1This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff.  Bug fixes are not
2described.  There are more details in the man and info pages.
3
4VERSION 1.19.2
5==============
6
7Troff
8-----
9
10o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
11  `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
12  set the glyph and background colours.
13
14o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
15  current style.
16
17o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
18  `F' is true if a font <name> exists.  `S' is true if a style <name> has
19  been registered.
20
21o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
22  devices.
23
24Pic
25---
26
27o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
28  For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
29
30Eqn
31---
32
33o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
34
35    undef NAME    (to undefine a macro)
36    copy  "FILE"  (a synonym for `include')
37    space n       (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
38                   an equation)
39
40o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
41
42    Alpha, ..., Omega   (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
43    ldots               (three dots on the base line)
44    dollar              (a dollar glyph)
45
46o The following keywords have been extended.  Again, this isn't new but
47  hasn't been documented previously:
48
49    col n { ... }
50    lcol n { ... }
51    rcol n { ... }
52    ccol n { ... }
53    pile n { ... }
54    lpile n { ... }
55    rpile n { ... }
56    cpile n { ... }   (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
57
58Grohtml
59-------
60
61o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
62  be stable now.
63
64o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
65
66o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
67  multiple files.
68
69Grotty
70------
71
72o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
73  
74Gxditview
75---------
76
77o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
78  installed automatically.
79
80Xtotroff
81--------
82
83o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
84  hasn't been installed previously.
85
86Groffer
87-------
88
89o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
90
91Gdiffmk
92-------
93
94o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi.  It compares two groff, nroff,
95  or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
96  (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
97
98Pdfroff
99-------
100
101o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
102  documents with groff.
103
104Macro packages
105--------------
106
107o ms.tmac
108
109  . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
110    and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
111    1000.  For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
112    10.25 points.
113
114  . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
115    been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
116    instead.  X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
117    specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
118    provides proper definitions for the two macros.
119
120  . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
121
122    PORPHANS
123      Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
124      must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
125
126    HORPHANS
127      Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
128      heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
129
130    GROWPS
131      Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which will keep the
132      same point size as body text.
133
134    PSINCR
135      Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
136      `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
137      \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1' will
138      produce 14pt headings, `.NH 2' will produce 12pt, and all other levels
139      will remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
140
141  . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
142    match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
143    feature is enabled.
144
145  Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
146  improvements.
147
148o me.tmac
149
150  The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
151  register.  This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
152
153o www.tmac
154
155  The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
156
157  A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
158  <head>...</head> block.
159
160  New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
161
162  New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
163
164Pdfmark
165-------
166
167o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
168  marks.  This is in alpha stage currently.
169
170Miscellaneous
171-------------
172
173o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
174  grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'.  The former gives
175  the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
176  troff always use unscaled character widths.
177
178
179VERSION 1.19.1
180==============
181
182Groff
183-----
184
185o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
186  and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
187  files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
188  and \X'ps: import' escapes.
189
190o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
191  on standard error and run.
192
193Troff
194-----
195
196o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
197  name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
198
199o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
200  to 0 if in unsafe mode.
201
202o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
203  Example use:
204
205    groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
206
207  Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
208
209o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
210  namely the current macro and the macro one level higher.  This is
211  used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
212
213o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
214  They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
215  are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
216
217o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
218  those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests).  This is
219  also handled by the groff wrapper program.
220
221o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'.  Older versions emit a warning
222  and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
223
224  This hasn't been documented properly.  Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
225  diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
226
227Pic
228___
229
230o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
231
232Tbl
233---
234
235o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
236  cell.  Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
237
238Grap2graph
239----------
240
241o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>.  It
242  converts a grap diagram into a cropped image.  Since it uses gs and the
243  PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
244  [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
245  see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
246
247Grohtml
248-------
249
250o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
251
252Grops
253-----
254
255o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
256  on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
257  escapes.  This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
258
259o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
260
261Grolj4
262------
263
264o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
265  grolj4.
266
267o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
268  revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible.  The provided
269  metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
270  Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
271  Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
272
273Afmtodit
274--------
275
276o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
277
278Hpftodit
279--------
280
281o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also.  See the
282  hpftodit manual page for more details.
283
284Groffer
285-------
286
287o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
288  the old single script style.
289
290  New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
291  --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
292  --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
293
294  New documentation file: README_SH.
295
296  Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
297
298Macro Packages
299--------------
300
301o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
302
303o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
304  section.
