Follow-up Comment #15, bug #68261 (group groff): Dave, flamboyantly swashbuckling with a Zorro mask on, filed the following as bug #68543. [comment #0 original submission:] > Branden posted the following in > http://lists.gnu.org/r/groff/2026-05/msg00022.html and asked for feedback on > the proposal. None was provided. (The replies in the thread cover different > parts of the message.) This at least indicates no one is opposed, and his > proposal does seem to address a real and recurring issue, thus this ticket to > stick a pin in the idea. > ---- > I know I'll never get man page authors as a whole to give up their font > escape sequences; the best I can do is try to convince people that using them > has drawbacks, by spelling out what those drawbacks are. > > * The formatter can't distinguish typos from intentional but impossible > demands; > * because font escape sequences "punch through the floor" and directly > command the formatter, the macro package can't help you by checking font > availability for itself and then falling back to something "reasonable" in > context (and taking output device capabilities into account); > * the identity of the "previous font", as selected by `\fP`, is inconsistent > among implementations if an un-fulfillable selection is made;[1] > * input like `\fIthis\fP` frustrates many spell checkers; and > * groff man(7), at least, knows to apply italic corrections when the document > sets upright and slanted glyphs adjacently. > > Maybe I should stick the foregoing into the "Notes" section...of the > groff_man_style(7) document.
However Deri inadvertently hijacked that ticket with a related issue and lots
of attachments. So let's coalesce Dave's original objectives for #68543 into
this ticket, because the issues are pretty closely intertwined anyway. They
both require me to get all professorial and preachy in _groff_man_style_(7)
regarding font selection practices.
Specifically, the foregoing points that Dave helpfully quoted build, I think,
I pretty strong case against bashing font selection escape sequences blindly
into _man_(7) documents, which seems to tempt the simian mind most strongly
when it desires a monospaced typeface.
Also, this ticket's prerequisite bug #68345 has been fixed for a little while.
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