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<h1 id="appendices" class="docs">Appendices</h1>
<div style="width: 68%; margin: auto;">
<ul class="no-enumerator">
<li><a href="#fonts">Adding fonts to groff</a>
<ul style="margin-left: -.5em; list-style-type: disc">
<li><a href="#extending">Extending groff families / adding new families and fonts</a>
<ul style="margin-left: -.5em; list-style-type: circle">
<li><a href="#traditional">The traditional approach</a></li>
<li><a href="#simpler">The simpler way with mom</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#steps">Step-by-step instructions</a></li>
<li><a href="#install-font">Automate the whole process – the install-font script</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#codenotes">Some reflections on mom</a></li>
<li><a href="#contact">Contact the author</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="rule-medium"><hr/></div>
<h2 id="fonts" class="docs">Adding fonts to groff</h2>
<div id="small-note" class="box-tip">
<p class="tip-top">
<kbd><prefix></kbd>, in this section, refers
to the directory in which groff is installed, typically
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
/usr/share/groff/
</span>
(for distro-specific, pre-compiled groff packages) or
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
/usr/local/share/groff/
</span>
(if you’ve built groff from source).
<p class="tip-bottom">
<kbd><version></kbd> refers to the groff version number, which
can be found, if necessary, by typing
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
groff -v
</span>
at the command line.
</p>
</div>
<p>
Groff comes with a small library of
<a href="definitions.html#family">families</a>
(see the
<a href="typesetting.html#family">FAMILY</a>
macro for a list). The families have four
<a href="definitions.html#font">fonts</a>
associated with them. These fonts are a combination of
<a href="definitions.html#weight">weight</a>
and
<a href="definitions.html#shape">shape</a>:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
R (Roman, usually Medium weight),
I (Italic, usually Medium weight),
B (Bold, usually Roman shape) and
BI (Bold Italic)
</span>
If you work with mom a lot, sooner or later you’ll find that these
families and their associated fonts aren’t sufficient. You’ll
want to supplement them, either with more fonts for the families
already provided—<i>Damn! I need Helvetica Bold Condensed
Italic</i>—or with entire new families.
</p>
<h3 id="extending" class="docs">Extending groff families / adding new families and fonts</h3>
<h4 id="traditional" class="docs">The traditional approach</h4>
<p>
The traditional approach to extending groff families has been
to create new families for non-default weights and shapes (e.g.
<b>Light</b>, which is a
<a href="definitions.html#weight">weight</a>,
or <b>Condensed</b>, which is a
<a href="definitions.html#shape">shape</a>),
then to associate them with groff’s predefined <b>R,
I, B</b> and <b>BI</b> font styles. An example of this
can be seen in the groff PostScript font library itself, which is
found in
</br>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
<prefix>/<version>/font/devps/
</span>
There’s one “family” for Helvetica (<b>HR</b>,
<b>HI</b>, <b>HB</b>, <b>HBI</b>) and another for Helvetica Narrow
(<b>HNR</b>, <b>HNI</b>, <b>HNB</b>, <b>HNBI</b>).
</p>
<p>
The difficulty with this approach is that typographers tend to
think of families as referring to the entire set of font weights
and shapes associated with a family name. For example, when
a typesetter says “the Helvetica family”, s/he is
including the weights Helvetica Thin, Helvetica Light, Helvetica
Regular, Helvetica Bold, Helvetica Heavy, etc, and all their
associated shapes (Roman, Italic, Condensed, Narrow, Extended,
Outline, etc).
</p>
<p>
Thus, intuitively, when a typesetter gives mom a
<kbd>.FAMILY H</kbd> directive, s/he reasonably expects that
any subsequent <kbd>.FT</kbd> directive will access the desired font
from the Helvetica family—without the need to state explicitly
both family and font to <kbd>.FT</kbd>, as it is explained one can
do in the
<a href="typesetting.html#family">FAMILY</a>
and
<a href="typesetting.html#font">FT</a>
sections of these documents.
</p>
<p>
If one had, say, Helvetica Light Roman and Helvetica Light Italic
as well as Helvetica Light Condensed Roman and Helvetica Light
Condensed Italic, the established groff approach would require two
“partial” families, <b>HL</b> (for Helvetica Light)
and <b>HLCD</b> (for Helvetica Light Condensed), with <b>R</b> and
<b>I</b> fonts for both:
</br>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
HLR
HLI
HLCDR
HLCDI
</span>
Accessing these family/font combos routinely
throughout a document would then require changing the family
(with <kbd>.FAMILY</kbd>) and selecting the desired font
(with <kbd>.FT R</kbd> or <kbd>.FT I</kbd>), or
passing <kbd>.FT</kbd> the lengthy family+fontname (.e.g.
