Re: a morsel of groff 1.23.0 status

[John Gardner]

Bravo to everybody involved!!

Seriously, I can't express just how good it feels to see a long-awaited
release finally be published to the world. :)

On Thu, 6 July 2023, 8:12 am G. Branden Robinson, <
g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>