Re: .ab oddity

[Peter Schaffter]

On Fri, Feb 03, 2023, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> I felt it was unorthogonal for `ab` to force a message onto the
> standard error stream when the `tm` request (and groff's several
> relatives of it) already existed.[1]
> 
> Part of the idea here is that you can then use `am` to stick an abort
> request onto any other macro, perhaps one which already produced a
> perfectly diagnostic message, without having to just through any hoops.

The reasoning makes sense but now you have to jump through a hoop
when you're using .ab for debugging.  I usually debug with the -z
flag.  Formerly,

  echo -e ".nr foo 1\n.if r foo .ab\n" | groff -z

would helpfully spit out "User abort."  Now there's no way to know
whether groff exited cleanly or aborted unless you add a string
after .ab.  (A minor annoyance, but I thought I should mention it.)

-- 
Peter Schaffter
https://www.schaffter.ca