On Sun Jul 24, 2022 at 8:06 AM EDT, G. Branden Robinson wrote: > At 2022-07-24T03:17:44+0000, DJ Chase wrote: > > On Sat Jul 23, 2022 at 10:08 PM EDT, G. Branden Robinson wrote: > > > I don't think the lack of availability of troff source mattered much > > > since groff had been out for 10 years by then, but the lack of > > > documentation surely did. I don't think Trent Fisher contributed > > > the first cut of our Texinfo manual for another few years, and > > > creating replacements for the original CSRC ms papers documenting > > > various aspects of the system is a project that remains underway > > > (hence why I went looking for Ted Harding recently). > > > > I’ve never read the Texinfo manual; I learned *roff through Unix For > > People,[1] then various online materials maybe half a year ago. The > > turn-off for me was how cryptic all of the troff examples (from any > > source) I saw were, and how it felt like I was always fighting the > > typesetter to get it to do even basic things. > > As someone who's done a lot of work on the Texinfo manual (and other > groff documentation) over the past 5 years, that is disappointing to > hear.
I just read some of it. I wish I read it when it felt like I was fighting with the typesetter — it’s very helpful. > I would be curious to hear whether you think the situation has improved. > > I'm attaching a document that purposes to both introduce the novice to > *roff typesetting and present all of the features of groff ms. I'd very > much like to know if you think the examples would have been accessible > to you when you were a novice. It seems that the document you attached is your GPG key in PDF form. Could you try resending it, or if the issue is appears to be on my end, sending a link to it? > > [1]: https://archive.org/details/unixforpeoplemod00birn > > This looks really neat. I think I may want to get my hands on a > physical copy before the publishing cartel shuts down the Internet > Archive's digital lending library. (In any lawsuit, predict a judgment > in favor of the rentier.) > > https://www.eff.org/cases/hachette-v-internet-archive Good luck; It’s out of print and physical copies are very hard to come by. Cheers, -- DJ Chase They, Them, Theirs
