Re: [Groff] a couple of problems with macro -me; and requesting help of -me users in general

[Robert Goulding]

From: "Daniel Senderowicz" <address@hidden>
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 5:12 PM
>
> One more question:
>
> If at the beginning of a chapter I reset the footnote number with:
>
> .nr $f 1
>
> The next call to a footnote still continues with the sequenced
> number, it is the second call the one that will have the correct
> number.

This is because of the way that -me initialises footnotes.  The string \**
contains the next (formatted) footnote mark; if you alter $f or anything
else about the definition of the footnote mark, you must also redeclare the
string.  For your problem, what you need to do is this:

.nr $f 1
.ds * \*{1\*}\k*

(and of course you would do something analogous if you wanted to start the
footnote numbering at 20 or whatever).

While we're talking about footnotes, you may also want to alter the horrible
default definition of superscript, which changes the line spacing in the
text.  In my personal modifications of the -me macros, I have the lines:

.ds { \v'-.9m\s'\En[.s]*7u/10u'+.7m'
.ds } \v'-.7m\s0+.9m'
.ds * \*{1\*}\k*

which does the trick (the definition of superscript is copied from
groff's -ms macros).

Did the solution to your other problem - eqn text in a (x environment -
work?  I'm going to put together a FAQ for the -me macros, so let me know if
you had to make any other modifications to get it to work (and any other
nifty hacks or workarounds you - or any other readers! - have come up with
for complicated documents).

I've had a couple of problems that I haven't really tried to fix yet - maybe
someone else has:

1) In some documents with footnotes, the pages with footnotes are 2-3 lines
shorter than the non-footnoted pages.

2) If an indented (l environment extends over a pagebreak, the indentation
on the second page is sometimes 'forgotten'.

Any solutions/workarounds?

Robert.