Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.04
Bug fixes
Underlining
Small capitals now work properly
More flexible reference formatting setup file options
List items and displays now break across page boundaries
Quick reference guide (Appendix A, User's Guide)
Version of @Eq that uses TeX's fonts
Numbered list items can be tagged and referred to using @NumberOf
Multi-paragraph figure captions and multi-page figures
Various micro changes to @Eq to improve appearance
Merged index entries, and better guidance on how to make an index
DOS portability (I hope), still working on Mac portability
Eiffel programming language printing
Multi-word tags and sorting keys permitted
Margin notes
`Bypass' symbols (fewer passes for computer-generated Lout source)
Arbitrary chapter heading and part heading layouts
Viewers like GhostView now show real page numbers
@Sup and @Sub symbols (similar to sup and sub in equations)
Slovenian language
ANSI C (getting closer and closer...)
@IncludeGraphic will now accept a compressed file e.g. filename.eps.gz
@Verbatim { ... } like in LaTeX.
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.05
Bug fixes
ANSI C (getting very very close...)
Removed call to system("sort"), which was causing porting problems
Optional list of tables and list of figures in books
More options and setup file options for fine-tuning tables and figures
Package for printing bar codes (see software directory)
Moved initialization of non-English error message files into makefile
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.06
Bug fixes
Czech
Plain text manual pages for people without troff
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.07
Bug fixes
@URL field added to references
@LongFootNote, @LongEndNote, @LongCaption stupidity removed
Matrices and delimiters in equations improved
Captions to figures and tables may be above or below
Theorems, definitions, claims, propositions, lemmas, corollaries, examples
Words like "Chapter" and "Theorem" may be changed by the user
Numbered displays have been re-implemented and are much improved
@RightDisplay symbol
@F symbol added as synonym for { Courier Base -1p } @Font ...
Ability to set simple document options in the command line
Horizontal galleys (for expert users)
Drop capitals (large capitals in top left corner of paragraph)
Optimal body text breaking (makes large in-line displays more practical)
More flexible control of the format of chapter, section etc. headings
Option for starting chapters etc. on any, odd, or even pages
Command line option -S for safe execution (prohibits calls to system())
Symbols for up to three independent indexes at the end of each document
References work now when the citation point is after the reference list
Placement of objects at arbitrary points on the page
Reference lists may be before or after appendices
Choice of nine locations for figures and tables (page top, foot, etc.)
Numbering of footnotes works properly in all unusual cases now
Database index files created afresh automatically if system has stat()
Choice of rules for spaces between words (like Lout, troff, or TeX)
Spacing in equations (both eq and teq) further improved
Kerning of accented characters deduced from corresponding unaccented ones
@NotRevealed symbol (for expert users)
Another, hopefully better attempt made at Latin-2 formatting
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.08
Bug fixes
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.09
Bug fixes
French hyphenation
foll_or_prec works in all cases now, not just galleys (for expert users)
@Enclose symbol (for expert users)
Multi-page figures and tables can be boxed (revised @Format option)
Optimal paragraph breaker has been tuned to discourage widow words,
and to hyphenate more paragraphs but use fewer hyphens when it does
More consistent set of setup files since all now derived from one master
Setup files "doc" and "report" now work with plain text output
Unpaginated (continuous) plain text output
@FirstChapterNumber, @FirstSectionNumber etc. options in setup file
Alternative error message format (filename:linenum:colnum: ...)
