Re: 1.23.0rc4 .sp and .bp backward compatibility issues

[G. Branden Robinson]

Hi Michał,

At 2023-04-17T09:02:15+0000, Michał Kruszewski via wrote:
> Hi Branden,
> 
> I have tried 1.23.0rc4 and it still has backward compatibility issues
> with .sp and .bp I have described some time ago.
>
> Is it intended?

Semi-intended.  After a certain date in March, our maintainer preferred
not to take anything more disruptive than documentation changes for the
next release candidate (now out as RC4).  (I understand that
decision--bugs are never better at creeping in than when you are trying
to stabilize a code base for release.  "Just this one more fix!" draws
software defects like cats to the sound of a tuna can opening.)

I have a fix for the `bp` request on a Git branch.[1]  I cannot say at
this point whether it will get into groff 1.23.0 final--it's not solely
my call.

As I believe I noted previously, making `sp` "just work" the same way is
tricky.  I did add the following item to the NEWS file, quoted in the
RC4 announcement email (admittedly, there's a _lot_ of news).

---snip---
o The s (ms) macro package now enables the formatter's "no-space mode"
  after ending displays (`DE`) and equations (`EQ`); this is to improve
  the fidelity of rendering of historical ms(7) documents such as
  Kernighan & Cherry's "Typesetting Mathematics".  This change means
  that display distance spacing (the `DD` register) overrides paragraph
  spacing (the `PD` register) instead of accumulating with it.
---end snip---

If you can provide me with some concrete cases of your applications of
`sp`, maybe I can better advise you.

Regards,
Branden

[1] 
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git/commit/?h=branden-2023-04-07&id=72820ac3e1fd4c3421486b80c6b791503ae268a7

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