Re: [Groff] Integer arithmetic

[Werner LEMBERG]

> Nevertheless I spent a few weeks on this integration thing and
> produced a longish report on what can be done and how, and gave an
> example.  Graphics, far more complex than what you can hope from
> pic, embedded in groff.  I haven't got a single answer, apart from
> the usual thing: this file is too big, cut it down.  Did not feel
> appreciated.

What exactly are you referring to?  I have a

  ps-in-groff.tar.gz

bundle in my inbox which you've sent three years ago to the list.  Do
you mean this?

> I was wondering what was the cause of this no answer.

What answer did you expect?

> Was my contribution worthless?  Was graphics in groff not welcome?

How do you get these impressions?  I consider the groff mailing as a
kind of archive which collects useful tips regarding the troff suite.
Your tar bundle is part of that archive.

> The whole thing boils down to a few questions: what is the role of
> groff in the gnu world?

Unfortunately, its importance for GNU documentation is zero.
Officially, the GNU people prefer the texinfo documentation system.

> Why doesn't it get more attention then maintaining?

Because it's just me who works on groff from time to time, noone
else.  And I have a lot of other things to do.

> And why to maintain nroff and similar things for those few who still
> can not afford to buy a laser printer, at the expense of the many
> who can?

Well, the most important usage of groff is exactly that, namely to
format man pages!

> And, at the same token, why do we restrict the size of e-mails to
> accommodate the very few who can not get adsl at the expense of the
> vast majority op people who can.

For mailing lists, I consider a mail size limit very useful; I approve
all emails sent to the groff mailing list regardless of their size if
it makes sense.


    Werner