305
306
307VERSION 1.19
308============
309
310Troff
311-----
312
313o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
314  latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added.  Example use:
315
316    groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
317
318  You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs.  Out of the box,
319  the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
320  and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
321
322o Composite glyphs are now supported.  To do this, a subset of the Adobe
323  Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
324
325    http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
326
327  is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes.  The
328  existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
329  constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
330
331  The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
332  components.  Example:
333
334    \[A ho]
335
336  this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
337
338  Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
339  code points.  For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
340  ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
341  glyphs.  The new request
342
343    .composite from to
344
345  will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
346  To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
347
348    .composite ho u0328
349
350  is needed.  [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
351  contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
352
353  Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
354  for more details.
355
356o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
357  characters.  They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
358  `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
359
360o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
361  new `rfschar' request.
362
363o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
364  characters.  They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
365  `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
366
367o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
368  point horizontally.  Despite of being silly, this change has been
369  reverted for backwards compatibility.  Consequently, the intermediate
370  output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
371
372  \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
373  the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
374  Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
375
376o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
377  available:
378
379    \D'Fr ...' (rgb)
380    \D'Fc ...' (cmy)
381    \D'Fg ...' (gray)
382    \D'Fk ...' (cmyk)
383    \D'Fd'     (default color)
384
385  The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request.  The current
386  position is *not* changed.
387
388o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
389  \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
390
391o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
392  It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
393
394o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
395
396o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
397  (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
398  grolj4.)  The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
399  changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
400  same glyph shape as with other devices.
401
402Grops
403-----
404
405o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
406  shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
407
408o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
409  (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries).  grops
410  constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
411
412o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
413  mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
414  about the paper size.  The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
415  (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
416  extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
417  encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
418
419  Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
420
421o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
422  contain negative left italic correction values.  This assures correct
423  spacing with eqn.
424
425Grodvi
426------
427
428o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
429  It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
430
431o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
432  grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
433  like dvips.
434
435  Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
436
437o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
438  \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
439
440o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
441  respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
442  which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
443
444Grolj4
445------
446
447o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
448  all other devices.
449
450o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=].  Similar to other devices, \[~=]
451  is now another name for glyph \[~~].
452
453Grotty
454------
455
456o New option `-r'.  It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
457  use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
458
459Pic
460---
461
462o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
463  mode.
464
465Refer
466-----
467
468o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
469  database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
470
471Soelim
472------
473
474o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
475
476o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
477  line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
478
479Afmtodit
480--------
481
482o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
483  multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
484
485o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
486
487o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
488  in the default font directory also.  Please refer to the man page of
489  afmtodit for more details.
490
491Macro Packages
492--------------
493
494o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
495  customizable.
496
497  . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
498    location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
499    sub-subheading indentation.
500
501  . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
502    hyphenation.
503
504  . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
505    They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
506
507  . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
508    subheadings.
509
510  . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
511    explicitly specified on the command line.
512
513o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
514  the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
515
516  Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
517  values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
518  except a7-d7.  An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
519  orientation.  Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
520
521  Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
522  `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
523  the driver specific DESC file.
524
525  For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
526  orientation:
527
528    groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
529
530
531VERSION 1.18.1
532==============
533
534Troff
535-----
536
537o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
538  include left and right italic correction values.  Applying those to a
539  glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
540  glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
541  bounding box values.  Without those escapes, the advance width for the
542  particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
543
544  Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
545  existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
546  italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
547  grohtml.
548
549  This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
550
551Tbl
552---
553
554o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
555  data items.
556
557Grolbp
558------
559
560o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
561  drivers) to set the default line width.
562
563Grn
564---
565
566o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
567
568Groffer
569-------
570
571o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
572
573Macro Packages
574--------------
575
576o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
577  compatibility with NetBSD.
578
579o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
580  instead.
581
582o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
583  and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
584  details.
585
586o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
587
588Miscellaneous
589-------------
590
591o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
592  It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
593  used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
594
595  Example:
596
597    papersize /etc/papersize a4
598
599o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
600  defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font.  Similar to the normal
601  font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
602  e.g.
603
604    /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
605
606  for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
607
608
609VERSION 1.18
610============
611
612***************************************************************************
613*                                                                         *
614*  PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND.  *
615*                                                                         *
616***************************************************************************
617
618Troff
619-----
620
621o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
622  grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
623  follow).  A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
624  `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
625  background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
626  `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color.  `\m' and `\M'
627  correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
628  `DF'.  The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
629  redefined.
