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Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 18:56:29 +0100
From: Jason McIntyre <jmc@kerhand.co.uk>
To: discuss@mdocml.bsd.lv
Subject: Re: mandoc vs Xo in It argument
Message-ID: <20100525175653.GI8074@bramka.kerhand.co.uk>
References: <20100525155838.GA49421@acme.spoerlein.net>
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On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 05:58:38PM +0200, Ulrich Sp??rlein wrote:
> Hey guys,
> 
> while further cleaning up the FreeBSD manpages, I'm now at a point where
> I have to fix the Xo/Xc fallout. Why exactly is this allowed:
> 
> .Bl -tag -width indent -compact
> .It Xo
> .Ft void
> .Xc
> .It Xo
> .Fn auth_destroy "AUTH *auth"
> .Xc
> .Pp
> A macro that destroys the authentication information associated with
> 
> But not this
> 
> .Bl -column "CLSET_RETRY_TIMEOUT" "struct sockaddr_in"
> .It Dv CLSET_TIMEOUT Ta Xo
> .Vt "struct timeval" Ta "set total timeout"
> .Xc
> .It Dv CLGET_TIMEOUT Ta Xo
> .Vt "struct timeval" Ta "get total timeout"
> .Xc
> .El
> 
> And is there a better way to rewrite this other than putting all the
> arguments to .It on the same line (which quickly runs over 80 columns).
> 
> People really seem to like these three column tables ...
> 
> Regards,
> Uli

i'm not going to answer any questions here, just fuel the fire a bit ;)

Xo/Xc and -column are both steeped in dark magic. put them together, and
expect everything to break.

do yourself a favour: whenever you have something that makes you think
"that'll make a nice table", just paste it in, and wrap it in a literal
display. no one will be any the wiser, and the poor bastard who needs to
add column 4 will be forever grateful to you.

you could also try formatting your problem list in a way similar to the
first, simpler, example you gave. but if it works it will be trial and
error, and not because those macros follow any kind of logic.

jmc
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