Werner Lemberg wrote: >> In the case of SGR sequences, unless the user specifically uses >> the `--enable-sgr' option, [...] > > Keith, maybe you've sent this as a private mail to David ...
Not intentionally. Looks like I hit "Reply" instead of "Reply-to-All", forgetting that groff list mailings don't set the "Reply-to" header appropriately :-( Could this be altered, as say, the SourceForge mail lists do? > (who has replied accidentally to the list)? It looks interesting, > so I ask you to send the full text to the list. The full text of my original message is reproduced below. (Note that where I cite `--with-nroff="/path/to/nroff -Tlatin1"' for configuration of man's default nroff command, that should have been --with-nroff="/path/to/nroff -Tlatin1 -mandoc" ). ------------------------------------ Quoting dialogue between David Evans and Werner Lemberg, concerning the handling of SGR escape sequences in manpages: [David] > However, I think a better idea would be to do it through the > configure script. Did I overlook an option already present? [Werner] > What shall the *groff* configure script do? Shouldn't this be rather > something in the *man* configure script? [David] > The removal of the escape characters, etc., for a compatible output > with OpenBSD's default, (this would be a configure option). For > now, I guess a simple note (to the INSTALL file) that man -R needs > to be set globally to the system profile. I agree with Werner; this is a `man' configuration option, not one for `groff'. I am currently working on a port of `man' for the MinGW project. As a fundamental part of that port, I've opted for a reimplementation of the configure script, from the ground up, using `autoconf'; (the existing script is hand crafted, falls into many of the traps that `autoconf' has long ago learned to avoid, and is, quite frankly, a complete disaster on the Win32 platform). When `man' is invoked, a search is performed in the `man' directories, and then a command pipeline, culminating in `nroff <options> | $PAGER', is constructed, and invoked via a `system()' call. It's those options passed by `man' to `nroff', coupled with any also specified for the PAGER, that determine the handling of SGR escape sequences, so it doesn't seem appropriate to try to control them when configuring `groff'. As part of the `man' configuration, the commands to run both `nroff' and a default PAGER, together with the appropriate set of options for each, are identified, and stored in a prototype `man.conf'. In my new configure script, I provide options such as `--with-nroff=command', `--with-pager=command' and `--enable-sgr', to allow the user to control the configuration of these; my defaults are:-- --with-nroff="/path/to/nroff -Tlatin1" --with-pager="/path/to/less -is" --disable-sgr with the `/path/to/programs' being determined by standard `autoconf' PATH searches. In the case of SGR sequences, unless the user specifically uses the `--enable-sgr' option, `configure' will attempt to run the specified `nroff' command, to format a minimal manpage, and `grep' the output for an identifiable SGR sequence, before adding the `-c' option to the configured `nroff' command. As noted above, all this configuration info goes in the `man.conf' file. This may be modified, even after installation, to adjust the behaviour of `man'; `groff' documentation indicates how it may be necessary to adjust the settings in `man.conf', and also identifies alternative mechanisms for achieving similar effects, through environment variable settings. IMHO, this is as far as `groff' should be expected to go, in this respect. Regards, Keith. _______________________________________________ Groff mailing list Groff@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/groff