630
631  Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
632  read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
633  otherwise.
634
635  The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
636  commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
637  doesn't either).
638
639  Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
640  (it is always disabled in compatibility mode).  See the section on grotty
641  for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
642
643  For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
644  indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u.  For testing whether a
645  color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
646  available.
647
648  More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
649  groff.texinfo.
650
651o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font.  \fP
652  (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
653
654o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
655  family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
656
657o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
658  `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
659
660o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
661  `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
662
663o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
664  got the troff glyph name `mc'.
665
666o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
667
668o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
669  Example:
670
671    .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
672    \*[xxx nice]
673
674o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
675  the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition.  Example:
676
677    .de !
678    ..
679    .
680    .de foo
681    .  nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
682    .  nop I will now define `bar'.
683    .  de bar !
684    .    nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
685    .  !
686    ..
687
688o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
689  font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
690
691o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
692  the current time, set at start-up of troff.  Use the `af' request to
693  control their output format.
694
695o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters.  It
696  has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
697  character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
698  current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
699  the particular glyph isn't found in the current font.  This test happens
700  before checking special fonts.
701
702o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
703  doesn't emit a final newline.
704
705o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
706  with \c counts as one input line.
707
708o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
709  with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
710  them.
711
712o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
713  character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
714  Note that this is an incompatible change.
715
716o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
717  request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
718
719o `.hpf' has been extended.  It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
720  pattern files without modification.  To do that, the commands \patterns,
721  \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized.  Please refer to groff_diff.7
722  for more information.
723
724o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
725  `hpf' request.
726
727o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
728  already existing patterns).
729
730o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added.  The first and
731  second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
732  directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
733  independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
734
735o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
736  It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
737  final `0' can be omitted.
738
739o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
740  the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
741  any) before the character translation.  Example:
742
743    .trin ax
744    .di xxx
745    a
746    .br
747    .di
748    .xxx
749    .trin aa
750    .asciify xxx
751    .xxx
752
753  The result is `x a'.  Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
754
755o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before.  It
756  adds vertical space after a line has been output.  This makes it an
757  alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
758  The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
759  post-vertical line space.
760
761o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
762  supported:
763
764    .pi foo
765    .pi bar
766
767  is now equivalent to
768
769    .pi foo | bar
770
771o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
772  output.  Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
773
774o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
775  they are ignored now.  Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
776  single space characters.
777
778o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
779  with UNIX troff.
780
781o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
782  request was a bad idea.  Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
783  the default hyphenation character is again \[hy].  Note that the glyph
784  \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
785  glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
786
787Macro Packages
788--------------
789
790o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
791  called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
792  many typographic issues.  It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
793  format) and some examples.  `mom' has been designed to format documents
794  for PostScript output only.
795
796o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
797  the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
798
799o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
800  setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
801  registers in the ms macro package).  If not set on the command line or
802  in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
803  78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
804
805o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed.  Its
806  functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'.  Similarly,
807  `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
808
809o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
810  exit status.
811
812o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
813  now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
814  file.
815
816o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also.  Additionally, it
817  works in compatibility mode.
818
819o `troff.1' has been split.  Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
820  in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
821
822o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'.  The file mwww.tmac
823  has been removed.
824
825o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten.  It now contains a complete
826  reference to the ms macros.
827
828o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
829
830o Changes in www.tmac:
831
832    Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
833    that both macro names and macro syntax will change.  Some of the macros
834    mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
835    before.
836
837    The following macros have been renamed:
838
839        MAILTO     -> MTO
840        IMAGE      -> IMG
841        LINE       -> HR
842
843    For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
844    address as the first parameter followed by the description.
845
846    By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
847    of the document.  Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
848
849    For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
850    new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
851
852    The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
853    bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
854
855    The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
856    generation to headings.
857
858    The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
859    `-R', and `-C'.
860
861    New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
862    convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
863
864    New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
865    (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
866    -Thtml is used).
867
868    New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
869
870    New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
871
872    New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
873
874    New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list.  The new
875    macro `LI' inserts a list item.
876
877Groff
878-----
879
880o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
881  disabled in compatibility mode).
882
883Nroff
884-----
885
886o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
887  grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
888  groff (enabling compatibility mode).
