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Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2010 22:13:14 +0200
From: Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@usta.de>
To: discuss@mdocml.bsd.lv
Subject: Re: Raw UTF-8?
Message-ID: <20100707201314.GB19725@iris.usta.de>
References: <4c33f0f0.0c87970a.3458.fffff43f@mx.google.com>
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Hi Anthony,

Anthony J. Bentley wrote on Wed, Jul 07, 2010 at 08:39:09AM -0600:

> mandoc_char(7) isn't much help either, as it's several pages long and
> doesn't display the actual character in the terminal,

See the problem?
In the manual you write, \(/o won't be displayed either,
no matter how you try to input it.

The output is the problem here, not the input.

I think we should reorganize mandoc_char(7) in the following way.

 1) First the sane escape sequences that render well everywhere
    and serve a real purpose.

    Examples: \~ \  \& \(ba \(em \(en \(hy \e \-

    The number of sane sequences is relatively small,
    which will also solve the problem you are pointing
    out above:  mandoc_char(7) is unreasonably long.
    A typesetting system like TeX needs long character
    tables, and it needs the ability to print obscure
    characters.  A manual page does not.

 2) Then a sentence explaining that what follows is rarely
    needed, because mandoc(1) is not really intended for
    general purpose typesetting, and much less typesetting
    of mathematical formulas, but just for writing manuals,
    encouraging people to express their intention using text,
    not symbols.  Still, all escape sequences in this
    section are guaranteed to render well and may be useful
    in uncommon situations.

    Examples: \(co \(rg \(-> \(rA \(+- \(<= \*(Pi

 3) Then a sentence explaining that what follows is rarely
    needed, because mdoc(7) has alternative concepts handling
    the typical use case better.  Note that writing new man(7)
    code is discouraged anyway.
    Still, all escape sequences in this section are guaranteed
    to render well and may be useful in very uncommon situations.

    Examples: \0  -- use .Dl or .Bd -literal
              \bu -- use .Bl -bullet
              \lq -- use .Qq or .Qo
              \lB -- use .Bq or .Bc

 4) Then a sentence mildly discouraging the use of what follows,
    listing obsolete sequences that render well, but are not
    needed at all because equivalent recommended escape sequences
    exist.

    Examples: \^ \% \| \(at \(mi \(eq \*(Ba

 5) Then a sentence strongly discouraging any use of the rest,
    listing those escape sequences that render badly.

    Examples: \(r! \(sr \(ss \('e \(`u \(~n \(:a \(^o \(,c \(oa \(eu

    Obviously, this is by far the largest group.

Yours,
  Ingo
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