1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Fabrice Ménard contributed locales support. In particular, it is now
11 possible to get French localization of the main macro packages (-ms, -mm,
12 -me, and -mom, but not -man and -mdoc which are localized differently) by
13 appending `-mfr' to the list of macro packages. Example:
15 groff -ms -mfr foo > foo.ps
17 Note that latin-9 input encoding is used for French (to support the `oe'
20 o Swedish macro localization (with `-msv') has been added.
22 o German macro localization (with `-mde' and `-mden' for traditional and
23 new orthography, respectively) has been added.
25 o Two new requests `device' and `devicem' have been added which are
26 equivalents to the \X and \Y escapes, respectively.
28 o A new read-only number register `.br' is available which is set to 1
29 if a macro is called as .foo and to 0 if called as 'foo. This allows to
30 reliably modify requests.
35 . ie \\n[.br] .bp@orig
40 o A new request `fzoom' has been added to adjust the optical size of a
41 font in relation to the others. The zoom factor is given in integer
42 multiples of 1/1000th. In the following example, the CR font is
43 magnified by 10% (the zoom factor is 1.1).
48 Palatino and \f[CR]Courier\f[]
50 The new number register `.zoom' holds the zoom value of the current font,
51 in multiples of 1/1000th.
53 o The `cflags' request has been extended with a new flag value 64, to be
54 used in combination with values 2 (break before character) and 4 (break
55 after character). If set, the hyphenation codes of the surrounding
56 characters are ignored.
58 o A new debugging request, `pev', has been added to print all of the current
59 known environments to stderr. It first prints the state of the current
60 environment, then iterates through all of the known environments, printing
61 each except the one that is current.
63 o A new escape `\$^' has been added. It represents the parameters of a
64 macro as if they were an argument to the `ds' request. This is used by
67 o The PS font definition files have been regenerated with newer AFM versions
68 from Adobe's 35 core fonts as present in most Level 2 PS printers. The
69 changes are minor (most notably, the addition of the `Euro' glyph and an
70 extended set of kerning values).
72 For backwards compatibility, the old set of font definition files is still
73 available; for details please read the man page of `grops(1)'.
78 o int(x) now really behaves as documented: It truncates the non-integer part
79 of x, this is, it rounds towards zero and not towards the next integer
80 less than or equal to x.
82 o Pic now supports up to 32 macro arguments (and up to 16 on EBCDIC
88 o The preprocessor `chem' was added. `chem' is a roff language to generate
89 chemical structure diagrams. It generates `pic' output.
94 o \D'p...' is now supported if the polygon consists entirely of horizontal
100 o `groffer' version 1.* exists now in a shell and a Perl version.
105 o New option `-c' to output more font information as comments.
110 o A new macro `Dx' has been added to the mdoc package which identifies the
113 o -mtrace has been considerably improved, now showing number and string
114 register assignments, among other things.
116 o The PSPIC macro now works with all devices (producing a hollow
117 rectangle on devices which don't support inclusion of PS images) and
118 is loaded in troffrc at start-up.
120 o A new auxiliary macro package `62bit' has been added which provides some
121 macros for adding, multiplying, and dividing signed 62bit integers (mainly
122 to handle normal groff number operations without risking overflow errors).
131 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
132 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
133 set the glyph and background colours.
135 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
138 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
139 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
142 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
148 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
149 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
154 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
156 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
157 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
158 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
161 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
163 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
164 ldots (three dots on the base line)
165 dollar (a dollar glyph)
167 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
168 hasn't been documented previously:
177 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
182 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
185 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
187 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
193 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
198 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
199 installed automatically.
204 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
205 hasn't been installed previously.
210 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
215 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
216 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
217 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
222 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
223 documents with groff.
230 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
231 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
232 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
235 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
236 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
237 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
238 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
239 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
241 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
244 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
245 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
248 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
249 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
252 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which keeps the
253 same point size as body text.
256 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
257 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
258 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1'
259 produces 14pt headings, `.NH 2' produces 12pt, and all other
260 levels remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
262 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
263 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
266 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
271 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
272 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
276 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
278 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
279 <head>...</head> block.
281 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
283 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
288 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
289 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
294 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
295 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
296 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
297 troff always use unscaled character widths.
306 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
307 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
308 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
309 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
311 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands are both printed
312 on standard error and run.
317 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
318 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
320 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
321 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
323 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
326 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
328 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
330 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
331 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
332 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
334 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
335 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
336 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
338 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
339 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
340 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
342 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
343 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
345 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
346 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
351 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
356 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
357 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
362 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
363 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
364 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
365 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
366 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
371 o New option `-j' to emit output split into multiple files.
