Re: [Groff] tbl like structures

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Jonas,

As no-one else has answer yet, I'll have a go but I'm not sure how much
I can help.

> Btw: Is there any groff irc channel around?

Not that I know of.  This address@hidden list is the highest volume.

> I don't want to use tbl.

Could you tell us why not?

> What possibilities exist to create one of the following things (using
> standard man page commands)?
> 
>     1) .TP/.IP without newline before them
>        = _no newline_, place first at start position, newline,
>          place 2nd,... at position given by .TP/.IP argument
>        = (?) some way to create table like structures without 
>          paragraphs
> 
>     2) The same without line brake after title
>        = no newline, place title (first) at start position,
>          _no newline if there is enough space_, place 2nd at
>        position given by .TP/.IP argument, same as above...
> 
>     3) (already asked) generally redefine the indentation of
>        .TP/.IP

I'm not quite sure what you mean.  You could write your own versions of
these macros changed to behave the way you want.  Include their
definitions at the start of your man page and they'd then be available
to you.  But that would really be using `standard man page commands'
since you'd be creating some new ones.  Look at an-old.tmac for some
definitions to base yours on.

> PLEASE, just tell me if this is a RTFM (where?) if solution 'xxx' was
> better anyway or anything else.

It does sound like you're fighting against the man macros.  Can you tell
us *why* they need to be different.  If it's author preference over how
something is laid out then that isn't particularly what the man macros
are aimed at.  They're meant to present documentation in a uniform,
standard, way.

> I spent a lot of time in it without any success and IMHO all the
> groff/man page documentation is a mess. What I could need was a good
> example man page or guide (related to my problem).

You haven't told us what the problem is.  Just what the symptoms are
regarding .TP/.IP.

Cheers,


Ralph.