[bug-enscript] enscript manpages

[Jan Stary]

Hi,

enscript's manpages (enscript.1, states.1, diffpp.1, sliceprint.1)
are currently written in the traditional man(7) markup language.
I propose to rewrite them into the mdoc(7) markup language;
I am willing to do the work.

Both the man(7) and mdoc(7) languages have been around for decades,
and are supported by the prevalent formatters: groff(1) on most Linuxes
and mandoc(1) on the *BSDs and some others. In particular,
there is nothing to install or reconfigure on most systems
- both formats can be rendered with man(1)
or processed into plaintext, html, pdf, or ps.

The main point is that mdoc(7) allows for semantic constructs like

        .Op Fl f Ar arg

meaning

        there is an optional 'f' flag
        which takes an 'arg' argument

as opposed to

        switch to italics, type a bracket, a dash, "f",
        then switch to boldface and type "arg"

in the physical roff markup of man(7).
Similarly for other constructs like cross-references,
filenames, author emails, env variables, etc.

See http://mdocml.bsd.lv for a thorough discussion
of the many benefits of such a markup - most important
of which is better readability and writability.

Please see below for a rewrite of sliceprint.1
as an example of what I have in mind.

Please let me know if you are interested.

        Jan



.Dd June 16, 2023
.Dt SLICEPRINT 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm sliceprint
.Nd slice documents with long lines
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl o Ar file
.Op enscript-options
.Op Ar files
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a wrapper around the
.Fl -slice
option of
.Xr enscript 1 .
Output slices are written to
.Ar file.1 ,
.Ar file.2
and so on.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr enscript 1
.Sh AUTHORS
.An Markku Rossi Aq Mt mtr@iki.fi