From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) 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=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 20767 invoked from network); 10 Feb 2021 21:45:10 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 10 Feb 2021 21:45:10 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 0166D9BA42; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 07:45:06 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 588D894F1B; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 07:44:40 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 0E0C294F1B; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 07:44:38 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mcvoy.com (mcvoy.com [192.169.23.250]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 791FB94F19 for ; Thu, 11 Feb 2021 07:44:37 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mcvoy.com (Postfix, from userid 3546) id DA09035E26C; Wed, 10 Feb 2021 13:44:36 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2021 13:44:36 -0800 From: Larry McVoy To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Message-ID: <20210210214436.GV13701@mcvoy.com> References: <8b580c46-ecfb-9383-ed43-08108b3ee7bf@tllds.com> <20201130163753.GB18187@mcvoy.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.24 (2015-08-30) Subject: Re: [TUHS] troff was not so widely usable (was: The UNIX Command Language (1976)) 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" On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 12:48:49PM -0800, Greg A. Woods wrote: > At Mon, 30 Nov 2020 11:54:37 -0500, Clem Cole wrote: > Subject: Re: [TUHS] The UNIX Command Language (1976) > > > > yes ... but ... even UNIX binary folks had troff licenses and many/most at > > ditroff licenses. > > I would like to try once again to dispell the apparent myth that troff > was readily available to Unix users in wider circles. I had n/troff on the BSD based vaxen that UW-Madison CS had. There was a standard binder of docs (that I still have 35+ years later) that had the troff, -ms, -man, -me, tbl, eqn, pic, refer docs (no grap, sadly, I wrote my own). The Masscomps I used had working roffs. I've been using troff since well before 1985 (I found that Masscomp restor.e doc, it was 1985 but I was well into troff by then, I started with -man and -ms but was experimenting with -me for that paper. I liked -me well enough but -ms just made more sense to me so I went back to that and have been there ever since). The 3B1 that my roommate and I shared had working roff. I don't remember how we got stuff printed, I was for sure using troff for years before the postscript one came about. So for once, I'm gonna side with Clem on this one. I've always had troff and been very happy with it. I know LaTex sort of won but I'm not a fan. --lm P.S. Groff is C++, not C. That made it dicey until g++ got stable.