Re: [groff] man -Tdvi replaces $ by £

[Werner LEMBERG]

> grodvi invoked by man -Tdvi replaces all occurrences of dollar
> character ($) by pound sterling character (£).

Indeed.

> .TH test 1
> .BI "perl example: " "$str =~ m/^[a-z]$/;"

This example tries to use `$' within bold italic.  However, the TeX CM
font `cmbi10' doesn't provide this character.  File `dvi.tmac' contains

  .fspecial TBI CWI

which means that it tries `CWI' as a font-specific fallback for glyphs
missing in TBI.  However, `CWI' was generated with the same mapping
table as `CW', which was wrong.

Now fixed in git.  Thanks for the report.

Note that -Tdvi uses the original CM fonts, which have a very limited
glyph set.  If you use the updated CWI font you will see that you get
upright dollar glyphs, since CM doesn't contained slanted dollar
signs.

Adding `-mec' on the command line makes groff use the EC fonts, which
actually contain slanted dollar glyphs.

> Is there any particular reason why [...] ascii characters [are
> replaced] by accents?

They are not replaced by accents.  They are already using the best
available shape.  Note that most non-typewriter fonts have both tilde
and hat glyphs located at the top and not in the middle.

Textual representation forms can be printed by using `\(ti' instead
of `~' and `\(ha' instead of `^'.  Some remarks.

. `\(ti' used with the CM fonts indeed provides a different shape,
  taken from the CM symbol font.  However, I would call this shape a
  bug, since it is definitely no longer a tilde.  IMHO, `\(ti'
  shouldn't get a separate shape for CM.

. If you are using `-mec' to activate the EC font family, `\(ti' is
  taken from the `tc*' text companion fonts, where this glyph is
  sitting on the baseline; it is not centered vertically on the font's
  x axis.  This is a bug, too: `\(ti' shouldn't get a separate shape
  for EC.

. For EC fonts, `~' and `^' are already the larger shapes.  The
  smaller accent shapes can be printed with `\(a~' and `\(a^'.

I don't have sufficient time to fix those two buglets, unfortunately.


    Werner