[9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[john]

I've been writing a man page and wanted to see how it looks
when formatted with troff and printed, so I tried:
troff -man <file> | dpost | lp
only to find that the printout was extremely ugly. Words seem
to have run together in some very strange ways; if I had a scanner
handy I could show what I mean. Anyway, the same thing happens
when I do:
troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | dpost | lp
but not when I do:
troff -ms /sys/doc/asm.ms | dpost | lp

Am I missing something simple and fundamental, or is troff/dpost
just broken?


John

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[Gorka Guardiola]

On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 7:22 PM,  <john@csplan9.rit.edu> wrote:
> I've been writing a man page and wanted to see how it looks
>  when formatted with troff and printed, so I tried:
>  troff -man <file> | dpost | lp
>  only to find that the printout was extremely ugly. Words seem
>  to have run together in some very strange ways; if I had a scanner
>  handy I could show what I mean. Anyway, the same thing happens
>  when I do:
>  troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | dpost | lp
>  but not when I do:
>  troff -ms /sys/doc/asm.ms | dpost | lp
>
>  Am I missing something simple and fundamental, or is troff/dpost
>  just broken?
>

I normally do:

troff -ms bla.ms|lp -dstout| aux/download -H/sys/lib/postscript/font
-mfontmat|lp -H -d printername
and this works for me. What you describe seem to me what happens when
I don't do the download
and add the fonts to the postscript.

I have never used dpost, and I don't know if it substitutes the aux/download...
I don´t know if you were precisely trying to use dpost not to have to use it...

HTH.
-- 
- curiosity sKilled the cat

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[Sape Mullender]

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troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | page

troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | lp -dPrinter

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From: john@csplan9.rit.edu
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:22:49 -0500
Message-ID: <0497b4634bc7e790a2fd0adf29263215@csplan9.rit.edu>

I've been writing a man page and wanted to see how it looks
when formatted with troff and printed, so I tried:
troff -man <file> | dpost | lp
only to find that the printout was extremely ugly. Words seem
to have run together in some very strange ways; if I had a scanner
handy I could show what I mean. Anyway, the same thing happens
when I do:
troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | dpost | lp
but not when I do:
troff -ms /sys/doc/asm.ms | dpost | lp

Am I missing something simple and fundamental, or is troff/dpost
just broken?


John

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[john]

> troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | page
Looks good.

> troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | lp -dPrinter
Looks terrible.

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[john]

> On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 7:22 PM,  <john@csplan9.rit.edu> wrote:
>> I've been writing a man page and wanted to see how it looks
>>  when formatted with troff and printed, so I tried:
>>  troff -man <file> | dpost | lp
>>  only to find that the printout was extremely ugly. Words seem
>>  to have run together in some very strange ways; if I had a scanner
>>  handy I could show what I mean. Anyway, the same thing happens
>>  when I do:
>>  troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | dpost | lp
>>  but not when I do:
>>  troff -ms /sys/doc/asm.ms | dpost | lp
>>
>>  Am I missing something simple and fundamental, or is troff/dpost
>>  just broken?
>>
>
> I normally do:
>
> troff -ms bla.ms|lp -dstout| aux/download -H/sys/lib/postscript/font
> -mfontmat|lp -H -d printername

That has the same end result for me as just doing troff -man foo | lp

John

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[Sape Mullender]

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lp is the most horrible shell script imaginable.  The line
for your printer in /sys/lib/lp/devices is supposed to help
match the output of troff to the input your printer expects.
There are people out there who know how to do this.  I've long
given up.  I just generate postscript/pdf (below's the relevant
piece of the mkfile) and print that.

%.ps:DQ:	%.ms
	eval `{doctype $home/lib/macros.ms $stem.ms} | \
	lp -m.9 -dstdout >$target

%.ps:DQ:	%.man
	eval `{doctype $home/lib/macros.ms $stem.man} | \
	lp -m.9 -dstdout >$target

%.pdf:DQ: %.ps
	cat /sys/doc/docfonts $stem.ps >_$stem.ps
	ps2pdf _$stem.ps $stem.pdf && rm -f _$stem.ps

# Useful in acme:  mk document.show
%.show:VQ:	%.ps
	page -w $stem.ps

%.ps:D: %.jpg
	jpg -t -9 $stem.jpg | lp -dstdout >$target

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From: john@csplan9.rit.edu
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:36:53 -0500
Message-ID: <a87dbffcd45f1a9a6b5d93a475e7e39e@csplan9.rit.edu>

> troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | page
Looks good.

> troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | lp -dPrinter
Looks terrible.

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[Martin Neubauer]

The problem most likely is the missing font informations. If you just use
``dpost -f'' (or the equivalent aux/download ... mentioned earlier) you
should get just what you want. The reason the page display looks good is
that you have access to the fonts as long as you don't leak the postscript
outside a Plan 9 system.

	Martin

* john@csplan9.rit.edu (john@csplan9.rit.edu) wrote:
> I've been writing a man page and wanted to see how it looks
> when formatted with troff and printed, so I tried:
> troff -man <file> | dpost | lp
> only to find that the printout was extremely ugly. Words seem
> to have run together in some very strange ways; if I had a scanner
> handy I could show what I mean. Anyway, the same thing happens
> when I do:
> troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | dpost | lp
> but not when I do:
> troff -ms /sys/doc/asm.ms | dpost | lp
>
> Am I missing something simple and fundamental, or is troff/dpost
> just broken?
>
>
> John

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[Sape Mullender]

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/sys/lib/tmac.an (troff -man) loads the LucidaSans fonts:
.fp 1 R LucidaSans
.fp 2 I LucidaSansI
.fp 3 B LucidaSansB
.fp 5 L LucidaCW

If you don't have those, some other font is substituted and that'll
make your output look ugly.

(/sys/lib/tmac.s (troff -ms) doesn't load fonts (defaults to Times roman)

	Sape

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From: Martin Neubauer <m.ne@gmx.net>
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@cse.psu.edu>
Subject: Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:46:52 +0100
Message-ID: <20080226194652.GA2267@shodan.homeunix.net>

The problem most likely is the missing font informations. If you just use
``dpost -f'' (or the equivalent aux/download ... mentioned earlier) you
should get just what you want. The reason the page display looks good is
that you have access to the fonts as long as you don't leak the postscript
outside a Plan 9 system.

	Martin

* john@csplan9.rit.edu (john@csplan9.rit.edu) wrote:
> I've been writing a man page and wanted to see how it looks
> when formatted with troff and printed, so I tried:
> troff -man <file> | dpost | lp
> only to find that the printout was extremely ugly. Words seem
> to have run together in some very strange ways; if I had a scanner
> handy I could show what I mean. Anyway, the same thing happens
> when I do:
> troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | dpost | lp
> but not when I do:
> troff -ms /sys/doc/asm.ms | dpost | lp
>
> Am I missing something simple and fundamental, or is troff/dpost
> just broken?
>
>
> John

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[Russ Cox]

>> troff -ms bla.ms|lp -dstout| aux/download -H/sys/lib/postscript/font
>> -mfontmat|lp -H -d printername
>
> That has the same end result for me as just doing troff -man foo | lp

Yes, it would.  However, if you spell fontmap right, it should work.
Also the -H option is doing anything here -- that directory is already the default.

cpu% troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | lp -dstdout | aux/download -mfontmat | wc
    849    2474   15261
cpu% troff -man /sys/man/1/cat | lp -dstdout | aux/download -mfontmap |wc
   4337    7366  268301
cpu%

Russ

Re: [9fans] troff -man prints poorly

[Gorka Guardiola]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 4:54 PM, Russ Cox <rsc@swtch.com> wrote:
> >> troff -ms bla.ms|lp -dstout| aux/download -H/sys/lib/postscript/font
>  >> -mfontmat|lp -H -d printername
>  >
>  > That has the same end result for me as just doing troff -man foo | lp
>
>  Yes, it would.  However, if you spell fontmap right, it should work.
>  Also the -H option is doing anything here -- that directory is already the default

upps. sorry it was a typo :-). The -H is probably because
my default directory is broken, I am in an schizophrenic
plan B/plan 9/paureas broken namespace/drawterm
limbo where you cannot trust any default anymore.


--
- curiosity sKilled the cat