Newline no longer needed at end of file
New diagram drawing package called Diag (replaces Fig):
many new link types; trees; labelled nodes and links; many useful options
New "oragged" paragraph breaking style, combines ragged and outdent
Comprehensive usage message printed by "lout -u"
Horizontal spacing of subscripts in equations (both eq and teq) improved
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.10
Bug fixes
@StructPageNums option for pages numbered by section
Dot between section (etc.) numbers and title made optional
Updated version of lout.teq (TeX-style equation formatter)
EvenPageTop and EvenFullPage figure and table locations
@Graph options for plotting values in decreasing order
References may cite other references now (bug fix)
Installation option for making "lout -S" the default behaviour
@E symbol added alongside @Eq as synonym for @OneCol @Eq
New language EnglishUK which is like English but with UK hyphenation rules
@AnotherFootNote symbol for consecutive footnotes on one word
LOUTLIB env variable determines library directory at run time if set
Lots of arrow symbols added to eq and teq
Paragraph gaps may have "u" suffix, meaning unbreakable (for expert users)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.11
Bug fixes
Sorting collation sequence may be locale-specific if desired
Changed paragraph breaker, no longer calls the notorious CorrectOversize
Word count feature (see manual entry, -w)
Italian language
Fix for the long-standing bug in database file reading on DOS-like systems
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.12
Bug fixes
@CurrFamily and @CurrFace symbols similar to @CurrLang (for expert users)
@II symbol for getting italics right in headings and tables of contents
@Graph now has rticks option for ticks on right-hand side of frame
PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format) back end (command line flag -Z)
Latin2 and Russian are now part of the main Lout distribution
Changed license from GNU General Public License Version 1 to Version 2
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.13 [released February 1999]
Bug fixes
Gaps between galley components may have "u" (unbreakable) suffix, meaning
that the galley may not be broken at this gap (for expert users)
@StartHSpan, @StartVSpan, @StartHVSpan, @HSpan, @VSpan (spanning cols, rows)
unbreakablefirst @Break and unbreakablelast @Break (stops widows, orphans)
named parameters may import their parent, like body parameters (expert)
definitions and named parameters may have multiple names (expert)
@OneOf symbol chooses result that contains desired galley target (expert)
@HLimited, @VLimited symbols for further control over use of space (expert)
@ListInterruptItem and @ListNewPage: interrupts, page breaks between items
@Verbatim symbol now built-in, so no longer limited to Unix
@RawVerbatim like @Verbatim but preserves initial spaces on first line
0rt gap for left justification of the preceding object (expert)
@Background symbol for printing one object in the background of another
Maximum depth of @Includes increased from 7 to 10
New table formatting package, see User's Guide (old one is still there)
New @Meld symbol for better melding of index entries (expert)
Option to @FootNote for choosing your own footnote label
Optional full-width abstracts in technical reports
Hungarian language including Hungarian-specific heading formats
*** IMPORTANT: TWO CHANGES THAT ARE NOT UPWARDLY COMPATIBLE ***
(1) The @Abstract symbol in technical reports now comes before the
// symbol, not after it. See User's Guide for details.
(2) Setup file arrangements have changed. You now need to have one
@SysInclude line for each package you use. For example,
Previous versions Version 3.13
---------------------------------------------
@SysInclude { eq } @SysInclude { eq }
@SysInclude { ddoc } @SysInclude { diag }
@SysInclude { doc }
Import clauses in mydefs files also have to change:
Previous versions Version 3.13
---------------------------------------------
import @DocumentLayout import @BasicSetup
import @CPrint import @CPSetup
import @DiagramPrint import @DiagSetup
Sorry for the inconvenience, but the old system was inconsistent
and was tending towards an unsustainable combinatorial explosion
of setup files. No changes *within* documents are needed, and
these new arrangements do not affect the content of the packages.
The user's guide documents it all.
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.14 [released March 1999]
Bug fixes
"lout -PDF" now available as alternative to "lout -Z"
Cross referencing list items yields just the raw item number now
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.15 [May 1999]
Bug fixes
@FootNoteFormat option for controlling format of footnotes
@TheoremFormat option for controlling format of theorems (etc.)
