1744 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1745 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1746 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1747 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1749 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1750 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1755 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1757 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1758 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1763 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1768 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1769 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1770 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1776 Support for scalable fonts.
1781 No changes other than bug fixes.
1786 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1787 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1788 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1789 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1791 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1793 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1794 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1795 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1796 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1797 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1798 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1800 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1803 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1804 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1806 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1811 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1812 input level as the opening [.
1814 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1815 suitable for use as a name.
1817 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1820 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1821 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1822 the -mX option is given.
1824 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1829 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1830 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1835 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1840 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1841 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1842 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1843 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1845 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1846 Document Structuring Convention.
1848 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1849 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1850 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1851 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
1852 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
1855 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
1856 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
1861 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
1862 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
1865 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
1866 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
1869 Xditview now uses imake.
1874 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
1876 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
1877 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
1878 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
1879 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
1880 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
1881 that the `n' condition will be true.
1883 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
1884 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
1885 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
1887 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
1888 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
1889 latest version of the tpic specials.
1894 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
1895 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
1896 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1901 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1902 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1904 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1905 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1906 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
1911 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
1916 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
1917 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
1919 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
1920 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
1921 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
1927 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
1929 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
1935 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
1936 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
1937 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
1938 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
1939 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
1941 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
1943 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
1946 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
1947 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
1948 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
1949 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
1950 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
1951 amount of extra space to each word space.
1953 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
1955 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
1956 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
1957 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
1958 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
1959 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
1965 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
1967 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
1968 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
1974 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
1975 complicated equations inside pictures.
1977 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
1978 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
1984 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
1985 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
1991 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
1992 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
1993 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
1996 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
1997 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
1999 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2000 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2002 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2003 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2004 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2005 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2006 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2007 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2009 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2010 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2011 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2012 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2015 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2016 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2018 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2019 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2024 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2025 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2026 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2028 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2029 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2030 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2031 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2032 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2033 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2034 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2035 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2036 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2042 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2043 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2045 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2048 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2049 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2050 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2051 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2052 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2053 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2054 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2056 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2057 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
2058 when the diversion is reread.
2060 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2063 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2064 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2065 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2066 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2067 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2068 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2069 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2071 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2074 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2077 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2079 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2080 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2082 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2084 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2085 of end of sentence recognition.
2087 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2088 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2090 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2091 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2093 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2095 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2096 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2097 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2102 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2103 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2105 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2106 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2109 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2110 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2112 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2114 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2115 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2117 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2118 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2121 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2122 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2124 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2125 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2126 of the `textht' variable.
2128 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2129 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2134 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2135 has been applied to a table.
2140 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2142 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2143 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2148 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2149 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2150 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2151 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2152 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2153 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2154 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2156 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2157 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2158 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'