Re: [Groff] An environment variable for enabling compatibility mode

[ralph]

Hi Bernd,

> There should be an environment variable that enables the compatiblity
> mode for all groff related programs; call it $GROFF_COMPAT,
> $GROFF_COMPATIBILTY, $GROFF_COMPAT_MODE, or the like.  If this
> variable is set the option -C is passed to all groff programs that
> have this feature.

How does this improve on groff's -C option which it currently passes
onto all the pipeline commands?

> An important application is the formatting of the classical
> documentation using the original shell scripts.

And also the .[ .] issue that Jon Snader pointed out just this morning.

Back in the `Surprise, Surprise' thread I raised the issue of a single
compatibility flag being insufficient.

    http://www.ffii.org/archive/mails/groff/2001/Aug/0085.html

I still think that's the case because, as Jon said, we end up with
documents that use some groff extensions, so we can't use -C, but we
don't want them to break with future groffs.

How about `naming' the pertinent compatibility issues and then only
enabling extensions explicitly asked for?  groff could search in the
command line, the environment, and a file for such a list, using the
first one found.

There's issues about how to turn sets of them on and off, and also
wanting to say `I want all the extensions that existed in 1.17.2 but
none after that'.

But first off, some agreement's needed that a single -C is
insufficient.

Cheers,


Ralph.