[Groff] documentation on macro writing

[Bernd Warken]

On Sat, May 18, 2002 at 03:06:39PM +0200, Erich Hoffmann wrote:
> 
> I'd be grateful if someone could indicate me a good book on
> understanding and writing macros.
> 
Some years ago, there were many books, but they are all out of print.
The website www.troff.org has some pointers to historical documentation.

You can find a bit in Kernighan's `TROFF/NROFF User Manual'.  The groff
man page groff_tmac(5) describes some general principles, but it needs
some update.  I'll revise it during the next days.

There seems to exist some need for a groff document on macro programming;
the wish for such a documentation was uttered already several times.
So we should start a project for a new groff manual with the subjects
- macros with ancient troff
- macros with the full power of groff
- dirty tricks
- lots of examples.

This document should first be written as a plain text file.  Later on,
we will decide on which macro package should be used.  `mom' could be
a good choice, just to get the package tested on a real-world project.

Bernd Warken