Re: groff features for hyperlinked man pages (was: No 6.05/.01 pdf book available)

[G. Branden Robinson]

[self-follow-up]

Here's a quick note of self-correction to a point that is deep in the
grit.  linux-man readers can skip this unless they're concerned about
full disclosure, or (against all odds) interested.

At 2023-08-14T19:50:22-0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> Consider a three-character *roff input document.
> 
> printf -- '-\\-\n' | groff -Tascii -Z
> 
> The part where the glyphs are written out looks like this.[8]
> 
> c-
> C\-

> [8] It actually doesn't.  In GNU troff, the GNU extension command 't'
>     is used for sequences of non-overstruck ordinary characters when
>     supported by output drivers, and in AT&T device-independent troff,
>     the unnamed move-and-print command--a performance and storage
>     optimization tuned to the needs of machines in 1980 and explained
>     in CSTR #97--was used.  But 'c' is simple, supported by all
>     device- independent troffs, and works.

A sharp-eyed reader may detect the fact I hand-simplified the
device-independent output, manually replacing the `t` command with a
`c`.

...because I forgot to add in the horizontal motion for the glyph
spacing.

So I commented out the `tcommand` directive in the font/devascii/DESC
file and solicited honest output.  Here it is.

$ printf -- '-\\-\n' | tg -Tascii -Z
x T ascii
x res 240 24 40
x init
p1
x font 1 R
f1
s10
V40
H0
md
DFd
c-H24
C\-
h24
n40 0
x trailer
V2640
x stop

The foregoing page description language is documented in groff_out(5)
and groff's Texinfo manual.

https://www.gnu.org/software/groff/manual/groff.html.node/gtroff-Output.html#gtroff-Output

Regards,
Branden

signature.asc
Description: PGP signature