376 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
377 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
378 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
380 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
385 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
388 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
389 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
390 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
391 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
392 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
397 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
402 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
403 hpftodit manual page for more details.
408 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
409 the old single script style.
411 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
412 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
413 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
415 New documentation file: README_SH.
417 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
422 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
424 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
434 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
435 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
437 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
439 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
440 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
441 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
443 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
444 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
446 http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/opentype/index_glyph.html
448 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
449 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
450 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
452 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
457 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
459 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
460 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
461 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
462 glyphs. The new request
466 changes the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
467 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
471 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
472 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
474 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
477 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
478 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
479 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
481 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
482 new `rfschar' request.
484 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
485 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
486 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
488 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
489 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
490 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
491 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
493 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
494 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
495 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
497 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
504 \D'Fd' (default color)
506 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
507 position is *not* changed.
509 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
510 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
512 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
513 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
515 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
517 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
518 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
519 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
520 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
521 same glyph shape as with other devices.
526 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
527 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
529 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
530 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
531 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
533 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
534 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
535 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
536 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
537 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
538 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
540 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
542 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
543 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
549 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
550 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
552 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
553 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
556 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
558 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
559 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
561 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
562 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
563 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
568 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
571 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
572 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
577 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
578 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
583 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
589 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
590 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
595 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
597 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
598 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
603 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
604 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
606 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
608 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
609 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
610 afmtodit for more details.
615 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
618 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
619 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
620 sub-subheading indentation.
622 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
625 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
626 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
628 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
631 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
632 explicitly specified on the command line.
634 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
635 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
637 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
638 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
639 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
640 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
642 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
643 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
644 the driver specific DESC file.
646 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
649 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
658 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
659 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
660 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
661 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
662 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
663 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
665 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
666 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
667 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
670 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
675 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
681 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
682 drivers) to set the default line width.
687 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
692 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
697 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
698 compatibility with NetBSD.
700 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
703 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
704 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
707 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
712 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
713 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
714 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
718 papersize /etc/papersize a4
720 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
721 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
722 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
725 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
727 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
733 ***************************************************************************
735 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
737 ***************************************************************************
742 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
743 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
744 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
745 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
746 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
747 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
748 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
749 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
752 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
753 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
756 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
757 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
760 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
761 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
762 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
764 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
765 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
766 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
769 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
772 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
773 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
775 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
776 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
778 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
779 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
781 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
782 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
784 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
785 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
787 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
789 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
792 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
795 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
796 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
802 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
803 . nop I will now define `bar'.
805 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
809 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
810 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
812 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
813 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
814 control their output format.
816 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
817 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
818 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
819 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
820 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
821 before checking special fonts.
823 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
824 doesn't emit a final newline.
826 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
827 with \c counts as one input line.
829 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
830 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
833 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
834 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
835 Note that this is an incompatible change.
837 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
838 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
840 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
841 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
842 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
843 for more information.
845 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
848 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
849 already existing patterns).
851 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
852 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
853 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
854 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
856 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
857 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
858 final `0' can be omitted.
860 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
861 the exception that the `asciify' request uses the character code (if
862 any) before the character translation. Example:
874 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
876 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
877 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
878 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
879 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
880 post-vertical line space.
882 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
892 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
893 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
895 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
896 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
897 single space characters.
899 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
902 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
903 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
904 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
905 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
906 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
911 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
912 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
913 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
914 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
915 for PostScript output only.
917 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
918 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
920 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
921 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
922 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
923 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
924 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
926 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
927 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
928 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
930 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
933 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
934 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
937 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
938 works in compatibility mode.
940 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
941 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
943 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
946 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
947 reference to the ms macros.
949 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
951 o Changes in www.tmac:
953 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
954 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
955 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
958 The following macros have been renamed:
964 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
965 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
967 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
968 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
970 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
971 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
973 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
974 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
976 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
977 generation to headings.
979 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
982 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it automatically
983 converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
985 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
986 (it automatically converts it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
988 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
990 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
992 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
994 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
995 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
1000 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
1001 disabled in compatibility mode).
1006 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
1007 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
1008 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
1013 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
1014 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
1015 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
1017 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
1019 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
1021 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
1026 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1027 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1028 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1033 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
1034 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
1035 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
1040 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
1041 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
1047 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
1052 o Color support has been added.
1054 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
1055 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
1060 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
1061 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
1062 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
1065 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
1066 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
1068 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
1069 extended) has been added.
1071 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
1073 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
1074 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
1075 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
1077 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
1078 doesn't take care of hcode values.
1080 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
1081 to gray values currently.
