Re: Add support for `OP', one of the extended man macros.

Re: Add support for `OP', one of the extended man macros.

[Ingo Schwarze]

Hi Kristaps,

kristaps@mdocml.bsd.lv wrote on Tue, Jan 03, 2012 at 10:16:25AM -0500:

> Log Message:
> -----------
> Add support for `OP', one of the extended man macros.  This also requires
> some man(7) changes to accomodate for the an-ext compatibility.
> 
> Modified Files:
> --------------
>     mdocml:
>         man.7
>         man.c
>         man.h
>         man_html.c
>         man_macro.c
>         man_term.c
>         man_validate.c

I have just merged this to OpenBSD, with one small tweak (see below).

I agree that we should support GNU extensions for compatibilty
if they occur in practice and unless they cause too much bloat;
but i insist in discouraging their use more strongly.

Obviously, esr was very misguided in proposing these extensions.
He combines the worst parts of both worlds:  The clunkyness of
the ancient man(7) macros, which cannot be repaired by adding
a few more macros, and the portability problems still haunting
mdoc(7).  If man(7) has any excuse to still exist, it's
portability, and man-ext clearly gives that last asset away.

So, we should handle these macros as deprecated, not list them
in the MACRO OVERVIEW, and prominently discourage their use
up front, not only below COMPATIBILITY where the warning can
easily be missed.

OK to commit this tweak to bsd.lv as well?

Yours,
  Ingo


--- /co/mdocml/man.7	Wed Jan  4 03:24:13 2012
+++ ./man.7	Sun Feb 26 20:41:27 2012
@@ -272,10 +272,6 @@
 .It Sx RB Ta alternate between roman and boldface fonts
 .It Sx RI Ta alternate between roman and italic fonts
 .El
-.Ss Semantic markup
-.Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
-.It Sx OP Ta optional arguments
-.El
 .Sh MACRO REFERENCE
 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
 alphabetically.
@@ -443,7 +439,8 @@
 .Sx \&TP .
 .Ss \&OP
 Optional command-line argument.
-This has the following syntax:
+This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
+It has the following syntax:
 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Pf \. Sx \&OP
 .Cm key Op Cm value
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Re: Add support for `OP', one of the extended man macros.

[Kristaps Dzonsons]

> I have just merged this to OpenBSD, with one small tweak (see below).
>
> I agree that we should support GNU extensions for compatibilty
> if they occur in practice and unless they cause too much bloat;
> but i insist in discouraging their use more strongly.
>
> Obviously, esr was very misguided in proposing these extensions.
> He combines the worst parts of both worlds:  The clunkyness of
> the ancient man(7) macros, which cannot be repaired by adding
> a few more macros, and the portability problems still haunting
> mdoc(7).  If man(7) has any excuse to still exist, it's
> portability, and man-ext clearly gives that last asset away.
>
> So, we should handle these macros as deprecated, not list them
> in the MACRO OVERVIEW, and prominently discourage their use
> up front, not only below COMPATIBILITY where the warning can
> easily be missed.
>
> OK to commit this tweak to bsd.lv as well?

Ingo, if you haven't already done this already, please do so!  I agree 
completely.

Best,

Kristaps
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