[Groff] multiline footer?

[Joerg van den Hoff]

dear all,

currently I try to get a multiline footer at the page bottom (in my
case only on page one but it could be a running footer, too). I'm using
the `ms' macros. I tried to modify the BT macro as such:

.de BT
.if \\n%=1 \{\
.  sp -2v
.  so footer.tbl
.  bp
\}
.ie o .tl \\*[pg*OF]
.el   .tl \\*[pg*EF]
..


the intend is: put the content of file `footer.tbl' (which was generated
by running `tbl footer > footer.tbl' to get raw troff directives for
inclusion) at the bootom of first page and then break page, otherwise
use the standard BT behaviour (insert RF, CF, LF).

the real problem is my attempt to first backspace two lines so that the
(in my case: four line) table fits in the FM space. without the `.sp'
the thing works in principle (but cuts off half my table). simply
increasing FM is not the solution for my multipage document I think.

_with_ the `.sp' I get an error:

"footer:12: fatal error: input stack limit exceeded (probable infinite
loop)"

probably because the page bottom trap is hit again and again?
or is the idea to include `tbl' output the real culprit?

my question: how to do this right?


joerg