Re: [Groff] moving TOC to start

[Keith MARSHALL]

Werner Lemberg wrote, quoting Tadziu Hoffman:
>> To be honest, my method has been pretty much obsoleted by groff's
>> "write" requests.  It had been based on the fact that troff had had
>> no capability for writing larger blocks of text (i.e., multi-line
>> chunks) to external files.
>>
>> Here is a toy model of a much better approach.  [...]
>>
>> (Note also that the technique is not really new -- LaTeX
>> has been using an analogous approach for a *long* time.)
>
> Indeed.  It would be great if you can volunteer to add something
> like this to the ms macros.

The problem with groff's `write' requests is that they don't work,
if the user fails to specify the `-U' flag, when invoking groff.

This flag activates the so called `unsafe' mode.  While it probably
isn't the case, this carries the connotation that it makes groff in
some way harmful, and therefore, some users may be reluctant to use
it.  If the ms' `XS', `XA' and `XE' macros are reimplemented, so as
to rely on `write' requests, then they appear broken, in the event
that the user either forgets, or refuses to specify `-U'.

Not a big deal, I know, but `unsafe' is a rather unfortunate choice
of name for this `extended functionality' mode of groff's.

Best regards,
Keith.