tREADME - plan9port - [fork] Plan 9 from user space
HTML git clone git://src.adamsgaard.dk/plan9port
DIR Log
DIR Files
DIR Refs
DIR README
DIR LICENSE
---
tREADME (6461B)
---
1 An experiment in page makeup for troff output...
2
3 -mpm is a version of standard -ms that causes extra
4 information for vertical justification and figure
5 placement to be included in troff output. Commands that
6 have been augmented to provide paddable space are
7
8 .SH and .NH
9 .PP and .LP no space if \n(PD is 0; normally .nr PD 0.3v; leave at least 1u
10 .IP and .QP also
11 .EQ and .EN
12 .TS and .TE no space if \n(TS is 0; normally .nr TS 0.5v
13 .PS and .PE
14 .P1 and .P2 display programs in CW font
15 .DS and .DE
16 .QS and .QE
17
18 Other commands, registers, strings, etc.:
19
20 .SP n explicit paddable space, just like .sp n.
21 generally you should ALWAYS use .SP instead of .sp.
22 if you need exactly a given vertical space, you can say
23 .SP 3i exactly
24 this space won't be padded.
25 .Tm words prints "words" and the output page number on stderr
26 sorry about the spelling; -ms pre-empted .TM
27 .NE n like .ne. note: does not cause a break
28
29 Others may be added as the need arises.
30
31 .nr FO n Set the page length. This value is the bottom of
32 the text on the page; a bottom title may lie below.
33 default is 10i (== 10 inches).
34 %o, %e are strings containing odd and even page titles
35 %# is the current page number (often useless)
36 .PT is a macro invoked at the top of each "page";
37 it will normally use %e, %o and %#. There is also
38 a .BT for page bottoms if desired.
39 .BP force a page break
40 .FL force all waiting figures out before any more running text
41 .1C, .2C multiple columns; number registers CW and GW set
42 the column and gutter width if you don't like the default.
43 absent a .FC command, all two-column contents collect
44 together on the page
45 .FC freeze current two-column contents and start afresh.
46 necessary if you want to switch between 1 and 2 column
47 text and keep the relative order among them.
48
49 Usage is some variant of
50
51 ... | troff -mpm
52
53 /usr/lib/tmac/pm is the page-justifier itself; it is called automatically
54 by the -mpm macro package. If you are installing this yourself, you will
55 have to edit the 2nd line of tmac.pm to arrange that pm is called directly
56 from troff.
57
58 There are several lines in tmac.pm that say
59 .so /n/coma/usr/bwk/...
60 You should delete these; they are placeholders for some experiments.
61
62 If you use -mm, you are more or less out of luck, although we will be
63 happy to provide a crude and incomplete program that purports to convert
64 -mm to -ms. It may suggest what you need but it won't do the job.
65
66 To compile pm, you need a C++ compiler, preferably release 2.0 or later.
67 Put the .c and .h files in a directory, and type
68 make
69 This process may well fail. The usual cause is that different systems
70 put function declarations in different header files, and C++ insists that
71 all functions be properly declared. You can almost always get through this
72 part by adding function declarations. The most likely offender is malloc;
73 a line like
74 extern char *malloc(int);
75 near the top of slug.c will solve this one.
76
77
78 Bugs, etc.:
79
80 not all -ms commands have been decorated; in particular,
81 the rich variety of document types (TM, CSTR, etc.,) is not
82 really supported.
83
84 there are problems with funny first pages and troff input
85 that moves back up the page.
86
87 multiple columns: only .2C is available. The program does not check
88 whether something is wide or narrow: user has responsibility to mark
89 which with .1C or .2C.
90
91 headings are a bit tricky if you want things like
92 running titles that include the current section title.
93 normally a two-pass procedure using .Tm is needed.
94
95 It's a pain to force a blank vertical space of specified height.
96 Try this:
97 .de x
98 \v'\\$1'\0\h'-\w'\0'u'\c
99 ..
100 .x 2.5i
101
102
103 If you want to roll your own, the following components are
104 included in pm's "command language". They are inserted in
105 the troff output in the form of "x X ..." commands, which
106 are created either by \X'...' or by the .X macro in -mpm.
107 Look at how they are used in /usr/lib/tmac/tmac.pm for examples.
108
109
110 BS n breakable stream n = min # lines that must appear on page
111 use: PP, LP, IP, ...
112
113 US unbreakable stream use: KS/KE, DS/DE, TS/TE, EQ/EN, PS/PE, etc.
114
115 BF v breakable float v = preferred vertical location of box center
116 use: FS/FE
117 use two successive BF's to give two preferences
118
119 UF v unbreakable float v = preferred vertical location of box center
120 use: KF/KE
121 use two successive UF's to give two preferences
122
123 PT page title use: user has absolute control between PT and END
124 no SP's or other pm commands inside are processed
125
126 BT bottom title use: user has absolute control between BT and END
127
128 END end end a US, BF, UF, PT, or BT
129 all constructs nest, but a float within another float
130 or a US block will not float within or outside the block
131
132 NE n need break page if a VBOX of height n would not fit on page
133 use: .NE n
134
135 SP n space paddable space of n
136 use: .SP n
137
138 PARM NP v top of pm text at v
139 new page
140
141 PARM FO v bottom of pm text at v
142 footer length of text on page = FO-NP
143
144 PARM PL v physical page ends at v
145 page length default = FO + NP
146
147 PARM MF x tolerance to prevent padding
148 minimum fullness default = 0.9
149
150 PARM CT x tolerance for two-column operation
151 column tolerance default = 0.5
152
153 PARM DBG x debugging flag
154
155 TM str message .Tm words prints <pageno> <tab> <words> on stderr
156
157 MC n o multiple column n columns, offset o.
158 Only 1 and 2 columns will work.
159
160 CMD BP break page force page break
161
162 CMD FL flush force all queued figures out before any more
163 stream material is output
164
165 CMD FC freeze columns force out current two-column contents;
166 start a fresh one
167
168 Something like this will probably have to be added:
169
170 NC new column HARD!
171
172 Known botches in the existing implementation of pm:
173
174 If a footnote is split across two pages, any associated separator line
175 will not be copied. If there are multiple footnotes on one page, there
176 will be multiple separators too. -mpm's .FS macro does not provide a
177 separator. If you want a separator line, put it in explicitly with
178 a call to the .FA macro.
179
180 There are not enough settable parameters; in particular, the
181 way to control the height is a botch.
182
183
184 Historical note: There is a simpler version of pm and -mpm
185 called pj and -mpj that only does vertical justification of
186 pages that have already been laid out by conventional means.
187 This simpler version may be adequate, but it is no longer
188 supported and memory of how it works is growing dim.