<kbd>.FT HLCDI</kbd>).
</p>
<h4 id="simpler" class="docs">The simpler way with mom</h4>
<p>
Fortunately, groff provides a mechanism whereby it’s possible
to extend the basic <b>R</b>, <b>I</b>, <b>B</b> and <b>BI</b> fonts
(“styles” in groff-speak) so that one can, in fact,
create extensive type families, and access all the fonts in them
with <kbd>.ft</kbd> (groff) or <kbd>.FT</kbd> (mom).
</p>
<p>
Mom uses this mechanism to offer, in addition to groff’s
default font styles, the following:
</p>
<div class="examples-container" style="padding-bottom: 1em;">
<div id="style-extensions" style="width: 50%; float: left;">
<span class="pre" style="font-size: 85%">
UL = Ultra Light
ULI = Ultra Light Italic
ULCD = Ultra Light Condensed
ULCDI = Ultra Light Condensed Italic
ULEX = Ultra Light Extended
ULEXI = Ultra Light Extended Italic
XL = Extra Light
XLI = Extra Light Italic
XLCD = Extra Light Condensed
XLCDI = Extra Light Condensed Italic
XLEX = Extra Light Extended
XLEXI = Extra Light Extended Italic
TH = Thin
THI = Thin Italic
THCD = Thin Condensed
THCDI = Thin Condensed Italic
THEX = Thin Extended
THEXI = Thin Extended Italic
L = Light Roman
LI = Light Italic
LCD = Light Condensed
LCDI = Light Condensed Italic
LEX = Light Extended
LEXI = Light Extended Italic
BK = Book Roman
BKI = Book Italic
BKCD = Book Condensed
BKCDI = Book Condensed Italic
BKEX = Book Extended
BKEXI = Book Extended Italic
CD = Medium Condensed
CDI = Medium Condensed Italic
EX = Medium Extended
EXI = Medium Extended Italic
DB = DemiBold Roman
DBI = DemiBold Italic
DBCD = DemiBold Condensed
DBCDI = DemiBold Condensed Italic
DBEX = DemiBold Extended
DBEXI = DemiBold Extended Italic
SB = SemiBold Roman
SBI = SemiBold Italic
SBCD = SemiBold Condensed
SBCDI = SemiBold Condensed Italic
SBEX = SemiBold Extended
SBEXI = SemiBold Extended Italic
</span>
</div>
<span class="pre" style="font-size: 85%">
BCD = Bold Condensed
BCDI = Bold Condensed Italic
BEX = Bold Extended
BEXI = Bold Extended Italic
BO = Bold Outline
XB = Extra Bold
XBI = Extra Bold Italic
XBCD = Extra Bold Condensed
XBCDI = Extra Bold Condensed Italic
XBEX = Extra Bold Extended
XBEXI = Extra Bold Extended Italic
UB = Ultra Bold
UBI = Ultra Bold Italic
UBCD = Ultra Bold Condensed
UBCDI = Ultra Bold Condensed Italic
UBEX = Ultra Bold Extended
UBEXI = Ultra Bold Extended Italic
HV = Heavy
HVI = Heavy Italic
HVCD = Heavy Condensed
HVCDI = Heavy Condensed Italic
HVEX = Heavy Extended
HVEXI = Heavy Extended Italic
BL = Black
BLI = Black Italic
BLCD = Black Condensed
BLCDI = Black Condensed Italic
BLEX = Black Extended
BLEXI = Black Extended Italic
BLO = Black Outline
XBL = Extra Black
XBLI = Extra Black Italic
XBLCD = Extra Black
XBLCDI = Extra Black
XBLEX = Extra Black Italic
XBLEXI = Extra Black Italic
UBL = Ultra Black
UBLI = Ultra Black Italic
UBLCD = Ultra Black Condensed
UBLCDI = Ultra Black Condensed Italic
UBLEX = Ultra Black Exteneded
UBLEXI = Ultra Black Extended Italic
SC = Small Caps Roman
SCI = Small Caps Italic
SCDB = Small Caps Demibold
SCDBI = Small Caps Demibold Italic
SCSB = Small Caps Semibold
SCSBI = Small Caps Semibold Italic
</span>
</div>
<p style="clear: both;">
Thus, with mom, if you’ve installed some extra
Helvetica fonts and named them according to the convention
<kbd><F><S></kbd> (where <kbd><F></kbd> means
family and <kbd><S></kbd> means font style), once having
entered
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp" style="margin-bottom: -1em;">
.FAMILY H
</span>
you can access any of the extra Helvetica fonts simply by passing
the correct argument to
<a href="typesetting.html#font">FT</a>
from the list, above. For example, if you were working in Medium
Roman (<kbd>.FT R</kbd>) and you needed Medium Condensed Italic
for a while (assuming it’s installed), you’d just type
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp" style="margin-bottom: -1em;">
.FT CDI
</span>
to access the Medium Condensed Italic font from the Helvetica
family.
