Re: [Groff] new man-page groff-filenames.7 (filename extensions for roff files)

[James K. Lowden]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:47:46 +0100 (CET)
Werner LEMBERG <address@hidden> wrote:

> > I could also use this documentation as part of groffer.  Reliable
> > filename extensions would be very nice for grog and groffer.
> 
> Besides man pages, there aren't reliable extensions AFAIK.  My gut
> feeling is that groffer should use the `file' and/or the `grog'
> program to properly detect the contents of an input file.

Agreed, file(1) should be able to identify any file well enough to
determine how it should be processed.  I'm a bit surprised to hear
freedesktop.org doesn't use file's "magic" database.  

I don't know of any package that documents naming conventions
separately.  The manual could mention "conventional" extensions (if
there are such) perhaps in the FILES or NOTES section of the existing
man pages.  

Another approach would be a groff_habits page, a sort of style guide to
aid (or indoctrinate?) newcomers.  Besides extension conventions, it
could include other accumulated wisdom about, say, always starting a
sentence on a new line or when to prefer inline font changes.  

--jkl