[bug #55091] stop stripping comments and spaces from installed macro packages

[Dave]

URL:
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?55091>

                 Summary: stop stripping comments and spaces from installed
macro packages
                 Project: GNU troff
            Submitted by: barx
            Submitted on: Sat 24 Nov 2018 09:06:30 PM CST
                Category: Macro - others
                Severity: 3 - Normal
              Item Group: Build/Installation
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
             Assigned to: None
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
         Planned Release: None

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Details:

This has historically been a contentious issue on the email list, but the
discussion is hard to find in the archive, so I'm opening this bug report to
consolidate it in one place.

And truthfully, the last couple of times it came up, no one stepped forward to
defend the practice of stripping.  See threads starting at:

* http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2017-11/msg00104.html
* http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2018-03/msg00048.html (which later
strays from stripping in general to the implementation details of a -mom fix)
* http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2018-03/msg00054.html

The trade-off under consideration is between execution speed (stripped files)
and readability of the files (unstripped files).  The performance argument
becomes less relevant the more time passes, while the legibility argument
remains unchanged.  This suggests that eventually there will be a tipping
point, where the gains in performance will no longer justify the loss of
legibility.

Is 2018 that point?

Are there any holdouts who want to argue in favor of continuing to strip?




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