Re: a morsel of groff 1.23.0 status

[G. Branden Robinson]

At 2023-07-05T23:31:54+0200, Bertrand Garrigues wrote:
> I've pushed tag 1.23.0 and published the archive on
> https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/groff/

Rock and roll, and good times!

> For the announcement email I'll send the mail to info-gnu@gnu.org as you
> don't have the official maintainer title yet.

Ah!  If I had known it was sender-restricted, I'd forgotten.

> There are some guidelines
> to follow [1], basically a short presentation, then were to get the
> soft, then the NEWS file.

I see--I hadn't actually read that section before.  I do note that it
says only what should be included, and doesn't discourage us from saying
more, which my announcement template admittedly does.

> You can see my previous announcement here [2], I intend to write
> something similar and mentioning you as the lead developer.  Do you
> see any important things to add?

If what I'm using as a template in the ANNOUNCE file[A] doesn't fit what
you want to say, then I'd suggest adding the following, though I don't
insist on either of them.

1.  Use the description of groff that is now synchronized between our
    home page, Texinfo manual, and man pages.

    ---
    groff (GNU roff) is a typesetting system that reads plain text
    input files that include formatting commands to produce output in
    PostScript, PDF, HTML, or DVI formats or for display to a terminal.
    Formatting commands can be low-level typesetting primitives, macros
    from a supplied package, or user-defined macros. All three
    approaches can be combined.

    A reimplementation and extension of the typesetter from AT&T Unix,
    groff is present on most POSIX systems owing to its long association
    with Unix manuals (including man pages). It and its predecessor are
    notable for their production of several best-selling software
    engineering texts.  groff is capable of producing typographically
    sophisticated documents while consuming minimal system resources.
    ---

2.  Incorporate the "Changes" section from the "ANNOUNCE" file.  I think
    it useful for at least two reasons: it summarizes the gigantic
    amount (nearly 700 lines) of "NEWS" for this release; it underscores
    the emphasis on quality of implementation.  May I be excused some
    pride in our delivery of over 400 bug fixes and 150 automated tests?

I do grant that if you include both of the above, a modification of
your 1.22.4 release announcement will look more like than unlike the
"ANNOUNCE" template.

The writing of promotional copy is not my strong suit, but my concern
here is to ensure that users of groff 1.22.4 are not lacking reasons to
upgrade, so I think it is worth going to a little trouble to flog
1.23.0's advantages: not just more features, but more testing, more
documentation, and a better quality of life for our community.

(On that high note, I should probably go re-watch _Glengarry Glen Ross_
to remind myself what salesmen are really like...)

Above all, _thank you_ for being the groff maintainer and working to
make this release possible!  Let me know what sort of fermented or
distilled beverage you enjoy.  :)

> [1] https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/Announcements.html
> [2] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2018-12/msg00015.html

Best regards,
Branden

[A] 
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git/tree/ANNOUNCE?id=198346d187de9e340bbf9d4f80c2dc4d42f5f74e

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