Re: [Groff] Sun's troff now available

[Peter Schaffter]

On Mon, Jun 26, 2006, Ted Harding wrote:
> > FWIW, back in the Museum, even though galleys were set from
> > what amounted to "source files", the workstations had a
> > continuously updating "status line"
<snip>
> > I'm wondering if this is the kind of "pre-output access" you're
> > envisaging.
<snip>
> Sort of, I think -- though it looks as thought you're seeing the
> status line prior to, or while, the output is still being formatted.
> The sort of thing I have in mind is targeted right at the line which
> is about to be output, as follows lines. Suppose you have formatted
> output lines (say, as you mentioned, in a narrow-column context)
> like:
> 
>    This   formatted   line   needs
>    smaller spaces.  So track kern-
>    ing can be used to reduce them.
> 
> If you had a "pre-output" macro (just as you can have macros which
> are sprung by bottom-of-page, so you could have macros sprung by
> "about to output line")...

But this is brilliant!  At least, if I understand you.  It sounds
as if you're talking about an end-of-line trap--something sprung
at the end of every line rather than having to be set.  If such a
"trap" existed, macro writers could attack the problem of letter-and
word-spacing themselves.  This has many advantages over trying to
implement code in groff to do the same thing, methinks.

Wonder if it's doable?

-- 
Peter Schaffter