Re: [Groff] ms .AB/.AE abstract loger than a page = macro error: cover sheet overflow

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Anton,
> Although... what's that 2 lines down:
> http://sources.debian.net/src/groff/1.22.2-7/tmac/s.tmac/?hl=374#L345
> 
> .pl 1000i
> 
> Doesn't this make the cover page 1000 inches long?

Yes, AIUI a common technique to avoid any `near end of page' traps from
triggering whilst content is being `replayed' from a diversion.  You'll
see it's reset on line 375 once the `does the content fit' test is over.

> However, I don't like that I need to modify the source.  Or can I set
> the page length with command line flags?

There's conditions like

    .if n
    .if t

and \*(.T has the name of the output device.  You can set number
registers with -r option.  These allow you to say "very long page
length" when producing text, "do this fancy watermark" when PostScript,
etc., by having conditional code in your source.

Cheers, Ralph.