1086 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
1087 ANSI color) escape sequences.
1089 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
1090 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
1091 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
1093 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
1094 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
1095 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
1096 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
1097 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
1099 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
1100 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable (or $MANPAGER, depending on the
1101 used `man' program); alternatively, you can use `man's `-P' option (or
1102 adapt its configuration file accordingly). See man(1) for more details.
1104 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
1105 reverting to the old behaviour.
1107 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
1108 enable SGR output (the default).
1110 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
1111 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
1112 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
1113 for this (including xterm).
1118 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1120 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1122 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1124 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1125 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1128 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1133 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1134 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1135 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1140 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1142 o The groff texinfo manual is installed now, together with a bunch
1145 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1148 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1150 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1151 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1153 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1155 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1156 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1157 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1162 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1167 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1168 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1169 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1174 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1179 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1180 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1183 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1185 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1186 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1188 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1194 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1196 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1202 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1204 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1205 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1213 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1214 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1215 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1216 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1217 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1219 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1220 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1221 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1222 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1223 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1224 environment variables to groff.
1229 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1230 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1231 supported). Most important changes are:
1234 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1235 . `.Lb': prints library names
1236 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1238 . Updated `.St' command
1239 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1240 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1241 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1242 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1243 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1244 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1245 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1246 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1249 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1250 documents the mdoc package.
1252 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1253 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1255 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1256 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1257 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1260 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1262 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1263 `if 1'. For example,
1269 can now be written as
1275 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1276 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1277 ending the diversion).
1279 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1280 and some other escape sequences also.
1282 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1283 unbreakable space character.
1285 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1286 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1287 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1292 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1297 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1302 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1309 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1310 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1311 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1312 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1315 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1316 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1318 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1319 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1320 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1321 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1324 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1325 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1326 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1341 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1345 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1346 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1348 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1349 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1350 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1352 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1353 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1354 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1355 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1357 o The new `spreadwarn' request makes troff warn if spaces in an output
1358 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1360 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff uses for
1363 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1364 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1365 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1366 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1368 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1369 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1371 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1372 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1375 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1376 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1378 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1380 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1381 previous font family.
1383 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1384 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1386 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1387 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1388 macro or string is written to a stream.
1390 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1391 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1394 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1396 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1397 underlines spaces also).
1402 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1403 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1408 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1409 been added to select a different prologue file.
1411 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1412 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1413 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1418 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1420 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1421 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1422 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1425 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1426 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1427 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1428 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1429 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1430 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1432 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1433 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1436 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1437 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1438 variable if you really need the current directory.
1440 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1441 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1442 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1443 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1444 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1445 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1447 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1448 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1449 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1454 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1462 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1463 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1464 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1466 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1468 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1470 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1471 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1472 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1478 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1479 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1480 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1482 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1483 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1484 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1485 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1486 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1487 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1489 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1490 contains the current year.
1492 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1493 number of the groff package.
1495 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1496 font `foo' is undefined:
1499 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1501 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1503 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1505 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1506 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1508 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1511 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1512 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1514 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1515 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1516 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1518 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1520 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1521 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1524 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1525 (which is an alias to character `"').
1527 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1528 (which is an alias to character "'").
1530 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1531 better support of HTML output:
1533 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1536 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1538 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1539 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1540 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1541 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1543 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1546 use_charnames_in_special
1547 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1548 inside special commands.
1551 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1552 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1557 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1562 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1564 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1566 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1567 is immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1568 punctuation, for example).
1573 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1575 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1581 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1582 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1583 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1588 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1589 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1590 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1591 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1596 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1597 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1602 Simplified installation: The Imakefile is now configured (by groff's
1608 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1609 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1610 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1615 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1616 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1617 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1619 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1620 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1622 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1623 ========================
1625 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1630 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1631 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1632 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1635 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1636 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1638 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1639 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1642 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1643 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1645 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1646 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1648 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1651 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1652 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1654 Following the GNU standards, groff now uses the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1655 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1657 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1658 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1664 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1665 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1666 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1667 reports are highly welcome.
1672 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1678 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1679 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1684 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1685 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1687 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1692 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1697 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1698 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1699 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1700 half a dozen other projects.
1705 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1706 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1707 latest GNU coding standards.
1709 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1710 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1712 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1713 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1714 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1715 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1716 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1717 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1718 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1719 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1720 always installed as -me.
1722 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1728 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1729 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1735 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1741 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1746 The -m option enables manual feed.
1751 \(rn now produces a character that has the traditional metrics,
1752 and form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it does not
1753 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1754 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1760 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1766 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1767 graphic to be specified.
1775 The escape sequence \V[xxx] interpolates the value of the
1776 environment variable xxx.
