Re: [Groff] Typesetting Software

[Steve Izma]

On Wed, Jun 03, 2009 at 08:57:32PM +0200, Tadziu Hoffmann wrote:
> Subject: Re: [Groff] Typesetting Software
> 
> > using 'pdflatex' on the other hand allows  to keep
> > everything as pdf. that's nicer.
> 
> PDF sucks.  It's not programmable, and mostly impossible to
> write and edit by hand.

Not sure what you're getting at here. Pdflatex is just a tool for
going from latex source files to PDF output --a convenience tool,
like lilypond --pdf; I think someone has crafted a shortform to
accomplish this with groff as well, but given the filtering
abilities of groff (with PS output) and ps2pdf, this is pretty
trivial.

I also find it much safer to keep a copy of the output of a
complex project (like a book) as well as the source code; macro
package interaction with groff can change in subtle ways over the
years and you can't count on reproducing a book in precisely the
same way by re-running it ten years later (or 15 or so years, as
I've tried once or twice). And if you try, you might find
yourself needing to re-write the index. PDF is the most compact
format for output that I know of.

        -- Steve

-- 
Steve Izma
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