Re: [Groff] .ss problem

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Werner,

> > > Before fixing, a general question.  In Unix troff, .ss is ignored
> > > if in nroff mode.  Shall GNU troff behave identically if
> > > compatibility mode is on?  Does it really make sense to `cripple'
> > > GNU troff for compatibility reasons?
> > 
> > What defines GNU troff thinking it is in nroff mode?
> 
> This is exactly the problem.  Looking at the functionality, there is
> no difference at all between troff and nroff mode in GNU troff.

A-ha!

> Making .ss not working if in compatibility mode *and* if in nroff
> mode is really artificial.  Until now, the only result of using the
> `.nroff' command to activate nroff mode is that `.if n' yields true.
> There are no other built-in dependencies.

In that case I think it is more fair to say that we have a GNU troff
but no GNU nroff.  Our troff just happens to be able to output to
tty-like devices and have a .nroff command for those people that want
to try and fool legacy code.  Which is sufficient for everyones(?)
needs.

In which case, .ss should always behave as it does in troff, no?
That's my view, anyway.


Ralph.