1781 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1782 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1791 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1792 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1798 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1799 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1800 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1802 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1803 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1805 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1806 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1811 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1812 try to keep the table on one page.
1817 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1818 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1819 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1820 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1825 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1826 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1827 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1832 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1833 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1835 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1837 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1838 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1840 ^L is now a valid input character.
1845 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1846 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1847 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1848 default device is ps.)
1850 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1851 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1852 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1853 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1855 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1856 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1857 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1858 draw_lines parameter.
1860 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1861 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1862 always loaded by troff.
1864 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1869 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1871 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1872 while a character definition is being processed.
1874 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1877 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1878 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1880 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file causes no font to be
1881 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1882 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1883 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1884 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1886 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1887 with compatibility mode disabled.
1889 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1890 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1891 for loading the device-specific macros.
1896 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1897 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1898 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1899 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1901 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1902 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1903 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1905 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1906 (the quotes are required).
1911 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1912 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1913 be prevented by the -R option.
1915 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1916 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1918 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1921 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1922 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1928 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1929 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1930 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1932 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1935 With the -g option, grops generates PostScript code that guesses
1936 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1937 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1942 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1943 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1948 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1954 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1955 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1956 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1957 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1958 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1959 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1960 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1961 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1962 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1963 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register
1964 is derived from the $r or $R register.
1966 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1968 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1969 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ is only usable
1972 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1977 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1978 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1979 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1981 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1982 redisplays the current page.
1990 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1991 differently with blocks.
1993 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1994 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1996 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1998 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
2004 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' are rendered
2005 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
2006 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
2011 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
2012 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
2013 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
2014 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
2015 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
2017 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro produces a box
2018 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
2023 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
2025 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
2026 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
2031 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
2036 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
2037 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
2038 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
2044 Support for scalable fonts.
2049 No changes other than bug fixes.
2054 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
2055 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
2056 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
2057 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
2059 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
2061 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
2062 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
2063 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
2064 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi uses the
2065 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
2066 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
2068 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
2071 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
2072 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
2074 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
2079 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
2080 input level as the opening [.
2082 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
2083 suitable for use as a name.
2085 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
2088 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
2089 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
2090 the -mX option is given.
2092 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
2097 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
2098 constructs by writing a troff macro.
2103 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
2108 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
2109 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
2110 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
2111 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
2113 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
2114 Document Structuring Convention.
2116 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
2117 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
2118 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
2119 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2120 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2123 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2124 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2129 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2130 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps runs gtroff -Tps with
2133 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2134 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2137 Xditview now uses imake.
2142 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2144 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2145 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2146 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2147 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2148 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2149 that the `n' condition is true.
2151 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2152 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2153 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2155 groff -Tdvi -p now passes pic the -x flag; this enables filling
2156 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2157 latest version of the tpic specials.
2162 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2163 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2164 delimiters. The groff command passes on a `-N' option to eqn.
2169 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2170 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2172 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2173 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2174 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2179 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2184 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2185 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2187 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2188 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2189 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2195 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2197 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2203 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2204 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2205 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2206 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2207 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2209 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2211 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2214 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2215 adjustment mode is not `b' a line is not hyphenated if it is no
2216 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2217 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line is not
2218 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2219 amount of extra space to each word space.
2221 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2223 A warning of type `space' is given when a call is made to an
2224 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2225 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2226 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2227 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2233 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2235 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2236 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2242 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2243 complicated equations inside pictures.
2245 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2246 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2252 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2253 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2259 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2260 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2261 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2264 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2265 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2267 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2268 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2270 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2271 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2272 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2273 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2274 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2275 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2277 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2278 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2279 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2280 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2283 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer valid input
2284 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2286 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2287 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2292 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2293 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2294 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2296 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2297 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2298 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2299 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2300 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2301 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2302 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2303 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2304 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2310 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2311 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2313 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2316 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2317 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2318 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2319 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2320 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2321 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2322 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2324 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2325 diversion, it now arranges for the file to be copied to the output
2326 when the diversion is reread.
2328 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2331 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2332 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2333 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2334 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2335 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2336 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2337 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2339 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2342 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2345 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2347 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2348 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2350 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2352 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2353 of end of sentence recognition.
2355 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2356 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2358 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2359 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2361 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2363 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2364 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2365 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2370 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2371 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2373 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2374 lines are drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2377 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2378 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2380 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2382 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2383 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2385 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2386 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2389 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2390 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2392 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2393 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2394 of the `textht' variable.
2396 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2397 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2402 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2403 has been applied to a table.
2408 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2410 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2411 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2416 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2417 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2418 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2419 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2420 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2421 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2422 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2424 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2425 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2426 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
2430 version-control: never