Re: [groff] address@hidden: Bug#919890: groff-base: Incorrect page numbers position when exporting BSD-style (mdoc) documents to other formats (ps, etc)]

[Ingo Schwarze]

Hi Colin,

Colin Watson wrote on Sun, Jan 20, 2019 at 04:18:29PM +0000:

> Would any mdoc folks like to have a look at this?  Details differ in
> 1.22.4 and this patch doesn't quite apply directly,

That's not a problem; if we decide that we want to change it, i can
easily apply the patch by hand.

> but much the same problem exists; page numbers are printed on the left
> of odd-numbered pages and on the right of even-numbered pages,

Isn't that what one would most often want?  When somebody prints a
manual page putting two virtual pages side-by-side on each sheet
in landscape orientation, then page 1 ends up on the left side and
page 2 on the right side of the first sheet, so the odd numbers
should be on the left, as indeed they are.

> when one would normally expect the opposite.

In a book or journal, yes, assuming the usual convention that "a la une"
is the outside of the front cover and page 2 is the inside of the
front cover.

However, the command

  groff -man -rD1 -Tps ssh_config.5

Does not produce any document that could be printed as a book or journal;
in particular, it generates no title page, and the main text starts
right on page 1.

So i don't see how the argument about books or journals could apply.

Maybe we should change the man macros rather than the mdoc macros?

Yours,
  Ingo