889
890Pic
891---
892
893o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
894  `outlined'), and `shaded' are available.  `outline' sets the color of the
895  outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both.  Example:
896
897    circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
898
899  Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
900
901  Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
902
903Pic2graph
904---------
905
906o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>.  It
907  converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image.  Since it uses gs and the PNM
908  library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
909
910Eqn2graph
911---------
912
913o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>.  It
914  converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image.  Since it uses gs and the PNM
915  library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
916
917Groffer
918-------
919
920o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>.  It displays
921  groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
922  automatically.
923
924Grog
925----
926
927o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
928
929Grops
930-----
931
932o Color support has been added.
933
934o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size.  It has
935  the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
936
937Grodvi
938------
939
940o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
941  to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
942  values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
943
944    .if '\*[.T]'dvi' \
945    .  sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
946             1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
947
948o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
949  extended) has been added.
950
951o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
952
953o EC and TC fonts have been integrated.  Use `-mec' (calling the file
954  ec.tmac) to switch to them.  Those fonts give a much better coverage of
955  the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
956
957  Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
958  doesn't take care of hcode values.
959
960o Color support has been added.  For drawing commands, colors are translated
961  to gray values currently.
962
963Grotty
964------
965
966o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
967  ANSI color) escape sequences.
968
969o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
970  printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick.  To revert
971  to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
972
973  Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
974  display correctly.  On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
975  `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
976  output of grotty.  Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
977  work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
978
979  For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
980  `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
981  `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly).  See
982  man(1) for more details.
983
984o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
985  reverting to the old behaviour.
986
987o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
988  enable SGR output (the default).
989
990o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
991  sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
992  attribute for italic fonts.  Note that many terminals don't have support
993  for this (including xterm).
994
995Grohtml
996-------
997
998o Color support for glyphs has been added.
999
1000o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1001
1002o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1003
1004o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1005  used for text and graphics, respectively.  Default value is 4; 0 means
1006  no anti-aliasing.
1007
1008o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1009
1010Grolbp
1011------
1012
1013o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1014  in the DESC file.  Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1015  `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1016
1017Miscellaneous
1018-------------
1019
1020o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1021
1022o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
1023  of examples.
1024
1025o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format.  Its
1026  argument is either
1027
1028  . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1029
1030  . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1031    specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1032
1033  . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1034
1035  See groff_font(5) for more details.  This keyword only affects the
1036  physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1037  currently.  troff completely ignores it.
1038
1039VERSION 1.17.2
1040==============
1041
1042This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1043
1044Troff
1045-----
1046
1047o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1048  gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1049  optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1050
1051VERSION 1.17.1
1052==============
1053
1054This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1055
1056Troff
1057-----
1058
1059o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1060  with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1061  them.
1062
1063o Added request `brp'.  This is the same as `\p'.
1064
1065o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1066  diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1067
1068o New read-only number register `.ns'.  Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1069  0 otherwise.
1070
1071Nroff
1072-----
1073
1074o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1075
1076o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1077  finding groff.
1078
1079Grohtml
1080-------
1081
1082o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1083
1084o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame.  If not given,
1085  `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1086
1087VERSION 1.17
1088============
1089
1090Groff
1091-----
1092
1093o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'.  The
1094  old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1095  have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1096  troff installed also.  Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1097  using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1098
1099o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1100  is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH.  If not
1101  set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1102  Previously, it was PATH only.  The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1103  to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1104  environment variables to groff.
1105
1106Troff
1107-----
1108
1109o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1110  GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1111  supported).  Most important changes are:
1112
1113  . No argument limit
1114  . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1115  . `.Lb': prints library names
1116  . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1117    been withdrawn
1118  . Updated `.St' command
1119  . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1120  . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1121  . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1122  . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1123  . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1124  . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1125  . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1126  . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1127    switches)
1128
1129  `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1130  documents the mdoc package.
1131
1132  Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility.  If you
1133  encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1134
1135o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1136  package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1137  produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages.  `-rcR=0'
1138  deactivates it.
1139
1140o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1141
1142o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1143  `if 1'.  For example,
1144
1145    .if t \{\
1146    Hallo!
1147    .\}
1148
1149  can now be written as
1150
1151    .if t \{\
1152    .  nop Hallo!
1153    .\}
1154
1155o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1156  `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1157  ending the diversion).
1158
1159o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1160  and some other escape sequences also.
1161
1162  `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1163  unbreakable space character.
1164
1165o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1166  characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1167  information.  This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1168  the following
1169
1170    .ll 3i
1171    .
