Newsgroups: news.software.b
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: C News documentation written with -ms nroff macro
Message-ID: <1989Jul16.021612.13393@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1989Jul15.195651.5979@ivucsb.sba.ca.us>
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 89 02:16:12 GMT

In article <1989Jul15.195651.5979@ivucsb.sba.ca.us> todd@ivucsb.sba.ca.us (Todd Day) writes:
>Where can I get the -ms macro for nroff?  ...

For a long time the -ms macros were part of all Unix distributions.
Then came System V:  "consider it standard". :-[

>I've been told I need a source license for the -s macro.  Is this
>true? ...

Unfortunately, the -ms macros are indeed covered by Bell licensing.
However, you shouldn't need a source licence to get them -- all you
need is a Unix supplied by a sensible company.  Complain to your
vendor.  (Actually, check first to make sure that "nroff -ms" actually
doesn't work -- some systems have it but don't document it.)

>... Also, if so, in the future, could developers
>please include the macro they formated all of their documentation
>with?  Or, include formated versions of their dox?

The problem with the former is licensing.  The problem with the latter
is that any time a document changes even slightly, the formatted version
undergoes major upheavals.  This is significant if you're trying to send
out updates as patches:  you have a choice of massive patches to the
formatted versions, or letting the formatted versions get out of date.


All that being said... I don't understand why this is such a problem.
It's not as if the C News documentation did anything elaborate.  You
should be able to read most of it by simply ignoring the macros entirely
and just reading the text.

And all *that* being said, the next C News patch will include tmac.cn,
a quick-and-dirty fake of enough of the -ms macros for the C News docs.
We find the situation annoying ourselves, and the docs make so little
use of the macro package that it only took an hour or two to build an
adequate fake from scratch.
-- 
$10 million equals 18 PM       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
(Pentagon-Minutes). -Tom Neff  | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
