Re: [groff] Inexplicable error using tbl(1) 1.19.2 on macOS

[John Gardner]

Hey Larry,

Don't worry, I normally install the latest stable release using Homebrew
<https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/groff.rb>.
I'm mainly an OpenBSD user these days, only using a (borrowed) MacBook when
I have to develop something involving Atom <https://atom.io/>/Electron
<https://electronjs.org/> (which is very common, and no ports for either
exist for OpenBSD yet).

I'm actually keeping this machine's Groff install as vanilla and default as
possible. It provides me with a realistic test environment that most macOS
users are expected to have. Case-in-point: the document affected by the
tbl(1) error was authored on my old MacBook, which had up-to-date versions
of everything. Had no idea there were compatibility issues until viewing it
on another machine. =)

Anyway, all's sorted now. Thanks!

On Sat, 1 Sep 2018 at 13:33, Larry Kollar <address@hidden> wrote:

>
>
> > John Gardner <address@hidden> wrote:
> >
> > Now, we all know Apple are clueless and continue to ship the most ancient
> > versions of software fathomable, but I find it impossible to believe that
> > at some point in Groff's history, there was a published tbl(1) release
> > whose only purpose was to spit confusing error messages, and nothing
> more.
>
> I think Apple has GNU-itis, a malady that makes one think *roff is good
> only
> for formatting manpages. If you’ve only run into trouble with tbl, you’re
> luckier
> than me (so far).
>
> The solution, of course, is to download the groff source, and do:
>
>         ./configure —prefix=/usr
>         make
>         sudo make install
>
> Thus overwriting the installed version. I have to `make install` again
> after
> system updates, but that’s no biggie.
>
>         Larry
>