Re: [Groff] Choosing a portability target

[Gunnar Ritter]

Werner LEMBERG <address@hidden> wrote:

> > HOWEVER, if groff can be compiled and run on HP-UX, groff-oriented
> > man pages will also need to be installed in the usual directories on
> > HP-UX systems, and HP-UX users will expect to be able to run the man
> > command on those pages.
>
> If groff finds another troff package already installed on the system,
> it renames itself to gtroff, geqn, gtbl, etc.; macros have to be
> called as `-mgms', `-mgan', and `-mgmm'.

I think this misses Clarke's point. There is a difference
between

a) installing groff on HP-UX as a typesetting application

b) configuring HP-UX man to use groff

especially since b) could have the effect that many HP-UX
manual pages will not render correctly anymore because the
groff -man macros lack the HP-UX specific .CI, .IC, etc.
macros which Clarke has mentioned.

I did not try this myself, but it seems to me that you
can currently configure HP-UX man to either render the
groff manual pages or the system manual pages but not
both. Also note that the HP-UX -man macros use legacy
syntax (.deTH) and thus would not work in combination
with manual pages that use long names as well even if
groff used them instead of its own -man macros.

Regardless of how you handle this, a) does not imply b).
This is why it makes sense to restrict the groff manual
pages to two-character names.

        Gunnar