1172    a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1173    .
1174    .box box1
1175    .ev 1
1176    .nf
1177    \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1178    .br
1179    .ev
1180    .box
1181    .
1182    c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1183    .
1184    .unformat box1
1185    .box1
1186
1187  gives
1188
1189    a01  a02  a03  a04 a05 a06 a07
1190    a08 a09 a10.  c01 c02 c03  c04
1191    c05  c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.  b01
1192    b02 b03 b04 b05  b06  b07  b08
1193    b09 b10.
1194
1195  Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1196  space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1197
1198    a01  a02  a03  a04 a05 a06 a07
1199    a08 a09 a10.  c01 c02 c03  c04
1200    c05  c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.  b01
1201    b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1202    b09 b10.
1203
1204o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode.  In line-tabs
1205  mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1206  Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line.  For example, the
1207  following
1208
1209    .ds x a\t\c
1210    .ds y b\t\c
1211    .ds z c
1212    .ta 1i 3i
1213    \*x
1214    \*y
1215    \*z
1216
1217  yields
1218
1219    a         b         c
1220
1221  In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1222
1223    a         b                   c
1224
1225  The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1226  mode, and 0 otherwise.
1227
1228o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1229  messages to the terminal.  `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1230  whitespace.  `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1231
1232o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1233  The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1234  inserts its argument into the intermediate output format.  The syntax
1235  is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1236
1237o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1238  line are widened by a given limit or more.
1239
1240o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1241  warning messages.
1242
1243o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added.  The first and
1244  second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1245  directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1246  independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1247
1248o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1249  requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1250
1251o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1252  within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1253  and `0' otherwise.
1254
1255o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point.  This is
1256  similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1257
1258o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1259
1260o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1261  previous font family.
1262
1263o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1264  output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1265
1266o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.  This
1267  is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1268  macro or string is written to a stream.
1269
1270o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1271  position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1272  properly before.
1273
1274o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1275
1276o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1277  underlines spaces also).
1278
1279Grog
1280----
1281
1282o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1283  default).  As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1284
1285Grops
1286-----
1287
1288o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1289  been added to select a different prologue file.
1290
1291o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1292  is now the default and no longer available.  To get the old behaviour
1293  (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1294
1295Miscellaneous
1296-------------
1297
1298o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1299
1300  . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1301    .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1302    is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1303    must be used.
1304
1305  . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1306    line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1307    searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1308    path).  Instead, the home directory is used.  To add the current
1309    directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1310    GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1311
1312  . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1313    in the home directory (even if -U is given).  Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1314    to change that.
1315
1316  . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1317    Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1318    variable if you really need the current directory.
1319
1320o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1321  default, following the GNU standard.  Additionally, a local tmac directory
1322  (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1323  standard tmac directory.  Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1324  (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1325  is searched before the local tmac directory.
1326
1327o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1328  immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards.  Additionally,
1329  `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1330
1331VERSION 1.16.1
1332==============
1333
1334Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1335
1336VERSION 1.16
1337============
1338
1339Groff
1340-----
1341
1342The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1343now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1344`mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1345
1346A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1347
1348A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1349
1350EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added.  On such hosts, IBM code page
13511047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1352the moment, -Tutf8).  Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1353installed).
1354
1355Troff
1356-----
1357
1358A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1359`xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1360points.  Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1361
1362To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1363troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1364available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file.  The values
1365(in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1366`llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'.  Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1367use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1368
1369A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added.  It
1370contains the current year.
1371
1372A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added.  It contains the revision
1373number of the groff package.
1374
1375`\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1376font `foo' is undefined:
1377
1378  .B bold text
1379  normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1380
1381Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1382
1383The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1384
1385The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1386is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1387
1388A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1389a number register.
1390
1391The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1392(a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1393
1394A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available.  It is invoked after
1395all user-specified macros.  Currently used by the html device to include
1396tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1397
1398The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1399
1400The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1401name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1402name `mathdot').
1403
1404ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1405(which is an alias to character `"').
1406
1407ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1408(which is an alias to character "'").
1409
1410Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1411better support of HTML output:
1412
1413  The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1414  files is
1415
1416     name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1417
1418  Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1419  entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML.  Everything after the
1420  entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1421  characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1422
1423  Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1424  grohtml):
1425
1426    use_charnames_in_special
1427      This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1428      inside special commands.
1429
1430    pass_filenames
1431      requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1432      processed.  This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1433
1434Grotty
1435------
1436
1437Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1438
1439Grohtml
1440-------
1441
1442Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1443
1444The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1445
1446.URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1447will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1448punctuation, for example).
