Re: [Groff] .ss problem

[Werner LEMBERG]

> > Making .ss not working if in compatibility mode *and* if in nroff
> > mode is really artificial.  Until now, the only result of using
> > the `.nroff' command to activate nroff mode is that `.if n' yields
> > true.  There are no other built-in dependencies.
> 
> In that case I think it is more fair to say that we have a GNU troff
> but no GNU nroff.  Our troff just happens to be able to output to
> tty-like devices and have a .nroff command for those people that
> want to try and fool legacy code.  Which is sufficient for
> everyones(?) needs.

`Fool' is probably the wrong word.  It does make sense to handle
things differently generally (on the macro level) for TTY and non-TTY
devices, using the `.if n' and `.if t' constructs.  Note that another
old proprietary extension to troff, vroff (for Versatec printers),
added `.if v' (GNU troff always returns 0 for that), but I think this
is the wrong way.  The right way to distinguish output devices is
using the predefined `.T' string.

> In which case, .ss should always behave as it does in troff, no?

Yes.


    Werner