This is the GNU groff document formatting system.  The version number
is given in the file VERSION.

Included in this release are implementations of troff, pic, eqn, tbl,
grn, refer, -man, -mdoc, -mom, and -ms macros, and drivers for PostScript,
TeX dvi format, HP LaserJet 4 printers, Canon CAPSL printers, HTML format
(beta status), and typewriter-like devices.  Also included is a modified
version of the Berkeley -me macros, an enhanced version of the X11
xditview previewer, and an implementation of the -mm macros contributed
by Joergen Haegg (jh@axis.se).

See the file INSTALL for installation instructions.  You will require a
C++ compiler.

The file NEWS describes recent user-visible changes to groff.

Groff is free software.  See the file COPYING for copying permission.

The file PROBLEMS describes various problems that have been encountered
in compiling, installing, and running groff.

The most recent released version of groff is always available by
anonymous ftp from ftp.gnu.org in the directory gnu/groff.

The current development version of groff is available from a CVS
repository.  You can access it by first selecting a parent directory in
which to create a working copy (call it, say, ~/cvswork), and then
executing the commands

  cd ~/cvswork
  CVS_RSH=ssh; export CVS_RSH
  cvs -d:ext:anoncvs@savannah.gnu.org/cvsroot/groff -z5 co groff

(Note that you need an SSH client for security reasons.)

This will create a subdirectory, ~/cvswork/groff, with a `checked out'
copy of the CVS repository.  An update of this working copy may be
achieved, at any later time by invoking the commands

  cd ~/cvswork/groff
  CVS_RSH=ssh cvs -z5 update -dP

Please read the CVS info pages for further details.

Finally, it is possible to access the CVS with a web browser by
pointing it to

  http://savannah.gnu.org/cvs/?group=groff

Alternatively, you can download snapshots (which are updated twice a day).
The complete groff source as a single file is available at

  http://groff.ffii.org/groff/devel/groff-current.tar.gz

A diff file relative to groff-<version>, the latest official groff
release is available at

  http://groff.ffii.org/groff/devel/groff-<version>-current.diff.gz

Assuming that groff-<version>.tar.gz and
groff-<version>-current.diff.gz are in the same directory, do the
following to apply the diff file:

  tar xzvf groff-<version>.tar.gz
  cd groff-<version>
  gunzip -c ../groff-<version>-current.diff.gz | patch -p1

Depending on your requirements, you may need at least some of the
following tools to build groff directly from its source:

  ghostscript
  the psutils package
  the netpbm package
  texinfo 4.8
  bison >= 1.875b or byacc

Note that texinfo and bison or byacc are required only for building from
CVS sources (either a checked out working copy, or a daily snapshot).
They are not required for building from a stable release tarball.  Also
note that the version numbers stated are the minimum supported.  No
version of texinfo < 4.8 will work, and the original release of bison
1.875 is known not to work; you *may* find that bison releases < 1.875
will work, but in case of difficulty, please update to a later version
*before* posting a bug report.

For *all* sources, you need ghostscript for creation of either PDF or HTML
output; the netpbm and psutils packages are required only for HTML output.
If you don't intend to produce output in either of these formats, then
these packages are unnecessary.

Please report bugs using the form in the file BUG-REPORT; the idea of
this is to make sure that FSF has all the information it needs to fix
the bug.  At the very least, read the BUG-REPORT form and make sure
that you supply all the information that it asks for.  Even if you are
not sure that something is a bug, report it using BUG-REPORT: this will
enable us to determine whether it really is a bug or not.

Three mailing lists are available:

  bug-groff@gnu.org          for reporting bugs
  groff@gnu.org              for general discussion of groff
  groff-commit@gnu.org       a read-only list showing commitments
                             to the CVS repository

You can post mails directly to the `bug-groff' list, without subscribing;
to post mails to the `groff' list you must subscribe to it.

To subscribe, send a mail to <list>-request@<domain> (example:
groff-request@gnu.org for the `groff' list) with the word `subscribe'
in either the subject or body of the email (don't include the quotes).
Alternatively, you may subscribe by visiting the web pages at

  http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-groff
  http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/groff
  http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/groff-commit

Each of these web pages also provides a link to a browseable archive of
postings to the corresponding mailing list.

GNU groff was written by James Clark <jjc@jclark.com>.  It is now
maintained by Ted Harding <ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk> and Werner
Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.