</p>
<p>
Mom’s list of font styles doesn’t pretend to be
exhaustive. The extension names are arbitrary and can be used in a
flexible manner. For example, if you create a family that has a
Demibold font (<b>DB</b>) but no Bold font (<b>B</b>), you might
find it more convenient to give the Demibold font the extension
“<b>B</b>”.
</p>
<p id="register-style">
You may, at needs, want to add to mom’s list of font styles.
You can do this by editing the file, om.tmac (typical location:
<kbd><prefix>/<version>/tmac/om.tmac</kbd>). Near the
top, you’ll see lines of the form
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.sty \n[.fp] XL \" Extra Light
.sty \n[.fp] L \" Light Roman
.sty \n[.fp] LI \" Light Italic
.sty \n[.fp] LCD \" Light Condensed Roman
</span>
Simply add your new font style by imitating what you see, above,
and plugging in your new font style (having, of course,
added the font to groff, correctly named).
directory; see
<a href="#steps">Step-by-step instructions</a>).
</p>
<p>
For example, if you already have some fonts from the Univers family
installed and have called the family <b>Univers</b>, you might decide at
some point to add the Bold Outline font (<b>UniversBO</b>). In which
case, you’d add
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.sty \n[.fp] BO \" Bold Outline
</span>
to the <kbd>.sty \n[.fp] <font style></kbd> list
in om.tmac.
</p>
<div class="box-tip">
<p class="tip">
<span class="note">Note:</span>
Mom’s font extensions are not “user-space”
controllable via a macro. If you’ve been using groff for
a long time, and have already rolled your own solution to adding
families and fonts to groff, you may find that mom’s font
extensions conflict with your own scheme. Should that be the case,
comment out the <kbd>.sty \n[.fp] <font style></kbd>
lines found near the top of the <kbd>om.tmac</kbd> file.
</p>
</div>
<div class="box-important">
<p class="tip">
<span class="important">Important:</span>
Be careful that any styles you add do not conflict with
<i>family</i> names that already exist. “<b>C</b>”,
for example, conflicts with the Courier family (<b>CR</b>,
<b>CI</b>, <b>CB</b>, <b>CI</b>). Were you to create a font
style “<b>C</b>”, thinking that <kbd>.FT C</kbd>
would give you access to font style once you’d given a
<kbd>.FAMILY</kbd> directive, you’d get a nasty surprise:
your type would come out in Courier Roman!
</p>
</div>
<div class="rule-medium"><hr/></div>
<h2 id="steps" class="docs">Step-by-step instructions</h2>
<div>
<ul class="no-enumerator" style="margin-left: -1.5em;">
<li><a href="#need">What you need before you start</a></li>
<li><a href="#preparation">Initial preparation</a></li>
<li><a href="#step-1">1. Acquire the font</a></li>
<li><a href="#step-2">2. Prepare to convert the font to the correct format</a>
<ul style="margin-left: -.5em">
<li><a href="#ttf">TTF fonts</a></li>
<li><a href="#type1">Type 1 fonts</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#step-3">3. Convert the font and put it in the right place</a></li>
<li><a href="#step-4">4. Update the download file</a>
<ul style="margin-left: -.5em">
<li><a href="#internal">Get the internal font name</a></li>
<li><a href="#add">Add the font to the download file</a></li>
<li><a href="#gropdf-download">Updating the gropdf download file</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#groff-font-names">Naming groff fonts</a>
<li><a href="#install-font">Automate the whole process – the install-font script</a>
</ul></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>
There are a number of ways to approach making fonts available
to groff. These instructions aren’t meant to cover all
possibilities, merely one.
</p>
<p>
GNU/Linux distributions being what they are, directory locations
may differ and the presence of some executables can’t be
guaranteed. I run a Debian-based system. The instructions reflect
that. Users of other distros may have to interpret them according
to the way their distro operates.
