From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 54a28b2a for ; Mon, 16 Sep 2019 06:21:22 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 059DF9BDBD; Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:21:21 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 64F6D94795; Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:21:03 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C4A4F94795; Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:21:01 +1000 (AEST) Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4F37094791 for ; Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:21:01 +1000 (AEST) X-Envelope-From: arnold@skeeve.com Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id x8G6KnS9026852 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Mon, 16 Sep 2019 00:20:50 -0600 Received: (from arnold@localhost) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7/Submit) id x8G6KkJq026850; Mon, 16 Sep 2019 00:20:46 -0600 From: arnold@skeeve.com Message-Id: <201909160620.x8G6KkJq026850@freefriends.org> X-Authentication-Warning: frenzy.freefriends.org: arnold set sender to arnold@skeeve.com using -f Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2019 00:20:46 -0600 To: ullbeking@andrewnesbit.org, tuhs@tuhs.org, clemc@ccc.com References: <201909132024.x8DKObEP013266@darkstar.fourwinds.com> <463d5cc4-9bef-9ac3-a680-a5161d664dc1@aueb.gr> <20190913221345.GA16129@minnie.tuhs.org> <20190914020240.GO2046@mcvoy.com> <20190914024433.GA19193@minnie.tuhs.org> <2e84c4d0-5239-b223-856d-00aacf8d3028@andrewnesbit.org> <069494b2-ec5b-91e7-8618-2d111e0e5aa2@andrewnesbit.org> In-Reply-To: <069494b2-ec5b-91e7-8618-2d111e0e5aa2@andrewnesbit.org> User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [TUHS] earliest Unix roff X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 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" "U'll Be King of the Stars" wrote: > This is fascinating insider information, and it leads me full circle to > several reasons why I want to try to use *roff in the first place: > > 1. Do you think there is any chance of obtaining these macro packages? > Either from authors who haven't passed away, or from the publishing > houses themselves? O'Reilly probably would. I can ask someone there, if there's serious interest here. They haven't used troff for book production for well over a decade. I'm not sure that Prentice-Hall had its own macros. Rather, the books from Bell Labs were all set on the same research Unix systems. > 2. I get the impression that writing a macro package or editing an > existing is relatively straightforward. Would you agree? Possibly straightforward, but very much like working in assembly language. The commands and escape sequences (in standard troff) are all very short, and thus cryptic, and the extra levels of backslashes needed inside macro bodies don't help. GNU troff has additional features that probably help a lot; my experience has been in grunging around in traditional packages. My two cents, Arnodl