Re: [Groff] the \*[macro args ...] feature

[Bernd Warken]

On Wed, Jun 26, 2002 at 09:31:59PM -0400, Peter Schaffter wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 26, 2002, Bernd Warken wrote:
> > Some time ago, there was a plan to extend the calling syntax of
> > strings and macros without arguments \*[] to support macro calls
> > with arguments.  This feature is big.  With it, I can remove half of
> > my macros in the man pages.
> 
> I, for one, would LOVE to see this implemented.  Sadly, I'm not
> qualified to do it. :(

No one was qualified for anything when being born.  But during 
life-time, man qualifies herself for lots of things.  So this is
a good possibility to qualify as a "C++ code knight".

The problem is that the groff source code is large and not well 
documented.  It is necessary to analyze the structure of the code
files and the functions defined there; the result of this research
could go the MANIFEST file, and some documentation could be added 
to the source files.

The following places must be found:
1. where is the parsing of the escape sequences?
2. where are macros parsed?
3. where is the white space added around the macro calls?

Getting this information, would be a great help.

Then the combination of these things might be easy or quite evolved
depending on how good the interfaces are programmed.

Bernd Warken