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=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id d4a173f4 for ; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 07:40:27 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id AEB3F9D52A; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 17:40:26 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 390879D518; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 17:40:07 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 691DE9D518; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 17:40:05 +1000 (AEST) Received: from central.weird.com (unknown [198.96.117.51]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AFB2D9CD7A for ; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 17:40:04 +1000 (AEST) Received: from (invalid client hostname: bind: DNS error: DNS lookup for A for 'more.local': Unknown host)more.local ((no PTR matching greeting name)S01060026bb6c284e.ok.shawcable.net[24.71.254.93] port=47527) by central.weird.com([198.96.117.51] port=587) via TCP with esmtp (4356 bytes) (sender: ) (ident using UNIX) id for ; Tue, 18 Feb 2020 02:40:03 -0500 (EST) (Smail-3.2.0.122-Pre 2005-Nov-17 #77 built 2019-Dec-29) Received: from (invalid client hostname: the DNS A record (with the targegt address [10.0.1.129]) for the hostname 'more.local' does not match the expected address [10.0.1.129])more.local ((no PTR matching greeting name)future.local[10.0.1.133] port=51109) by more.local([10.0.1.129] port=25) via TCP with esmtp (3846 bytes) (sender: ) id for ; Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:40:03 -0800 (PST) (Smail-3.2.0.122-Pre 2005-Nov-17 #1 built 2015-Feb-17) Message-Id: Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:40:03 -0800 From: "Greg A. Woods" To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list In-Reply-To: <202002180017.01I0HI0I1415945@darkstar.fourwinds.com> References: <202002171520.01HFKqKi026749@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> <4d252035b323b7583c5760c952d1982c@firemail.de> <202002171839.01HId8FT1358073@darkstar.fourwinds.com> <202002180017.01I0HI0I1415945@darkstar.fourwinds.com> User-Agent: Wanderlust/2.15.9 (Almost Unreal) SEMI-EPG/1.14.7 (Harue) FLIM/1.14.9 (=?ISO-8859-4?Q?Goj=F2?=) APEL/10.8 EasyPG/1.0.0 Emacs/25.3 (x86_64--netbsd) MULE/6.0 (HANACHIRUSATO) X-Face: ; j3Eth2XV8h1Yfu*uL{<:dQ$#E[DB0gemGZJ"J#4fH*][ lz; @-iwMv_u\6uIEKR0KY"=MzoQH#CrqBN`nG_5B@rrM8,f~Gr&h5a\= List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Reply-To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" --pgp-sign-Multipart_Mon_Feb_17_23:39:48_2020-1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII At Mon, 17 Feb 2020 16:17:18 -0800, Jon Steinhart wrote: Subject: Re: [TUHS] man Macro Package and pdfmark > > That's my beef with texinfo; there was already > an existing functional system and rather than making some improvements a new > incompatible universe was created. Actually there wasn't a truly functional documentation system at the time -- or at least it didn't reach far enough. I.e. there was no open-source [nt]roff compatible program at the time, and the mainly available proprietary one produced (for quality printing purposes) only very convoluted hard-coded output for a quite esoteric and rare piece of equipment. AT&T's public attempt to solve this (ditroff) just added more cost and arguably less availability. Groff didn't arrive until 1990, and as remarkable as it was, it was unfortunately written in C++ (which dissuaded many for a long time). (Henry Spencer's "awf" (nroff in Awk) also came out in 1990, but besides being also too late it was more of a toy; and Chris Lewis' PSroff, also from just before 1990, only solved part of the problem.) Texinfo was a legitimate attempt to solve the problem of missing tools, and at the same time and tried (whether in vain or not) to improve on what were rather widely believed to be major technical and cultural and availability deficiencies in existing tools. Personally I still mostly use Lout these days. :-) -- Greg A. Woods Kelowna, BC +1 250 762-7675 RoboHack Planix, Inc. Avoncote Farms --pgp-sign-Multipart_Mon_Feb_17_23:39:48_2020-1 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: OpenPGP Digital Signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iF0EABECAB0WIQTWEnAIIlcZX4oAawJie18UwlnHhQUCXkuUyAAKCRBie18UwlnH hbFuAJ4pNVPQZnA6hDrTjsLWy0TfWKMNxQCfZ4U8ZOZolPzGOcfIN759QgMo9+Q= =Z66l -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --pgp-sign-Multipart_Mon_Feb_17_23:39:48_2020-1--