[bug #57622] [PATCH] doc-old.tmac-u: Remove a superfluous "end of a macro" (..)

[Bjarni Ingi Gislason]

URL:
<https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?57622>

Summary: [PATCH] doc-old.tmac-u: Remove a superfluous "end of
a macro" (..)
Project: GNU troff
Submitted by: bjarniig
Submitted on: Fri 17 Jan 2020 07:33:15 PM UTC
Category: Macro - mdoc
Severity: 3 - Normal
Item Group: Warning/Suspicious behaviour
Status: None
Privacy: Public
Assigned to: None
Open/Closed: Open
Discussion Lock: Any
Planned Release: None

_______________________________________________________

From 3b96b21c1fead1d92eb658bffe25411bb800fa9d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001

From: Bjarni Ingi Gislason <***@rhi.hi.is>
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2020 19:19:49 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] doc-old.tmac-u: Remove a superfluous "end of a macro" (..)

"nroff -ww doc-old.tmac-u" reports on standard error:

troff: doc-old.tmac-u:273: warning: macro '.' not defined

Signed-off-by: Bjarni Ingi Gislason <***@rhi.hi.is>
---
tmac/doc-old.tmac-u | 1 -
1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/tmac/doc-old.tmac-u b/tmac/doc-old.tmac-u
index ddb782f7..ef597d97 100644
--- a/tmac/doc-old.tmac-u
+++ b/tmac/doc-old.tmac-u
@@ -270,7 +270,6 @@
.if n \{\
.ad l
.na
-..
.\}
.\" PREDEFINED STRINGS
.if t \{\
--
2.24.1






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[Ingo Schwarze]

Update of bug #57622 (project groff):

Category: Macro - mdoc => Macro - others
Severity: 3 - Normal => 1 - Wish
Status: None => Wont Fix
Assigned to: None => schwarze
Open/Closed: Open => Closed

_______________________________________________________

Follow-up Comment #1:

doc-old.tmac is not a macro set that is intended for practical use.
The file is merely documenting Cynthia's historical version 2 of the mdoc
macros as they appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno (1990).
They were already totally obsolete in 4.4BSD and no documents using them
remained in any operating system after 1993. The grand total of documents
ever using them was extremely small in the first place, probably less than
200.

If there is value in retaining the file at all, then it is in retaining it
with as few changes as possible.

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[G. Branden Robinson]

Follow-up Comment #2, bug #57622 (project groff):

I'm not sure I agree with this being closed.

My opinion:

The GNU roff codebase is not supposed to be a museum.

Our macro packages should exhibit exemplary style (literally, serve as good
examples) insofar as we are aware and able to make them.

If there is more value in keeping mdoc-old frozen as an exhibit than in
serving as macro package for formatting documents even if the user has the
warnings dialed way the hell up, then I submit that it would be better to drop
it from the groff distribution. Let other implementations be in the
archaeological exhibit business. Certainly there are plenty of moribund
SourceForge, GitHub, and even Apache Software Foundation projects
(<cough>Apache Open Office</cough>) fitting this description.

My preference would be to re-open the ticket and fix it.

Ingo and I have weighed in; would anyone else like to?

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[Ingo Schwarze]

Update of bug #57622 (project groff):

Status: Wont Fix => None
Open/Closed: Closed => Open

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Follow-up Comment #3:

I don't object at all to deleting the doc-old macro package (better known as
mdoc version 2 from 4.3BSD-Reno) completely from the groff distribution.
Branden has a point that the current groff distribution is not a museum.

While i'm certainly a fan of Cynthias good work, the version 3 of mdoc that
she completed a few years later is much better and in general use now.
Version 2 is definitely no longer useful for formatting documents.

Is it OK with you that i delete doc-old from the distribution?

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[Bjarni Ingi Gislason]

Follow-up Comment #4, bug #57622 (project groff):

Instead of removing the line "..",
make it a comment line with an explanation,
something like:

.\" The original line '..' was commented out
.\" to avoid a warning about an
.\" undefined macro,
.\" and to preserve it for historical reasons.


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[G. Branden Robinson]

Update of bug #57622 (project groff):

Category: Macro - others => Macro - mdoc


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