Re: [Groff] tbl problems in man

[Werner LEMBERG]

> > In this particular case (this is, simple tables which can be
> > sufficiently emulated with TP/TQ), I favor optical appearance over
> > logical structure.
>
> Shouldn't we be looking for a way to fix TBL, rather than kludging
> around the problem?

TP/TQ for the example I've given is *fully* sufficient IMHO and not a
kludge at all.

> I'm not trying to be obstreperous here, but it seems to me that the
> real problem is that TBL just gets this case wrong.

Yep.  And no chance to fix it in a backwards compatible way.  At least
noone has come up yet with something, unfortunately.

> Is there some reason not to address that directly?

Of course not.  It should be rather straightforward to code such a
keyletter within the macro stuff tbl emits; it's basically just a
reordering of the computations:

  (1) Compute the width of each column which either doesn't contain a
      text block or uses an explicit width specifier.

  (2) For the other columns, use the remaining horizontal space up to
      the right margin and distribute it evenly.

  (3) Process the text block diversions.

  (4) Assemble the table.

Currently, (3) is done before (1), IIRC.

Volunteers welcome.


    Werner