1449
1450Grodvi
1451------
1452
1453The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1454
1455A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1456added.
1457
1458Grolbp
1459------
1460
1461A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1462printers).  This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1463<pandres@dragonet.es>.
1464
1465Grn
1466---
1467
1468A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures.  It is based on the
1469original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1470and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1471<daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1472
1473Pic
1474---
1475
1476Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1477pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1478
1479Gxditview
1480---------
1481
1482Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1483configure script).
1484
1485Documentation
1486-------------
1487
1488Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1489are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1490roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1491
1492Miscellaneous
1493-------------
1494
1495A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1496of the distribution.  It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1497<blake@florida-software.com>.
1498
1499More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1500related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1501
1502VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1503========================
1504
1505Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1506
1507VERSION 1.12
1508============
1509
1510Finally, there are new maintainers for groff.  Mailing lists and a CVS
1511repository are available also. See the file README for details.  Not all
1512reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1513still not working.
1514
1515Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1516notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1517
1518There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1519-man macros.  It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1520<sgk@debian.org>.
1521
1522A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1523contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1524
1525me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1526resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1527
1528Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1529word `UNIX'.
1530
1531groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1532<eggert@twinsun.com>).
1533
1534Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1535the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1536
1537groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1538behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1539the default.
1540
1541Grohtml
1542-------
1543
1544This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1545Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>.  It is still very alpha but has been included
1546into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it.  Bug
1547reports are highly welcome.
1548
1549Grolj4
1550------
1551
1552Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1553<jeff@opennt.com>.
1554
1555Soelim
1556------
1557
1558Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1559Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1560
1561Gxditview
1562---------
1563
1564Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1565<larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1566
1567Will now support 8 gray levels.
1568
1569mm
1570--
1571
1572New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1573
1574VERSION 1.11
1575============
1576
1577Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms.  It was
1578contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1579*not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1580half a dozen other projects.
1581
1582VERSION 1.10
1583============
1584
1585The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1586/usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1587latest GNU coding standards.
1588
1589By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1590"g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1591
1592A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1593groff.  Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1594directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1595each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1596directory that references the system macro package.  The groff macro
1597packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1598system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1599"g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1600always installed as -me.
1601
1602There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1603compatibles).
1604
1605Groff
1606-----
1607
1608groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1609and troff.  This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1610for troff.
1611
1612Troff
1613-----
1614
1615The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1616encountered.
1617
1618Pic
1619---
1620
1621A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1622
1623Grops
1624-----
1625
1626The -m option enables manual feed.
1627
1628VERSION 1.09
1629============
1630
1631\(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1632and will form corners with \(ul and \(br.  This means that it will not
1633align properly with \(sr.  Instead there's a new character
1634\[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1635square roots.
1636
1637Troff
1638-----
1639
1640The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1641command.
1642
1643Grops
1644-----
1645
1646The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1647graphic to be specified.
1648
1649VERSION 1.08
1650============
1651
1652Troff
1653-----
1654
1655The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1656environment variable xxx.
1657
1658Tbl
1659---
1660
1661The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1662recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1663period.
1664
1665VERSION 1.07
1666============
1667
1668Groff
1669-----
1670
1671The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1672whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1673preprocessors.)
1674
1675Troff
1676-----
1677
1678Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1679and by a `\n[.hla]' number register.  The -H option has been removed.
1680Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1681
1682When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1683enabled by default) instead of an error.
1684
1685There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1686apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1687
1688Tbl
1689---
1690
1691There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1692try to keep the table on one page.
1693
1694Eqn
1695---
1696
1697Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1698behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored.  This is done by
1699eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1.  There's a `neqn'
1700script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1701
1702Grotty
1703------
1704
1705grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1706rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file.  The
1707paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1708
1709VERSION 1.06
1710============
1711
1712The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1713without a leading `g' prefix.  See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1714
1715The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1716
1717New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1718\(an.  See groff_char(7).
1719
1720^L is now a legal input character.
1721
1722Groff
1723-----
1724
1725The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared.  Instead there is a new -X
1726option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1727postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1728default device is ps.)