</p>
<h3 id="need" class="docs appendices">What you need before you start</h3>
<ul style="margin-top: 1em; margin-left: -.5em;">
<li>groff, version 1.18 or higher<br/>
(Debian package: groff)
</li>
<li>ghostscript<br/>
(Debian package: ghostscript or ghostscript-x)
</li>
<li>fontforge<br/>
(Debian package: fontforge)
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="preparation" class="docs appendices">Initial preparation (you only need do this once)</h3>
<ol id="site-font" style="margin-left: -1em;">
<li>
Locate the groff directory,
<kbd>site-font</kbd>. The exact location is
difficult to predict, owing to differences between distros and
whether you’re using a pre-packaged groff or have built
it from source. Some typical locations are:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
/usr/share/groff/
/usr/local/share/groff/
/etc/groff/
</span>
If you can’t find the site-font directory, locate
groff’s <kbd>site-tmac</kbd> directory, and, as root,
create site-font in the same directory. Eg, if you find
site-tmac in <kbd>/usr/share/groff/</kbd>, create site-font in
<kbd>/usr/share/groff/</kbd>
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp" style="margin-bottom: -2em;">
sudo mkdir site-font
</span>
</li>
<li>
Create two files, generate-t42.pe and generate-pfa.pe,
as you see them below. Place them in a convenient and
easily-remembered location, like your home directory.
<br/>
<span class="examples" style="font-size: 95%; display: block; margin-top: .5em;">generate-t42.pe</span>
<div class="examples-container" style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: -1em; padding-bottom: 1em;">
<span class="pre">
# generate-t42.pe
Open($1);
Generate($fontname + ".pfa");
Generate($fontname + ".t42");
</span>
</div>
<br/>
<span class="examples" style="font-size: 95%; display: block; margin-top: .5em;">generate-pfa.pe</span>
<div class="examples-container" style="margin-top: 0; padding-bottom: 1em;">
<span class="pre">
# generate-pfa.pe
Open($1);
Generate($fontname + ".pfa");
</span>
</div>
</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="step-1" class="docs appendices">Step 1: Acquire the font</h3>
<p class="top">
The two most commonly available types of fonts are PostScript Type1
(extension .pfb) and TrueType (extension .ttf). Either can be made
available to groff. There are many websites holding collections of
both.
</p>
<h3 id="step-2" class="docs appendices">Step 2: Prepare to convert the font to the correct format</h3>
<p class="top">
Change into the directory holding the new font.
</p>
<p>
For convenience in the next step, make a symbolic link to
the file 'textmap':
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
ln -s <prefix>/<version>/font/devps/generate/textmap .
</span>
See
<a href="#small-note">here</a>
for an explanation of <prefix>
and <version>.
</p>
<p>
In addition, unless you're installing fonts from your home
directory, make links to the files 'generate-t42.pe' and
'generate-pfa.pe'.
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
ln -s $HOME/generate-t42.pe .
ln -s $HOME/generate-pfa.pe .
</p>
<h3 id="step-3" class="docs appendices">Step 3: Convert the font and put it in the right place</h3>
<p class="top">
TrueType fonts (.ttf) need to be converted to .t42. Type 1 fonts
(.pfb) need to be converted to .pfa.
</p>
<h4 id="ttf" class="docs" style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;"> • TTF Fonts</h4>
<p class="top" style="margin-top: .5em;">
For .ttf fonts, run
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
fontforge -script generate-t42.pe <file>.ttf
</span>
This will create three new files with the extensions .t42, .pfa, and
.afm. Next, run
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
afmtodit <afm file> textmap <groff font>
</span>
This will create a groff font with the name you give. (See
<a href="#groff-font-names">here</a>
for advice on naming groff fonts.)
</p>
<p>
Move the .t42 and groff font files to
<kbd><prefix>/site-font/devps/</kbd>.
</p>
<p>
If you're running a recent version of groff that includes
the native pdf device (gropdf), move the .pfa file to
<kbd><prefix>/<version>/font/devpdf/</kbd>. If not, you
may safely remove it. You may also safely remove the .afm file.
</p>
<h4 id="type1" class="docs" style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;"> • Type1 Fonts</h4>
<p class="top" style="margin-top: .5em;">
For .pfb fonts, run
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
fontforge -script generate-pfa.pe <file>.ttf
</span>
This will create two new files with the extensions .pfa, and .afm.