@ListOuterGap setup file option for space before and after lists
Standardized and improved "slides" package, incl. new setup file options
(NB please send me @Word&&lecture and @Word&&overhead in your language)
Faster database reading (uses more memory though); prevent with -M
@DoubleLine symbol in diagrams for drawing a double line
-l and -L flags for selecting collation order (see lout -u)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.16 [28 May 1999]
Bug fixes
Optimal paragraph breaking weights adjusted yet again (sigh)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.17 [13 September 1999]
Bug fixes
@AtEnd option for @Book and @Report (unnumbered back cover page)
@Abbreviations symbol in books (like @Introduction but for abbreviations)
@Euro symbol added for getting a European Currency symbol
Document OBJECT struct declaration in externs.h (for gurus only)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.18 [26 February 2000]
Bug fixes (more than usual, somehow)
New @CurrYUnit and @CurrZUnit symbols (expert users)
@Diag enhancement: node types, similar to row types in @Tbl
@Diag enhancement: new features for drawing syntax diagrams
Portuguese (thanks to Jose Roberto B. de A. Monteiro)
Slight change to @Tbl spec (affects aligned columns)
Replaced c2lout with prg2lout (computer program formatting)
@Outline symbol for printing words in outline rather than filled
A few extra @Eq symbols: filledcircle, small, trieq
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.19 [9 March 2000]
Bug fixes
Four @HeaderComponent symbols for running headers (expert users)
Running headers in multi-page tables
Running headers in indexes
Two extra @Eq symbols: triangleup, triangledown
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.20 [8 April 2000]
Bug fixes (including the internal error that was dumping core recently)
Multi-line style changes (@I, @Colour etc.) now work in lines @Break mode
@Perl symbol for Perl programming language formatting (includes Pod)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.21 [10 May 2000]
Bug fixes (including an old problem of bits lost from programs in tables)
Refinements to @Perl symbol for Perl programming language formatting
Program texts can now be formatted with line numbers added
-V now tells about PDF compression and whether debug output is available
"Page body margins" for indenting of page body wrt headers and footers
Margin notes code updated to work as desired with the new page body margins
@PageEnclose symbol generalizes @PageBox (enclose each page in anything)
Robustness wrt Linux strcoll() improved (tab characters no longer compared)
"Abstract" word in tech reports now centred again by default
Lout now builds composite characters - see Expert's Guide, under @Font
*** IMPORTANT: ONE CHANGE THAT IS NOT UPWARDLY COMPATIBLE ***
If you are using your own setup file, then it is likely to contain the
line "@SysInclude { fontdefs }". There is no longer a fontdefs file,
there is now a fontdefs database, so you need to replace this line with
"@SysDatabase @FontDef { fontdefs }".
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.22 [3 June 2000]
Bug fixes
More setup file options for controlling the appearance of reports
Makefile now explicitly explains how to compile with debugging on/off
Added quotesinglebase, quotedblbase, ellipsis to LtLatin2.LCM file
Object-oriented back end (of interest to implementors only)
Chapters without page breaks option (see @ChapterStartPages, User's Guide)
Font includes all in page setups now (of interest to implementors only)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.23 [24 June 2000]
Bug fixes, including Uwe's fix of the nasty bug reported by Matej Cepl,
and my fix of a table running headers bug reported by Matthew Neumann.
Cross links (see User's Guide, Cross References and Links section)
New symbols for expert users: @LinkSource and @LinkDest
@Python symbol for typesetting Python programs using prg2lout.
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.24 [8 October 2000]
Bug fixes, including a new and better fix for table running headers bugs
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.25 [December 2001]
Bug fixes
Finnish additions
Croatian, Slovakian, Upper Sorbian
Outdent is now settable e.g. { setoutdent 0.3f } @Break object
@InitialOutdent options for initializing outdent value
Updated barcodes package to work with recent Lout versions (@FontDef)
"downifneeded @Scale" like "{} @Scale" but will only scale down, not up
@F symbol yields a settable font, no longer hardwired to Courier
@TitleOf symbol e.g. "@TitleOf azaleas" similar to "@NumberOf azaleas"
@IndexText option to @Book etc., allows text just below Index title
References may be printed in order of first citation
New @Diag link types: @HVHLine, @HVHCurve, @VHVLine, @VHVCurve
"baselinemark @Font" option (mark along baseline rather than half x height)
@IncludeGraphicRepeated symbol: less output when EPS included repeatedly
Arbitrary colours in @Colour, @Tbl, @Diag, and @Graph, done consistently
Size of small caps can be set now e.g. "{ setsmallcaps 0.8 } @Font ..."
