README revision 69626 
1This is the GNU groff document formatting system.  The version number
2is given in the file VERSION.
3
4Included in this release are implementations of troff, pic, eqn, tbl,
5grn, refer, -man, -mdoc, and -ms macros, and drivers for PostScript, TeX
6dvi format, HP LaserJet 4 printers, Canon CAPSL printers, HTML format
7(still alpha), and typewriter-like devices.  Also included is a modified
8version of the Berkeley -me macros, an enhanced version of the X11
9xditview previewer, and an implementation of the -mm macros contributed
10by Joergen Haegg (jh@axis.se).
11
12See the file INSTALL for installation instructions.  You will require a
13C++ compiler.
14
15The file NEWS describes recent user-visible changes to groff.
16
17Groff is free software.  See the file COPYING for copying permission.
18
19The file PROBLEMS describes various problems that have been encountered
20in compiling, installing, and running groff.
21
22For the moment, the documentation assumes that you are already familiar
23with the Unix versions of troff, -man, -ms, and the preprocessors.
24
25The most recent released version of groff is always available by
26anonymous ftp from ftp.gnu.org in the directory pub/gnu/groff.
27
28A CVS repository is now available, containing the current development
29version of groff.  You can access it with the commands
30
31  export CVSROOT=:pserver:anoncvs@anoncvs.ffii.org:/var/cvs
32  cvs login
33  cvs -z9 co groff
34
35(if the prompt for the password appears, just press the enter key).
36After a successful login you no longer need the first two commands; an
37update of a checked out repository should be done with
38
39  cvs -z9 update -dP
40
41Please read the info pages of cvs for further details.
42
43Alternatively, you can download snapshots (which are updated twice a
44day) from
45
46  ftp://ftp.ffii.org/pub/groff/devel/groff-current.tar.gz
47
48or a diff file relative to the latest official groff release as
49
50  ftp://ftp.ffii.org/pub/groff/devel/groff-<version>-current.diff.gz
51
52Assuming that groff-<version>.tar.gz and
53groff-<version>-current.diff.gz are in the same directory, do the
54following to apply the diff file:
55
56  tar xzvf groff-<version>.tar.gz
57  cd groff-<version>
58  gunzip -c ../groff-<version>-current.diff.gz | patch -p1
59
60Please report bugs using the form in the file BUG-REPORT; the idea of
61this is to make sure that FSF has all the information it needs to fix
62the bug.  At the very least, read the BUG-REPORT form and make sure
63that you supply all the information that it asks for.  Even if you are
64not sure that something is a bug, report it using BUG-REPORT: this will
65enable us to determine whether it really is a bug or not.
66
67Three mailing lists are available:
68
69  bug-groff@gnu.org          for reporting bugs
70  groff@gnu.org              for general discussion of groff
71  groff-commit@ffii.org      a read-only list showing logs of
72                             commitments to the CVS repository
73
74Note that groff@gnu.org is an alias for groff@ffii.org; you must be
75subscribed to the `groff' and `groff-commit' lists to send mails.
76
77To subscribe, send a mail to <list>-request@<domain> (example:
78groff-request@ffii.org) with the word `subscribe' in either the subject
79or body of the email (don't include the quotes).
80
81GNU groff was written by James Clark <jjc@jclark.com>.  It is now
82maintained by Ted Harding <ted.harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk> and Werner
83Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
84