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author | G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> | 2022-04-07 14:22:46 +1000 |
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committer | G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> | 2022-04-07 14:39:31 +1000 |
commit | 81a9f53501bad085c5bfe5bb46879048be695c08 (patch) | |
tree | 7b591386fe4b24b1ca004496283fe8ef9a9ddfb9 /man/roff.7.man | |
parent | 203f8603fc722a7b2176cc64c1dc0e65332ed816 (diff) | |
download | groff-git-81a9f53501bad085c5bfe5bb46879048be695c08.tar.gz |
roff(1): Fix content and style nits.
Content:
* Replace reference to "normal parsing" with what it actually means.
* Add streams as an object type in the groff language (albeit a
neglected one).
* Correct explanation of vtroff's origin, thanks to Clem Cole of TUHS.
It even segues better into the origins of device-independent troff.
* Refer to \(dq as a _neutral_ double quote, for consistency with other
groff documentation and to avoid confusion with directional
typographer's quotes.
Style:
* Supply Kernighan and Ritchie's given names on first occurrence (only).
* Fix verb tense in reference the K&R 2nd ed and APUE; we can't pretend
these are _recent_ publications.
* Fix orphaned word.
* Clarify saucy remark about monocase file systems of old.
* Stop referring to McIlroy's RUNOFF descendant as "roff" before
presenting how that moniker came about.
* Tighten wording.
* Use active voice more.
Diffstat (limited to 'man/roff.7.man')
-rw-r--r-- | man/roff.7.man | 68 |
1 files changed, 43 insertions, 25 deletions
diff --git a/man/roff.7.man b/man/roff.7.man index 3b18ad631..431c4f7af 100644 --- a/man/roff.7.man +++ b/man/roff.7.man @@ -55,13 +55,13 @@ system. The manual pages on Unix systems (\[lq]man\~pages\[rq]) and bestselling books on software engineering, -including Kernighan and Ritchie's +including Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie's .I The C Programming Language and W.\& Richard Stevens's .I Advvanced Programming in the Unix Environment -are written using a +have been written using .I roff -system. +systems. . GNU .IR roff \[em] groff \[em]is @@ -201,8 +201,8 @@ escape sequences whose purpose is to obtain glyphs that are not easily typed at the keyboard, or which have special meaning to the formatter (like -.B \[rs] -itself). +.BR \[rs] ). +.\" slack wording: itself). . . .P @@ -591,7 +591,9 @@ is .I interpolated, as if typed at its call site. . -Its contents are then parsed normally. +Its contents are then parsed for further request invocations, +macro calls, +and escape sequences. . . .P @@ -706,6 +708,14 @@ see .MR groff_char @MAN7EXT@ . . . +.P +.I groff +offers +.IR streams , +identifiers for writable files, +but for security reasons this feature is disabled by default. +. +. .\" BEGIN Keep roughly parallel with first paragraphs of groff.texi node .\" "Deferring Output". .P @@ -798,7 +808,7 @@ The program is generally referred to in full capitals, both to distinguish it from its many descendants, and because bits were expensive in those days; five- and six-bit character encodings were still in widespread usage, -and mixed-case alphabetics seen as a luxury. +and mixed-case alphabetics in file names seen as a luxury. . .I RUNOFF introduced a syntax of inlining formatting directives amid document @@ -909,9 +919,8 @@ you had to backspace and underscore in the input yourself). .B .fi to enable filling of output lines got the name it retains to this day. . -.I roff -also featured a heuristic system for automatically placing hyphenation -points, +McIlroy's program also featured a heuristic system for automatically +placing hyphenation points, designed and implemented by Molly Wagner. . It furthermore introduced numeric variables, @@ -940,7 +949,7 @@ McIlroy's .I roff was one of the first Unix programs. . -in Dennis Ritchie's term, +In Ritchie's term, it was \[lq]transliterated\[rq] from BCPL to DEC PDP-7 assembly language .\" see "The Evolution of the Unix Time-Sharing System", Ritchie, 1984 for the fledgling Unix operating system. @@ -969,9 +978,8 @@ would call diversions were available via \[lq]footnote\[rq] requests. . This .I roff -indirectly funded operating systems research at Murray Hill, -for it was used to prepare patent applications for AT&T to the U.S.\& -government. +indirectly funded operating systems research at Murray Hill; +AT&T prepared patent applications to the U.S.\& government with it. . This arrangement enabled the group to acquire a PDP-11; .I roff @@ -986,7 +994,7 @@ and paper terminals such as the IBM 2471 (based on the Selectric line of typewriters) and the Teletype Corporation Model 37. . -Proportionally-spaced type was unknown. +Proportionally-spaced type was unavailable. . . .\" ==================================================================== @@ -1109,7 +1117,7 @@ phototypesetter, and with it came the necessity of expanding the capabilities of a .I roff system to cope with proportionally-spaced type, -multiple type sizes, +multiple sizes, and a variety of fonts. . Ossanna wrote a parallel implementation of @@ -1145,7 +1153,7 @@ empowered with multiple type sizes, italics, and a symbol font specially commissioned by Bell Labs from Graphic Systems, -Brian Kernighan and Lorinda Cherry implemented +Kernighan and Lorinda Cherry implemented .I eqn \" AT&T for typesetting mathematics. . @@ -1228,6 +1236,22 @@ featured in volume 2, edited by Kernighan. . . +.\" Thanks to Clem Cole for the following account. +.\" https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2022-January/025143.html +.P +Meanwhile, +.I troff +proved popular even at Unix sites that lacked a C/A/T device. +. +Tom Ferrin of the University of California at San Francisco combined it +with Allen Hershey's popular vector fonts to produce +.IR vtroff , +which translated +.IR troff 's +output to the command language used by Versatec and Benson-Varian +plotters. +. +. .P Ossanna had passed away unexpectedly in 1977, and after the release of Version 7, @@ -1270,13 +1294,7 @@ Ossanna's with its tight coupling to the capabilities of the C/A/T, remained in parallel distribution with device-independent .I troff -throughout the 1980s, -leading some developers to contrive translators for C/A/T-formatted -documents to other devices. -. -An example was -.I vtroff -for Versatec and Benson-Varian plotters. +throughout the 1980s. . Today, however, @@ -1858,7 +1876,7 @@ quote to achieve both aims. . .I groff cuts this knot by supporting a special character escape sequence for the -double quote, +neutral double quote, .RB \[lq] \[rs][dq] \[rq] , which never performs quoting in the typesetting language, but is simply a glyph, |