Got rid of boxes around links when PostScript converted to PDF
Revised end of sentence handling for some languages
Symbols for embedding clickable URLs into PostScript output
I've decided not to maintain the PDF back end, but I will try to ensure
that Lout's PostScript output works with PostScript-to-PDF converters.
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.26 [October 2002]
Fixed bug causing crash when breaking certain list items across pages
Merged index entries completely reimplemented
@DropTagItem (@DTI) now prevents page break after drop tag
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.27 [22 November 2002]
Fixes for all bugs, including table running headers and index headers
Repeated @PrependGraphic of same file allowed and ignored
Repeated @Include of same file of definitions allowed and ignored
Pie graphs (see new chapter of User's Guide)
Textures, a.k.a. patterns (see new section of Basic Graphics chapter,
and revisions to @Tbl, @Pie, @Diag, and @Graph chapters)
User's Guide no longer mentions @Diag lengths (1.2 cm, 0.5 ft etc),
although they are still available for backward compatibility
Arrowheads at opposite ends of a @Diag link now each have own style,
length, and width (NB this is marginally not upward compatible)
User's Guide now recommends "paint { none }" to get no paint, although
the old "nopaint" value is still available for backward compatibility
Any line anywhere can end in any of \n, \r, \r\n, or \n\r
26 more strings recognised as keywords in @CP C/C++ printing
Lots more named colours using Mark Summerfield's @Xrgb symbol
Glossaries, following a design by Thorsten Seitz
@IndexFormat, @SubIndexFormat, @SubSubIndexFormat options for
changing the format of index entries
@IndexSpacer and @IndexLetters - spacers (headers) within indexes
In @Diag, @Box and @ShadowBox now have NNW, NNE, SSW, and SSE tags
User's Guide has revised and larger (17-page) index
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.28 [December 2002]
Bug fixes
@Colophon symbol produces colophons in books
Nonpareil and Ruby programming languages supported by prg2lout
Eight-bit characters considered printable by prg2lout
"lout -t" ignores texture changes, for when tools don't support them
@Ding symbol (like @Sym) for dingbats
Dingbats fully documented in Chapter 1 of the User's Guide
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.29 [August 2003]
Fixed latest table running headers bug
@PageLabel value "?" usually now replaced by a guess at a page number
Index entry types (Ordinary, Main, Special) for index pagenum format
Haskell programming language support in prg2lout (ack Thorsten Seitz)
RSL programming language support in prg2lout (ack Darren Bane)
@OneOrBoth symbol added to syntax diagrams, for "X | Y | XY" grammar
New outlinestyle/pathstyle options for @Diag: dotdashed, dotcdashed,
dotdotdashed, dotdotcdashed, dotdotdotdashed, and dotdotdotcdashed
New pairs options for @Graph: dotdashed, dotdotdashed, dotdotdotdashed;
plus @GraphDotDashed, @GraphDotDotDashed, @GraphDotDotDotDashed syms
Things not done
I may have promised to add dashed, dotted etc. options to @Tbl's
rules, but existing code does not lend itself to it, so I haven't.
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.30 [October 2004]
Bug fixes (H. K. Man's fix for PDF links, '' in Python, crashing
for some cases of "lout --option{value}")
Fixed bug with large page sizes. Lout stores object sizes in 32-bit
integers, but smaller numbers (gap widths, shifts, character metrics
etc.) in 16-bit integers. The left parameter of @Wide and @High was
erroneously being passed through a 16-bit variable.
Added A2 to list of page types (it works, too)
Reference new mailing list address
@HMirror and @VMirror symbols for reflecting objects
@IndexRangeFormat option for changing "from--to" format in indexes
"nolig @Font" for turning off ligatures in following object
@BeginSubPrefaces, @SubPreface, and @EndSubPrefaces symbols
@BeginSubIntroductions, @SubIntroduction, and @EndSubIntroductions symbols
@ParagraphItem symbol (like @ListItem but label integrated into paragraph)
Documented the danger of keeping valuable .ld files in source directories
Kerning now tries original characters before their unaccented versions
"@Graph style { grid }" replaces ticks in graphs with grid lines
Things not done
@CaptionGap not implementable since some gaps between figures and
captions are not accessible. Try @FigureCaptionFormat.
