Re: [Groff] Introduction to groff in french

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Gregoire,

>   This isn't the best way to verify package installation from the
>   command line.  I recommend inserting a bit of code into your article
>   for checking whether groff is installed:
> 
>     dpkg -l | sed -n '/groff[^-]/p'

To avoid scaring the chevaux, how about

    $ dpkg -l | grep 'groff[^-]'
    ii  groff            1.20.1-10             GNU troff text-formatting system
    $

Or even better, simply

    $ dpkg -l groff
    Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
    | 
Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
    |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
    ||/ Name           Version        Description
    
+++-==============-==============-============================================
    ii  groff          1.20.1-10      GNU troff text-formatting system
    $

> Generally, I wouldn't spend so much space on piping text at the
> command line through to groff (your poem, e.g.).

The printfs don't end with `\n' so are producing a non-Unix text file.
:-)  Also, another way to do it might be

    printf '%s\n' 'The boy stood on the burning deck,' \
        'His feet glued down with treacle,' \
        '...' |

But I agree with Peter, the less odd command line stuff up front, the
better.  After saying how to use a text editor, one could stick to

    $ cat foo.tr
    ...
    $ groff -k foo.tr >foo.ps
    $

to show examples of input, the commands used on them, and expected
outputs.

Cheers, Ralph.