Re: [groff] Design and Implementation of *roff

[Pierre-Jean Fichet]

John Gardner <address@hidden> wrote:
> Reimplementing Troff is a task best not attempted at all.

Well, Ali Golhami Rudi made it a few years ago... Reimplementing a Troff
is a task people can do if they have reasons to do so.


> On Sat, 1 Dec 2018 at 02:37, Yves Cloutier <address@hidden> wrote:
> > I'm in search of any documentation that provides insight into the design
> > and implementation of a *roff.
> >
> > I know source code exists for a few implementations like Plan 9, Heirloom,
> > Groff and Neatroff.
> >
> > However what I'm in search of is something a bit more high-level than
> > source code. Rather some design/implementation documentation that explains
> > an *approach* to implementing a *roff.

Althought it's still source code, I'd advise looking at Neatroff
sources: it is, as far as I can judge, clean, small, and easier to
understand than the other troff sources I looked at.

It also contains features that worth being considered today: paragraph at
once adjustment and right to left scriptures.

Here it is: https://github.com/aligrudi/neatroff


Kind regards,
Pierre-Jean.