Brazilian Portuguese declined on the grounds that it turned out
virtually identical to Portuguese Portuguese (convince me...)
I may have promised to add an "incontents" option to large-scale
structure symbols, which would allow them to opt out of the table
of contents. On second thoughts I'm unwilling to do this. I need
to be convinced that Lout should encourage this strange thing.
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.31 [August 2005]
Bug fixes:
Ludovic Courtes's fix for ligatures problem
Kingston and Piotrowski's fix for list number referencing problem
Fix for things adjacent to relations disappearing in program texts
Added @VStrut, @ZeroWidth, @ZeroHeight symbols to basic setup module
New User's Guide section ("Precise object placement") documenting
@VStrut, @ZeroWidth, @ZeroHeight, and similar already existing symbols
Improved rule for avoiding orphan section headings, following a
suggestion by Ludovic Courtes
Added @ChapterContentsIndent, @SectionContentsIndent etc. to setup files
Latin3 and Esperanto (contributed by Ludovic Courtes)
"Bullets" and "Symbols" footnote numbering styles (contributed by
Michael Piotrowski)
"marginkerning @Break" (contributed by Ludovic Courtes)
@E inline equation symbol now squeezes superscripts, more like TeX
"lout @Space" now used throughout program texts by default (can be
changed by setup file options)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.32 [October 2006]
Bug fixes:
Uwe's problem of CRLF occurring on file block boundaries fixed, I hope
Ludovic's fix ensuring "rragged @Break" applies to isolated words
EPS files generated by Lout now safe to include in Lout documents
Multi-column lists (see List section of User's Guide for details)
Basic command-line errors print usage as well as error message
"break" option for lists, "@ListBreak" in setup file (Summerfield)
"labelright" list option, "@ListLabelRight" in setup file (Summerfield)
Peculiar behaviour of multi-paragraph table entries now documented
Some changes to the makefile (contributed by Greg Woods)
Options for the title page of overheads (contributed by Ludovic Courtes)
"blanklinescale" option to "@Break" (scales height of blank lines)
"blanklinescale" options in cprint, java etc.
"blanknumbered" option in cprint, java etc. (don't number blank lines)
"=head3" token added to Pod programming language
"-r" command line option, e.g. -r3 runs Lout three times
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.33 [November 2006]
"-w" command line option prints word count only on last "-r" run
prg2lout Python language updated to Python 2.5 (Mark Summerfield)
EPS files generated by Lout even safer to include in Lout documents
New @Diag link shapes: dhuline, dhucurve, uhdline, uhdcurve
"SHORT_LENGTH" data type removed from C code (cue general rejoicing)
A0 and A1 paper sizes added (and they *really* work)
"strut @Font" inserts an invisible vertical strut into each word under it
"font" option to "@List" etc., e.g. "@NumberedList font { strut }"
"@NewPage { Yes }" option to "@Section" etc. for properly spaced new page
"@Floater" symbol added (clone of "@Figure" and "@Table")
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.34 [March 2007]
Bug fixes:
New @Diag link shapes symbols now visible as they should be
Better handling of ellipsis (...) and similar tokens in Python
Font change in |{{Crystal Base 9p} @Font 4f} no longer ignored
Fixed bug causing cross reference database to occasionally add space
prg2lout Python language now implements @ token (Mark Summerfield)
&- now turns off hyphenation within immediately adjacent words
New "olines @Break" style combines "lines @Break" with outdenting
New @Pipe, @PipeVerbatim, and @PipeRawVerbatim symbols (Unix only)
In @Diag, "arrowstyle { solidwithbar }" for arrows like this: -->|
New @SetContext and @GetContext symbols for experts (Ludovic Courtes)
In @Diag, new @DNode and @ENode symbols like @ANode, @BNode, and @CNode
(also usable as @DCell and @ECell in syntax diagrams)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.35 [April 2007]
Bug fix: @IncludeGraphicRepeated is working again, although it does
crash my printer (but fine with kghostview, evince, ps2pdf etc.)