1729
1730The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1731by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1732into groff.  Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1733-l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1734
1735The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1736eqn.  Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'.  The groff
1737command no longer passes the -D option to eqn.  Instead eqnrc sets the
1738draw_lines parameter.
1739
1740The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1741macro file.  This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1742always loaded by troff.
1743
1744The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1745
1746Troff
1747-----
1748
1749The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1750
1751Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1752while a character definition is being processed.
1753
1754The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1755newline is ignored.
1756
1757The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1758the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1759
1760A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1761mounted on the corresponding font position.  This is useful for
1762arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1763are not likely explicitly to mount fonts.  All groff devices now avoid
1764initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1765
1766The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1767with compatibility mode disabled.
1768
1769troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1770This can be prevented with the -R option.  This file is responsible
1771for loading the device-specific macros.
1772
1773Pic
1774---
1775
1776The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added.  By
1777default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1778extensions.  The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1779with ditroff drivers.  The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1780
1781The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1782specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1783register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1784
1785In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1786(the quotes are required).
1787
1788Eqn
1789---
1790
1791Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1792This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to.  This can
1793be prevented by the -R option.
1794
1795Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1796be drawn using \D rather than \l.  The -D option is now obsolete.
1797
1798`uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1799`right'.
1800
1801The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1802equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1803parameters.
1804
1805Grops
1806-----
1807
1808Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1809You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1810fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1811
1812The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1813in the DESC file.
1814
1815With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1816the page height.  This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1817(8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1818
1819Grodvi
1820------
1821
1822ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi.  Format groff_char(7)
1823with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1824
1825Grotty
1826------
1827
1828The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1829use with grotty.
1830
1831Macros
1832------
1833
1834In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1835registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros.  The
1836reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1837not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1838However, this caused problems with existing -me documents.  In this
1839release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1840which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1841In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1842correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1843being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1844be derived from the $r or $R register.
1845
1846The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1847
1848For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1849also available as \*[ and \*].  Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1850with -C.
1851
1852The \*T string has been deleted.  Use \*(Tm instead.
1853
1854Xditview
1855--------
1856
1857The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action.  The
1858`p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1859The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1860
1861The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1862redisplays the current page.
1863
1864VERSION 1.05
1865============
1866
1867Pic
1868---
1869
1870There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1871differently with blocks.
1872
1873There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1874to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1875
1876The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1877
1878String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1879contexts.
1880
1881Grotty
1882------
1883
1884Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1885using -, | and + characters.  This is intended to give reasonable
1886results with boxed tables.  It won't work well with pic.
1887
1888Macros
1889------
1890
1891The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1892Berkeley networking release.  This version is not completely
1893compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1894as -mdoc.old.  The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1895usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1896
1897With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1898around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1899
1900VERSION 1.04
1901============
1902
1903An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1904
1905The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1906by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1907
1908Pic
1909---
1910
1911Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1912
1913Grops
1914-----
1915
1916There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1917which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1918displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1919grops.
1920
1921Xditview
1922--------
1923
1924Support for scalable fonts.
1925
1926VERSION 1.03
1927============
1928
1929No changes other than bug fixes.
1930
1931VERSION 1.02
1932============
1933
1934There is an implementation of refer and associated programs.  groff -R
1935preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1936arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1937commands which can be included in the file.  grog also supports refer.
1938
1939There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1940
1941The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1942files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1943was required to lie between 0 and 255).  Currently grops and grodvi
1944use only the low order 8 bits of the value.  Grodvi will use the
1945complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1946traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1947
1948Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1949respectively.
1950
1951There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1952fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1953
1954A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1955
1956Troff
1957-----
1958
1959In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1960input level as the opening [.
1961
1962The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1963suitable for use as a name.
1964
1965\~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1966is adjusted.
1967
1968The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1969the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1970the -mX option is given.
1971
1972The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1973
1974Eqn
1975---
1976
1977A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1978constructs by writing a troff macro.
1979
1980Pic
1981---
1982
1983The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1984
1985Grops
1986-----
1987
1988The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1989BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option.  This allows more precise control over
1990how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers.  There is
1991a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1992
1993Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1994Document Structuring Convention.
1995
1996The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1997imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1998supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions.  The
1999%%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2000%%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2001(or as well.)
2002
2003tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2004Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2005
2006Xditview
2007--------
2008
2009Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2010output of gtroff -Tps.  groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
2011gxditview.
2012
2013There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2014specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2015printed.
2016
2017Xditview now uses imake.
