1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man pages.
7 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
12 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
13 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
14 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
19 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
24 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
25 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
28 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
30 o Similar to other versions of troff, `.ns' now works in all diversions,
31 not only in the top-level one.
33 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
39 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
41 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
47 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
49 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
50 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
58 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
59 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
60 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
61 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
62 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
64 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
65 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
66 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
67 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
68 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
69 environment variable to groff.
74 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
75 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
76 supported). Most important changes are:
79 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense).
80 . `.Lb': prints library names
81 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
83 . Updated `.St' command
84 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
85 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
86 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
87 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
88 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
89 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
90 . support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
91 . support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
94 `groff_mdoc.man' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.man'; it now completely
95 documents the mdoc package.
97 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
98 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
100 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
101 package has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
102 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
105 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
107 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
114 can now be written as
120 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
121 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
122 ending the diversion).
124 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
125 and some other escape sequences also.
127 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
128 unbreakable space character.
130 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
131 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
132 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
137 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
142 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
147 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
154 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
155 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
156 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
157 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
160 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
161 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
163 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
164 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
165 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
166 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
169 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
170 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
171 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
186 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
190 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
191 mode, and 0 otherwise.
193 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
194 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
195 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
197 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
198 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
199 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
200 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
202 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
203 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
205 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
206 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
209 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
210 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
212 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
214 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
215 previous font family.
217 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
218 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
220 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
221 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
222 macro or string is written to a stream.
224 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
225 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
228 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
230 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
231 underlines spaces also).
236 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
237 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
242 A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has been
243 added to select a different prologue file.
245 The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
246 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour (i.e.,
247 emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
252 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
254 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
255 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
256 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
259 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
260 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
261 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
262 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
263 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
264 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
266 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
267 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
270 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
271 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
272 variable if you really need the current directory.
274 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
275 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
276 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
277 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
278 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
279 is searched before the local tmac directory.
281 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
282 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
283 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
288 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
296 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
297 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
298 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
300 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
302 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
304 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
305 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
306 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
312 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
313 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
314 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
316 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
317 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
318 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
319 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
320 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
321 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
323 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
324 contains the current year.
326 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
327 number of the groff package.
329 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
330 font `foo' is undefined:
333 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
335 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
337 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
339 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
340 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
342 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
345 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
346 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
348 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
349 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
350 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
352 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
354 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
355 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
358 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
359 (which is an alias to character `"').
361 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
362 (which is an alias to character "'").
364 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
365 better support of HTML output:
367 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
370 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
372 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
373 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
374 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
375 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
377 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
380 use_charnames_in_special
381 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
382 inside special commands.
385 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
386 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
391 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
396 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
398 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
400 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
401 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
402 punctuation, for example).
407 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
409 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
415 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
416 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
417 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
422 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
423 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
424 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
425 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
430 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
431 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
436 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
442 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
443 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
444 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
449 A port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part of the
450 distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
451 <blake@florida-software.com>.
453 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
454 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
456 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
457 ========================
459 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
464 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
465 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not
466 all reported bug could be fixed, so please send mails again if
467 something is still not working.
469 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
470 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
472 There is now a man page called groff_man.man which documents the
473 basics of the -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan
474 G. Kleinmann <sgk@debian.org>.
476 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format
477 originally contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
479 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
480 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
482 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer
483 contain the word `UNIX'.
485 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
486 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
488 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix
489 `/usr/local/' as the default instead of replacing an existent groff
492 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
493 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros
499 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by
500 Gaius Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been
501 included into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance
502 to test it. Bug reports are highly welcome.
507 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
513 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
514 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
519 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
520 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
522 Will now support 8 gray levels.
527 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
532 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
533 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
534 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
535 half a dozen other projects.
540 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
541 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
542 latest GNU coding standards.
544 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
545 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
547 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
548 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
549 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
550 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
551 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
552 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
553 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
554 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
555 always installed as -me.
557 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
563 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
564 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
570 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
576 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
581 The -m option enables manual feed.
586 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
587 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
588 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
589 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
595 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
601 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
602 graphic to be specified.
610 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
611 environment variable xxx.
616 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
617 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
626 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
627 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
633 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
634 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
635 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
637 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
638 enabled by default) instead of an error.
640 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
641 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
646 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
647 try to keep the table on one page.