Precedences and associativities now specifiable by invoking a macro
New @ColouredUnderline symbol makes coloured underlines
New "arrowstyle { many }" in @Diag makes "many"-relation arrowheads
New @HClip and @VClip symbols for clipping (see User's Guide)
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.36 [July 2007]
Bug fixes:
"lout -t" really does avoid textures completely now (Ludovic Courtes)
small patch (@PC becomes @PS) to prg2lout.c (Gabor Greif)
patch to haskellf (Gabor Greif)
changed haskellf symboloperators from "Symbol Base" to "Slope" (Kingston)
Lout now released under Version 3 of the GNU General Public License
Improved headings of numberless chapters/sections (Ludovic Courtes)
@BypassNumber option for numbered displays (Courtes/Kingston)
&- after "/" now hyphenates without inserting a hyphen, like &- after -
New @Math symbol (Courtes), will obsolete @Eq next release
Changes and new features introduced in Version 3.37 [September 2008]
Bug fixes:
LinkDest x coordinate (reported by Man and Stott) fixed
@PipeRawVerbatim (reported by Summerfield) fixed
@Figure PageFoot location (reported by Summerfield) fixed
Rounding error in some uses of @Scale (reported by Courtes) reduced
Problem with null chars in EPS files reported & fixed by Cichelli/Bader
In @Graph, problems with symbolsize option (reported by Garcia) fixed
Gap before inserted hyphens in Palatino (reported by van den Hoff) fixed
PostScript file %%BoundingBox problem (reported by van den Hoff) fixed
@BypassWord option for @Chapter added (Courtes)
@FontDef outside a database works now (but not recommended)
New @PageParityOf symbol like @PageOf but returns "Odd" or "Even"
New @PageNumberFormat setup file option (Courtes/Kingston)
New @InitialBackgroundColour setup file option (Courtes)
Updates to prg2lout.c for Haskell (Greif)
New @TitleFormat, @AuthorFormat, @InstitutionFormat, @DateLineFormat
slides setup file options (Courtes)
In @Diag, path { doubleline } now looks right with arrowstyles open,
halfopen, curvedopen and curvedhalfopen (problem reported by Carroll)
@ShadowBox still has no option for changing the colour of the shadow,
but the User's Guide now has an example showing how to simulate it
Increased z08.c/MAX_DEPTH to 2000 (Forkl hit previous limit)
@ContentsFormat setup file option now documented in User's Guide
Preface of User's Guide now advertises the Lout web page
Increased externs.h/MAX_LEX_STACK to 20 (Summerfield hit previous limit)
New symbollinewidth option in @Graph (line width for data points)
Inclusion of EPS files with previews now supported (Bader)
@TitleOf symbol now returns figure captions as well as chapter titles
Hyphenation on in programming languages, using new "Programming @Language"
New @DocInfo symbol (see User's Guide, Section 3.7)
@Math symbol (Courtes) has now replaced @Eq in User's Guide; @Eq is
still available for backward compatibility
I had one report that prg2lout was returning non-zero intermittently
during the formatting of the User's Guide. I have not observed this
myself. Presumably there is an uninitialized variable somewhere.
It's hard to do anything about this unless someone can get a core
dump so we can find out where in prg2lout.c the crash occurred.
Cichelli and Bader offered a patch to include PDF files by calling
a freeware program to convert them to EPS files and including the
EPS files. I declined to include this in the standard release
because I felt that it could be done outside Lout, and because the
PDF support in Lout is not maintained and generally deprecated.
Strictly speaking, turning hyphenation on in programming languages
is not backward compatible. I've done it because I have not been
able to think of a case where it would cause trouble. If you find
a problem with it, please let me know.
Jeff Kingston
