Re: [PATCH] *.man: Break URIs at points specified by the Chicago Style

[G. Branden Robinson]

Hi, James!

At 2021-10-18T10:05:55-0400, James K. Lowden wrote:
> Is there a way to say, "set this URL all on one line if at all
> possible, else break at these specific points"?  Sort of a ".ne" for
> horizontal space?

Yes, there is!

[man]: Try to minimize the number of times a URI is broken when it has
to be typeset and prevent it from provoking adjustment warnings.

* tmac/an-ext.tmac (UE, ME): Do it.  New Boolean register `mL` records
  whether the URI will cause a break.  New string `m2` contains the
  user-specified URI (`m1`) plus the angle brackets around it and any
  user-specified trailing punctuation (\$1).  New register `mW` stores
  the formatted width of `m2`.  If the page offset plus the indentation
  plus the current horizontal position on the output line plus `mW`
  exceeds the output line length, turn off adjustment and break the line
  _before_ typesetting `m2`.  Then, if we forced a break, restore the
  previous adjustment mode.  Shift off the first macro parameter and
  emit the (undocumented) rest as before.[1]

> I think URLs are easier to read (like any word) on one line.  I think
> I would rather see one unbroken, even if it meant the preceding line
> had only the word "at" on it.  Whitespace is a lot cheaper today, now
> that ink and paper are mostly made of photons.

I agree, and since I'm one of those weirdos who still lets man pages
undergo adjustment (.ad b), I was exasperated with troff getting cross
when it encountered an un-adjustable line.

Here's how I documented it:

[...]
       support ECMA-48 OSC 8 escape sequences (see grotty(1)).  When
       device support is unavailable or disabled with the U register
       (see section “Options” below), .MT and .UR URIs are rendered
       between angle brackets after the linked text.  If such a URI will
       not fit on the remainder of the output line, the macro package
       temporarily turns off adjustment (if enabled) and breaks the line
       before the URI to minimize the number of output lines over which
       it spreads.
[...]

Regards,
Branden

[1] 
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git/commit/?id=c7efb5fd40aae5293d9de87092b7a4b2be89df91

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