bugGNU roff - Bugs: bug #60731, undocumented difference in .ce...

 
 

bug #60731: undocumented difference in .ce behavior between groff and traditional troff

Submitter:  Dave <barx>
Submitted:  Sat 05 Jun 2021 06:35:57 AM UTC
   
 
Category:  Core Severity:  2 - Minor
Item Group:  Documentation Status:  None
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  gbranden
Open/Closed:  Open Planned Release:  None
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Wed 19 Apr 2023 04:26:47 PM UTC, comment #7: 

original submission:

> The Texinfo manual says .ce centers text "without filling" ...
>
> On the other hand, the description of .ce in section 4.2 of
> CSTR #54 does not mention filling,


My second statement above is misleading: while strictly true that CSTR#54's .ce description does not mention "filling" by that name, it does say "A break occurs after each of the N input lines," which clearly communicates that no filling is done.  (Bjarni set me straight on this with his latest comment over in bug #46914.)

Thus the first statement above is groff's rewording of this longstanding principle.  As there's no controversy over any troff's filling behavior within a .ce block, this is an academic point regarding this bug, but I want to set the record straight, and/or scold my past self for the misreading.

Dave <barx>
Group Member
Fri 14 Apr 2023 08:05:17 PM UTC, comment #6: 

This is not in progress until I figure out bug #46914.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Thu 30 Mar 2023 08:58:48 PM UTC, comment #5: 

No, I won't.  That's a different project's bug.

I mean bug #46914.  >:-|

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Thu 30 Mar 2023 08:57:40 PM UTC, comment #4: 

Uh-oh.  The story gets worse.  I'll follow up in bug #49614.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Thu 30 Mar 2023 08:27:29 PM UTC, comment #3: 

Back in my court; updating Status and Assigned to.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Thu 30 Mar 2023 06:29:24 PM UTC, comment #2: 

comment #1:

> presumably it's a sprinkle of DWIM behavior for .ce.


This seems eminently reasonable (other than it occasionally not working correctly, but we can leave bug #46914 for another day).

> I'm inclined to consider this a documentation issue;


Given the results of your peek under the hood, I agree.  Updated the Item Group.

> You can try it out yourself.  It seems to have been modified
> only insofar as to make it buildable on modern Unix systems
> without too many screams from the compiler.


Thanks for the pointer!  Now I just have to ponder the question "Exactly how many troffs do I need on my system?"

Dave <barx>
Group Member
Thu 30 Mar 2023 11:44:36 AM UTC, comment #1: 


> The Texinfo manual says .ce centers text "without filling" but is silent on breaking.


It seems groff's `ce` request implements a procedure that is used nowhere else in the formatter, such that lines are automatically broken when they reach the output line length but not filled.

This would look bad in conventional left-adjusted text (like reading emails in an MUA window too narrow for the text, and which wraps lines crudely), but presumably it's a sprinkle of DWIM behavior for .ce.

I'm inclined to consider this a documentation issue; to get authentic AT&T troff output, you need to explicitly turn off filling when using the `ce` request.


$ cat ATTIC/ce.roff
.ll 4i
.ce 100
This is a small text fragment that shows the differences
between the `.ce' (with and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c' requests.
.ce 0
.sp
.nf
.ce 100
This is a small text fragment that shows the differences
between the `.ce' (with and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c' requests.
.ce 0
.sp
.fi
.ad c
This is a small text fragment that shows the differences
between the `.ce' (with and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c' requests.
.pl \n(nlu
$ groff -Tascii ATTIC/ce.roff # 1.22.4, no difference in Git
This is a small text fragment that shows
            the differences
between  the  `.ce'  (with  and  without
    `.nf`) and the `.ad c' requests.

This is a small text fragment that shows the differences
between the `.ce' (with and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c' requests.

This is a small text fragment that shows
the differences between the `.ce' (with
 and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c' re-
                quests.
$ DWBHOME=~/dwb ~/dwb/bin/nroff ATTIC/ce.roff
This is a small text fragment that shows the differences
between the `.ce' (with and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c' requests.

This is a small text fragment that shows the differences
between the `.ce' (with and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c' requests.

This is a small text fragment that shows
the differences between the `.ce' (with
   and without `.nf`) and the `.ad c'
               requests.


That the first two specimens of these three produce distinct output in groff but not in DWB troff suggests to me that this behavior is deliberate.

By the way, you might have noticed that I tested with DWB troff rather than Heirloom.  This is because, to my knowledge, DWB 3.3 troff is the origin of Heirloom troff; the latter added many features.

You can try it out yourself.  It seems to have been modified only insofar as to make it buildable on modern Unix systems without too many screams from the compiler.


$ git remote -v
origin  https://github.com/n-t-roff/DWB3.3.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/n-t-roff/DWB3.3.git (push)


Tossing to you for feedback.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Sat 05 Jun 2021 06:35:57 AM UTC, original submission:  

Preamble


It's not clear to me whether this is a behavior bug or a documentation omission.  That is, I don't know whether groff's authors deliberately made this .ce behavior different from historical troff and merely forgot to document it, or whether they intended .ce to work as it historically did.  I'm filing it as "Incorrect behaviour" because I had to pick one or the other, but it could as easily be switched to "Documentation."

I'm using Heirloom troff as the standard bearer here for "traditional troff," though I realize that's a simplification.  But it's what I have access to, and it does demonstrate a notable difference.

Documentation


The Texinfo manual says .ce centers text "without filling" but is silent on breaking. 

On the other hand, the description of .ce in section 4.2 of CSTR #54 does not mention filling, but does (almost) say that no breaking occurs: "If the input line is too long, it will be left adjusted."

Behavior


To see the behavioral difference between groff and Heirloom troff, run the example code from the .ce section of the latest (as of this writing, commit 16a0fc88) version of the Texinfo manual.  (http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git/tree/doc/groff.texi?id=16a0fc88#n7128 links directly to this example.)  This example is designed to show the difference in filling behavior between .ce and ".ad c", but also shows the difference in breaking behavior between groff and Heirloom.

Groff (1.23.0.rc1) produces the output (in nroff) the manual says it does, showing that .ce input is broken but not filled:


This is a small text fragment that shows
            the differences
between the `.ce' and the `.ad c' requests.

This is a small text fragment that shows
 the differences between the `.ce' and
         the `.ad c' requests.


In Heirloom nroff, however, .ce input is neither broken nor filled.


This is a small text fragment that shows the differences
between the `.ce' and the `.ad c' requests.

This is a small text fragment that shows
 the differences between the `.ce' and
         the `.ad c' requests.


The traditional nonbreaking behavior does also mean that the line overruns the requested line length (as would any text where breaking is explicitly disabled).

The behavior difference holds for typeset output as well, though the line length in the example needs to be reduced (from 4i to, say, 2i) to see the difference.

Dave <barx>
Group Member

 

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    Follow 6 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2023-04-14 gbranden StatusIn Progress None
    2023-03-30 gbranden StatusNeed Info In Progress
        Assigned tobarx gbranden
    2023-03-30 barx Item GroupIncorrect behaviour Documentation
    2023-03-30 gbranden StatusNone Need Info
        Assigned toNone barx

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