Re: [Groff] installation of ms macros

[Werner LEMBERG]

> > While I understand that the rationale of having groff trying to
> > work with existing macros (after all, they could be heavily
> > customised), it does mean that the default groff installation is
> > effectively broken on many systems.
> 
> There might be a "compatibility" motive here: If you have a
> traditional troff, with its own macros, and you want to use groff in
> compatibility, then it might seem natural/desirable to have the
> groff macros point to the traditional troff macros that you have
> been using since Noah.  However, this could perhaps be arranged by a
> conditional command at the head of the groff macro file, on the
> lines of
> 
>   .ie \\n[.C] .so sun_macro_path/tmac.s
>   .el \{
>   groff macros
>   .\}
> 
> It seems to me that causing the true groff macros to disappear
> altogether on installation is a serious defect.

This indeed looks like a very nice idea!

May I ask someone to check whether Sun's original ms macros work only
in compatibility mode or not.

Reason: If it works without -C also I think it is better to add an
environment variable GROFF_USE_OLD_MACROS which is checked
additionally.


    Werner