652 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
653 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
654 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
655 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
660 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
661 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
662 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
667 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
668 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
670 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
672 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
673 \(an. See groff_char(7).
675 ^L is now a legal input character.
680 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
681 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
682 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
683 default device is ps.)
685 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
686 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
687 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
688 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
690 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
691 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
692 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
693 draw_lines parameter.
695 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
696 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
697 always loaded by troff.
699 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
704 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
706 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
707 while a character definition is being processed.
709 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
712 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
713 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
715 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
716 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
717 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
718 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
719 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
721 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
722 with compatibility mode disabled.
724 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
725 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
726 for loading the device-specific macros.
731 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
732 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
733 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
734 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
736 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
737 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
738 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
740 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
741 (the quotes are required).
746 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
747 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
748 be prevented by the -R option.
750 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
751 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
753 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
756 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
757 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
763 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
764 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
765 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
767 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
770 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
771 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
772 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
777 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
778 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
783 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
789 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
790 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
791 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
792 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
793 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
794 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
795 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
796 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
797 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
798 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
799 be derived from the $r or $R register.
801 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
803 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
804 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
807 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
812 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
813 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
814 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
816 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
817 redisplays the current page.
825 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
826 differently with blocks.
828 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
829 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
831 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
833 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
839 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
840 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
841 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
846 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
847 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
848 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
849 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
850 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
852 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
853 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
858 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
860 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
861 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
866 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
871 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
872 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
873 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
879 Support for scalable fonts.
884 No changes other than bug fixes.
889 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
890 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
891 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
892 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
894 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
896 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
897 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
898 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
899 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
900 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
901 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
903 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
906 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
907 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
909 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
914 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
915 input level as the opening [.
917 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
918 suitable for use as a name.
920 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
923 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
924 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
925 the -mX option is given.
927 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
932 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
933 constructs by writing a troff macro.
938 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
943 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
944 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
945 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
946 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
948 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
949 Document Structuring Convention.
951 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
952 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
953 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
954 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
955 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
958 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
959 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
964 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
965 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
968 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
969 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
972 Xditview now uses imake.
977 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
979 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
980 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
981 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
982 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
983 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
984 that the `n' condition will be true.
986 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
987 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
988 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
990 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
991 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
992 latest version of the tpic specials.
997 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
998 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
999 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
1004 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
1005 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
1007 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
1008 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
1009 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
1014 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
1019 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
1020 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
1022 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
1023 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
1024 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
1030 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
1032 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
1038 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
1039 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
1040 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
1041 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
1042 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
1044 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
1046 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
1049 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
1050 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
1051 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
1052 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
1053 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
1054 amount of extra space to each word space.
1056 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
1058 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
1059 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
1060 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
1061 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
1062 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
1068 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
1070 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
1071 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
1077 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
1078 complicated equations inside pictures.
1080 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
1081 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
1087 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
1088 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
1094 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
1095 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
1096 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
1099 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
1100 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
1102 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
1103 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
1105 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
1106 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
1107 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
1108 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
1109 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
1110 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
1112 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
1113 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
1114 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
1115 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
1118 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
1119 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
1121 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
1122 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
1127 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
1128 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
1129 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
1131 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
1132 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
1133 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
1134 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
1135 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
1136 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
1137 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
1138 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
1139 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
1145 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
1146 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
1148 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
1151 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
1152 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
1153 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
1154 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
1155 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
1156 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
1157 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
1159 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
1160 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
1161 when the diversion is reread.
1163 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
1166 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
1167 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
1168 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
1169 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
1170 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
1171 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
1172 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
1174 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
1177 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
1180 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
1182 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
1183 containing the hyphenation patterns.
1185 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
1187 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
1188 of end of sentence recognition.
1190 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
1191 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
1193 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
1194 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
1196 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
1198 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
1199 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
1200 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
1205 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
1206 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
1208 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
1209 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
1212 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
1213 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
1215 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
1217 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
1218 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
1220 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
1221 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
1224 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
1225 wherever a quoted string can be used.
1227 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
1228 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
1229 of the `textht' variable.
1231 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
1232 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
1237 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
1238 has been applied to a table.
1243 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
1245 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
1246 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
1251 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
1252 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
1253 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
1254 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
1255 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
1256 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
1257 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
1259 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
1260 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
1261 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
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