Re: Giving up on emulating SYNOPSIS vspace.

[Jason McIntyre <jmc@kerhand.co.uk>]

On Mon, Jun 07, 2010 at 01:18:28AM +0200, Kristaps Dzonsons wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> As you may know from the commits, I've been trying to normal-form 
> groff's SYNOPSIS behaviour regarding vertical spacing.  I have failed. 
> Anything but using "normal" SYNOPSIS macros produces catshit.
> 
> If you really want to cover groff's behaviour, send me patches and I'll 
> find behaviour that breaks them.  Instead I propose making consistent 
> rules out of observed, normative behaviour, then going from there.
> 
> *Please give feedback on this*: the SYNOPSIS is very important.  I will 
> hold off on implementing my suggestion until I have some oks.  It's a 
> trivial implementation and will result in some nice cleanup, and is 
> easily documented.
> 
> Note that I'll only discuss 'function' manual sections in this email, 
> i.e., Fn/Ft/etc., not Nm/Op/etc, which is much easier.  You'll see what 
> I mean.  Nm/Op is more straightforward (let's leave this discussion for 
> later).
> 
> First, I propose that SYNOPSIS sections be grouped into the following 
> macro sets,
> 
>  .In
>  .Ft/Fn ("combo", i.e., one after the other)
>  .Ft/Fo (same)
>  .Fo
>  .Fn
>  .Fd
> 
> with rules as follows.  Any macro/combo of these sets will be preceded 
> and proceeded by a newline.  It doesn't matter what the hell comes 
> before or after or whether these are line macros or not.
> 
> Next, non-like pair-wise sets will be separated by a single vertical space.
> 
> Lastly, like pairwise Ft/Fn, Ft/Fo, Fo, and Fn are separated by a single 
> vertical space.
> 
> That's it.  Simple, no?
> 
> Please let me know ASAP, as I want to tag version 1.10.1 and move on 
> with PostScript and Ingo's block-breaking patches.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Kristaps

i propose you do whatever you think makes sense: a simple synopsis with
workable rules is preferable to a bug-compatible groff.

i know you don;t want to talk about the simpler cases but i have to add:
can we make synopsis nice please? Bk/Ek is broken, and we need a nice
synopsis. are we far away? let's take this from openbsd's isakmpd.8:

	isakmpd [-46adKLnSTv] [-c config-file] [-D class=level] [-f fifo] [-i
	pid-file] [-l packetlog-file] [-N udpencap-port] [-p listen-port] [-R
	report-file]

i'd like this, by default:

	isakmpd [-46adKLnSTv] [-c config-file] [-D class=level] [-f fifo]
		[-i pid-file] [-l packetlog-file] [-N udpencap-port]
		[-p listen-port] [-R report-file]

ignore any crappy Bk/Ek stuff. just format nicely please. it's a real
killer for mandoc right now, i feel. by the way, it's how groff
currently formats it. i've no idea if it's coincidence or sth else.

jmc
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