Next, run
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
afmtodit <afm file> textmap <groff font>
</span>
Move the .pfa and groff font files to
<kbd><prefix>/<site-font>/devps/</kbd>.
(See
<a href="#groff-font-names">here</a>
for advice on naming groff fonts.)
</p>
<p>
If you're running a recent version of groff that includes the
native pdf device (gropdf), link the .pfa and groff font files,
now in <kbd><prefix>/<site-font>/devps/</kbd>,
to the devpdf directory</kbd>. Start by changing into the
<kbd><prefix>/<version>/font/devpdf/</kbd> directory,
then:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
ln -s <prefix>/<version>/font/devps/<file>.pfa .
ln -s <prefix>/<version>/font/devps/<groff font> .
</span>
You may safely remove the .afm file.
</p>
<h3 id="step-4" class="docs appendices">Step 4: Update the download file</h3>
<h4 id="internal" class="docs" style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;"> • Get the internal font name</h4>
<p class="top" style="margin-top: .5em;">
Inspect your new groff font file. Near the top, you will see a line
of the form
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
internalname <name>
</span>
Usually, the internal name is helpfully descriptive, e.g.,
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
internalname Optima-Bold
</span>
Make a note of the internal name.
</p>
<h4 id="add" class="docs" style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;"> • Add the font to the download file</h4>
<p class="top" style="margin-top: .5em;">
Open the file <kbd><prefix>/<version>/font/devps/download</kbd>.
In it you will see lines of the form
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
Symbol-Slanted symbolsl.pfa
ZapfDingbats-Reverse zapfdr.pfa
FreeEuro freeeuro.pfa
</span>
where the spaces are the tab character from the keyboard, not
literal spaces. Thus,
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
Symbol-Slanted symbolsl.pfa
</span>
is really
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
Symbol-Slanted<tab>symbolsl.pfa
</span>
</p>
<p>
The download file maps the internal names used by groff to the
actual fonts. To add your new font to the download file, append a
line containing the internal name, followed by a tab (make sure your
text editor is inserting the tab character, not spaces), followed by
the .t42 or .pfa font to which the internal name refers.
</p>
<p>
For example, if the internal name is Optima-Bold and the font is a
.pfa file called Optima-Bold.pfa, your updated download file will
contain
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
Optima-Bold<tab>Optima-Bold.pfa
</span>
</p>
<h4 id="gropdf-download" class="docs" style="font-size: 90%; text-transform: uppercase;"> • Updating the gropdf download file</h4>
<p class="top" style="margin-top: .5em;">
If you're running a recent version of groff that includes the
native pdf device (gropdf), you must update its download file as
well, which is found in <kbd><prefix>/<version>/font/devpdf/</kbd>.
The instructions are identical to those above, but with one important
difference: all lines must begin with a tab character. Thus, using
our Optima example, your devpdf download line for the same font is
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
<tab>Optima-Bold<tab>Optima-Bold.pfa
</span>
</p>
<h3 id="groff-font-names" class="docs appendices">Naming groff fonts</h3>
<p class="top">
For convenience when using mom, and to keep your font collection
organized, choose meaningful groff font names following the scheme
<Family><FONT>, where Family is something
like Optima or Univers or Clarendon, and FONT is either
<br/>
<span style="display: block; margin-left: 2em;">
<kbd>R </kbd>(roman/regular)
<br/>
<kbd>I </kbd>(italic)
<br/>
<kbd>B </kbd>(bold)
<br/>
<kbd>BI </kbd>(bold italic)
</span>
or one of the 1–5 character fontstyles listed
<a href="#style-extensions">here</a>.
Thus, for the fonts Optima Light Italic and Optima Extra Black, your font names would be
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
OptimaLI
OptimaXBL
</span>
This scheme allows you to enter <kbd>.FAMILY Optima</kbd> to make
Optima the current family, and <kbd>.FT LI</kbd> or <kbd>.FT XBL</kbd>
when you need the fonts Light Italic or Extra Black.
</p>
<p>
Groff font names are, in fact, arbitrary; you can call your fonts
anything you like, provided the
<a href="#internal">internal name</a>
in the
<a href="#add">download file</a>
matches the internal name found in the groff font file. When
calling a font that does not follow the recommended naming convention,
you must pass the full font name to <kbd>.FT</kbd> whenever you wish
to use it.
</p>
<p>
For example, the font, Goudy Stout, isn't really part of the
Goudy family, and while "stout" describes it, Stout is not a
recognized font style. Therefore, its groff name could simply be
GoudyStout, and whenever you needed it, you could call it with
<kbd>.FT GoudyStout</kbd>.