2018
2019VERSION 1.01
2020============
2021
2022The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2023
2024With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2025horizontally before being applied.  This makes (almost) no difference
2026for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2027-Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2028indicators.  Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2029that the `n' condition will be true.
2030
2031The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2032have been made to work at least somewhat with -C.  In particular the
2033special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2034
2035groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
2036of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2037latest version of the tpic specials.
2038
2039Eqn
2040---
2041
2042There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2043delimiters.  This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2044delimiters.  The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
2045
2046Grops
2047-----
2048
2049You can now use psfig with grops.  See the file ps/psfig.diff.  I do
2050not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2051
2052The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2053the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2054within the \X command.  This was added to support psfig.
2055
2056Grodvi
2057------
2058
2059There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2060
2061Macros
2062------
2063
2064The groff -me macros now work with the -C option.  As a result, they
2065may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2066
2067In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2068a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2069The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2070as X75 and X100.
2071
2072VERSION 1.00
2073============
2074
2075A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2076
2077The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2078from \(-d to \(Sd.
2079
2080Troff
2081-----
2082
2083There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2084true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2085which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request.  This is intended only
2086for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2087\n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2088
2089The \R escape sequence has been deleted.  Use \E instead.
2090
2091There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2092request.
2093
2094There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2095adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
2096more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2097that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
2098hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2099amount of extra space to each word space.
2100
2101There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2102
2103A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
2104undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2105the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2106This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2107request or macro and its argument.  This type of warning is enabled by
2108default.
2109
2110Pic
2111---
2112
2113A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2114
2115For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2116lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2117(but ugly).
2118
2119Eqn
2120---
2121
2122It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2123complicated equations inside pictures.
2124
2125`prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn.  The
2126previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2127`opprime'.
2128
2129Xditview
2130--------
2131
2132There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2133and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
213412 point text.
2135
2136VERSION 0.6
2137===========
2138
2139The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2140share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2141does not have a C++ compiler.  See the end of the INSTALL file for
2142details.
2143
2144There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2145your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2146
2147There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2148PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2149
2150The \N escape sequence is now fully supported.  It can now be used to
2151access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2152have a groff name.  This is made possible by a convention in the font
2153files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2154The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this.  The font
2155description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2156
2157The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2158any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2159If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2160tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2161version.
2162
2163Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2164characters.  Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2165
2166A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2167command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2168
2169Groff
2170-----
2171
2172The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2173instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2174-L passes an argument to the spooler.
2175
2176There is a C++ implementation of the groff command.  This handles some
2177things slightly better than the shell script.  In particular, it can
2178correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2179meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2180processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2181its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2182processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2183searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2184are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2185directory.
2186
2187Gtroff
2188------
2189
2190There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2191use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2192  .ftr H HR
2193This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2194Helvetica.
2195
2196There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2197mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2198`.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2199centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2200space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2201`.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2202that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2203
2204The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion.  If used in a
2205diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
2206when the diversion is reread.
2207
2208There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2209more like `\!'.
2210
2211There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2212`\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2213interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines.  This requires an output
2214format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2215Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2216\X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2217that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2218
2219There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2220escape sequences.
2221
2222The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2223name of the font.
2224
2225The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2226
2227The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2228containing the hyphenation patterns.
2229
2230There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2231
2232Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2233of end of sentence recognition.
2234
2235There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2236say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2237
2238The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2239Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2240
2241The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2242
2243There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2244guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2245The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2246
2247Gpic
2248----
2249
2250Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2251`if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2252
2253If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2254lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2255size.
2256
2257The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
22580 and 1.  The old syntax is still supported.
2259
2260`^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2261
2262In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2263by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2264
2265A bare expression may be used as an attribute.  If the current
2266direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2267`dir expr'
2268
2269There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2270wherever a quoted string can be used.
2271
2272The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2273the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2274of the `textht' variable.
2275
2276The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2277`maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2278
2279Gtbl
2280----
2281
2282Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2283has been applied to a table.
2284
2285Geqn
2286----
2287
2288The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2289
2290A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'.  This
2291defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2292
2293Grops
2294-----
2295
2296There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2297downloading for imported illustrations.  Previously, the name of the
2298file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2299groff font metric file.  Now, there is a `download' file which says
2300for each PostScript font name which file contains that font.  Grops
2301can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2302font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2303
2304The `T' font has been removed.  The characters it used to provide are
2305now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2306been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
2307definitions.
2308