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[Groff] tmac renaming
From: |
Bernd Warken |
Subject: |
[Groff] tmac renaming |
Date: |
Wed, 22 Mar 2000 22:08:36 +0100 |
The naming of some macro packages is ridiculous, the ones whose first
letter is (or should be) m. This includes
tmac.an tmac.andoc tmac.arkup tmac.doc tmac.e tmac.s (... ?)
tmac.m tmac.mse
This curious habit originates from very old UNIX days, where option
arguments were required to immediately follow it soption letter without
an intervening space. So it was funny to write "troff -man" instead of
"troff -mman".
But after having admired the eye-catching beauty of this monster-hack
for some decades I think it's time to put it to some serious end, before
it will go on blossoming to reach unmatched heights such as the
stupendous "tmac.arkup". (How about "tmac.ess", "tmac.uck",
"tmac.iaow", or "tmac.om"?)
In order to remain compatible, I propose to
1) rename the above mentioned tmacs by inserting the robbed m
2) create symlinks to the old names
Then it will possible to call the man macro package using "-m man",
"-man", "-m an", or "-mman".
The following script does the trick:
function fix_tmac {
mv tmac.$1 tmac.m$1 # insert m into tmac name
eval /bin/ln -s tmac.$1 tmac.m$1 # supply old handling
}
cd $GROFF_SOURE/tmac
for p in an andoc arkup doc e s
do fix_tmac $p; done
cd $GROFF_SOURCE/contrib/mm
for p in m mse
do fix_tmac $p; done
Hard links or copies could be better for some primitive OSes. (Please
note that I didn't say "primitive", I just write it down. If you don't
like the term, replace it by "POSIX-by-bribing-only" or
"not-to-pay-means-jail" ;).
The final step to adjust the makefiles and the doqs is left as an
exercise ;-)
Bernd Warken <address@hidden>
Down with the communist establishment - free markets for all!
- [Groff] tmac renaming,
Bernd Warken <=