</p>
<h3 id="install-font" class="docs appendices">Automate the whole process – the install-font script</h3>
<p>
A bash script to make the entire process of installing fonts a
painless no-brainer has been posted online at
<a href="http://www.schaffter.ca/mom/install-font">http://www.schaffter.ca/mom/install-font</a>.
Be sure to make the script executable
(<kbd>chmod 755 install-font</kbd>)
after you download it, then type <kbd>./install-font -H</kbd> for
usage.
</p>
<div class="rule-medium" style="margin-top: 2em;"><hr/></div>
<!-- ===================================================================== -->
<h2 id="codenotes" class="docs">Some reflections on mom</h2>
<p>
If, as Eric Raymond asserts, open source begins with a programmer
scratching a personal itch, then mom can truly be called open
source.
</p>
<p>
Mom had her origins in a library of groff routines I wrote over
the years to handle various aspects of typesetting and document
processing that weren’t adequately covered by ms, me, mm, and
friends. Typically, I’d use the library to cobble together
macro sets for new challenges as they came my way.
</p>
<p>
As a writer living in a perpetual state of penury, all the computers
I’ve ever owned have been hand-me-downs—several
generations out-of-date and resource challenged. Disk space has
always been an issue, as has processor speed and available RAM. One
of the reasons I run GNU/Linux rather than the offering from Redmond
is that it has helped enormously to get the most out of my poor
little boxes.
</p>
<p>
In Linux-land (all Unix variants, in fact), the choice of
typesetting systems basically comes down to groff or TeX. Both are
wonderful—monumental achievements if you ask me—and both
have their own particular strengths. However, for people in my
financial position (and there are millions of us around the globe,
in both developed and developing countries), TeX and groff have one
big difference: size. TeX is huge. Even its most ardent supporters
agree it suffers from bloat, on top of being complex and unwieldy to
manage. Groff is tiny by comparison, occupying minimal disk space
and having only a small memory footprint while at the same time
being flexible and powerful, typographically speaking. Back in the
Jurassic Period, I ran it successfully on a 386 with 8 megs of RAM
and a 250 meg hard disk.
</p>
<p>
However, groff has always had a liability: it’s incredibly geeky.
Owing to its very long history, it—and its power users
—seem to have remained stuck in a time warp. The canonical macro packages
still look as they did back in those decades when memory was exorbitantly
expensive and every byte mattered.
</p>
<p>
For some time now, groff users and macro writers have had the option
to use “long” names for macros (i.e. longer than two
letters, the original limit), yet have mostly chosen not to. With
long names, it’s possible to create macro sets that are
humanly readable and easy to interpret, encouraging development and
evolution. What’s more, the macros themselves need not be
terse, intimidating, and easily forgotten 1- or 2-letter commands
inserted in the body of a document. They can be sensible and
helpful to everyone, groff newbies and old hands alike.
</p>
<p>
Mom’s macro file, om.tmac, uses long names, aliases, and a
host of other groff goodies that have become part of the whole groff
picture. The function of nearly every macro, number register and
string can be infered simply from its name. The file is heavily
commented. A consistent, if idiosyncratic, indenting style is used
as well, significantly improving readability. Anyone wanting to
futz around with mom’s macros should be able to do so with a
minimum of head scratching.
</p>
<div class="box-tip">
<p class="tip">
<span class="note">Note:</span>
The main macro file, <strong>om.tmac</strong>, is stripped of
comments when groff is built from sources. <strong>om.tmac</strong>,
in the sources themselves, still contains the comments, as do the
tarballs posted on mom’s homepage.
</p>
</div>
<div class="rule-medium"><hr/></div>
<!-- ===================================================================== -->
<h2 id="contact" class="docs">Contact the author</h2>
<p>
If you have any questions or comments about mom, suggestions to
make, criticisms to offer, or bugs to report, use the groff mailing
list (subscription information available
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/groff.html">here</a>)
or contact me, Peter Schaffter, directly at the following
address:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
peter@schaffter.ca
</span>
Please include the word “mom” or “groff” in
the Subject line of any message sent to my personal address or you
risk the wrath of my implacable spam filters.
</p>
<p>
If you want to visit mom’s website, you’ll find a link
to it at
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
http://www.schaffter.ca
</span>
The site contains links to some of my fiction, all of which was
typeset with mom and groff.
</p>
<div class="rule-long"><hr/></div>
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