Re: [groff] Inexplicable error using tbl(1) 1.19.2 on macOS

[Ingo Schwarze]

Hi John,

John Gardner wrote on Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 06:46:36AM +1000:

> I see this error each time I use man(1) on other people's MacBooks,
> and I'm at a loss to explain why:
> 
> tbl:<standard input>:2: unrecognised format `o'
> tbl:<standard input>:2: giving up on this table
> 
> The tbl markup is valid. In fact, this is all it's given that makes it
> choke (it was culled down
> <https://github.com/Alhadis/.files/blob/master/share/man/man5/textmate.5#L368-L492>
> from a larger table that rendered perfectly fine on my old computer,
> which had an up-to-date Groff & Co. installed).
> 
> .TS
> Scope Description
> comment For comments
> .TE

That doesn't see valid to me.

  See tbl(7):
  Each table is started with a roff(7) TS macro, consist of at most
  one line of Options, one or more Layout lines, one or more Data
  lines, and ends with a TE macro.

Where is the layout line?

  Again tbl(7):
  The table layout follows an Options line or a roff(7) TS or T& macro.
  Each layout line specifies how one line of Data is formatted.  The last
  layout line ends with a full stop.  It also applies to all remaining data
  lines.  Multiple layout lines can be joined by commas on a single
  physical input line.

  Each layout line consists of one or more layout cell specifications,
  optionally separated by whitespace.  The following case-insensitive key
  characters start a new cell specification:
  ...

So, you are saying this in the layout:

 - s: Start the first cell as a span (= continuation) of the previous
      one - which makes no sense, there is no previous cell.
 - c: Make the next cell a centered text cell.
 - o: Bad, that's neither a cell specification key nor a modifier.

Mandoc isn't very happy with your table either:

   $ mandoc -Tlint -Wwarning tmp.man 
  mandoc: tmp.man:6:1: WARNING: tbl line starts with span
  mandoc: tmp.man:6:3: ERROR: invalid character in tbl layout: o
  mandoc: tmp.man:6:16: ERROR: invalid character in tbl layout: o
  mandoc: tmp.man:7:2: ERROR: invalid character in tbl layout: o
  mandoc: tmp.man:7:4: UNSUPP: unsupported tbl layout modifier: m
  mandoc: tmp.man:7:5: UNSUPP: unsupported tbl layout modifier: m
  mandoc: tmp.man:7:10: WARNING: unknown font, skipping request: TS For comments
  mandoc: tmp.man:7:14: ERROR: invalid character in tbl layout: o
  mandoc: tmp.man:7:16: UNSUPP: unsupported tbl layout modifier: m
  mandoc: tmp.man:7:17: UNSUPP: unsupported tbl layout modifier: m
  mandoc: tmp.man:5:2: ERROR: tbl without any data cells

Neither groff nor mandoc produce any output from your table.

> Googling didn't shed insight,

Read the fantastic manuals.  ;-)

Hope that helps,
  Ingo