From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.1 (2015-04-28) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.1 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 3e977ec6 for ; Sun, 1 Jul 2018 07:19:32 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 8FD16A17E4; Sun, 1 Jul 2018 17:19:31 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6F7F0A1831; Sun, 1 Jul 2018 17:18:16 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id B6DB29E5C1; Sun, 1 Jul 2018 12:23:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (mail.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.100]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4BF8D9E5BF for ; Sun, 1 Jul 2018 12:23:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (tahoe.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.20]) by mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTPS id w612NvFH016119 (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO); Sat, 30 Jun 2018 22:23:57 -0400 Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.14.3) with ESMTP id w612Nvbr094106; Sat, 30 Jun 2018 22:23:57 -0400 Received: (from doug@localhost) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id w612Nv7P094105; Sat, 30 Jun 2018 22:23:57 -0400 From: Doug McIlroy Message-Id: <201807010223.w612Nv7P094105@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2018 22:23:57 -0400 To: tuhs@tuhs.org, g.branden.robinson@gmail.com User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sun, 01 Jul 2018 17:17:33 +1000 Subject: [TUHS] Rivers, the ragged right, and BCPL roff (was: Spooky action at a distance in line adjustment...sometimes) X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > I was poking around on the Unix v7 man page archive the other day, and > discovered to my delight that BCPL roff's request list was documented > there. Yes, it's the same spec, though reimplementated; there was no BCPL compiler for the PDP-11. > Unfortunately, it was marked up in...BCPL roff embedded within > a man page, which hopelessly confused groff. I edited the v7 manual and I believe I proofread every man page. How could I have overlooked the misbehavior of the .li request*, which was even then not in the reference manual's list of n/troff requests? On closer examination, .li does appear in a condensed alphabetical list of requests--and it appears in the source. But if Joe never described it, it's no surprise that groff dropped it. It is totally unnecessary--a bit of special pleading rendered obsolete by Joe's elegant invention of \&. doug * .li causes the next line to be read literally, even if it begins with a dot.