<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document">
<LINK REL="stylesheet" HREF="index.css" TYPE="text/css" MEDIA="all">
<TITLE>mdocml | mdoc macro compiler</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<TABLE CLASS="frame" SUMMARY="[frame]">
<COL WIDTH="100%">
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>
<DIV CLASS="head">
<B>mdocml</B> – mdoc macro compiler
</DIV>
<DIV CLASS="subhead">
<A HREF="#description">Description</A> |
<A HREF="#sources">Sources</A> |
<A HREF="#documentation">Documentation</A> |
<A HREF="#contact">Contact</A> |
<A HREF="#news">News</A>
</DIV>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="top">
<H1>
<A NAME="description">DESCRIPTION</A>
</H1>
<P>
<SPAN CLASS="nm">mdocml</SPAN> is a suite of tools compiling <Q>-mdoc</Q>, the roff macro package
of choice for BSD manual pages, and <Q>-man</Q>, the predominant historical package for UNIX
manuals. The mission of <SPAN CLASS="nm">mdocml</SPAN> is to deprecate <A
HREF="http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/" CLASS="external">groff</A>, the GNU roff implementation, for
displaying -mdoc pages whilst providing token support for -man.
</P>
<P>
Why? groff amounts to over 5 MB of source code, most of which is C++ and all of which is GPL. It runs
slowly, produces uncertain output, and varies in operation from system to system. mdocml strives to fix
this (respectively small, C, ISC-licensed, fast and regular).
</P>
<P>
The core of <SPAN CLASS="nm">mdocml</SPAN> is composed of the <A HREF="mdoc.3.html">libmdoc</A>, <A
HREF="man.3.html">libman</A>, and <A HREF="roff.3.html">libroff</A> validating compiler libraries. All
are simple, fast libraries operating on memory buffers, so they may be used for a variety of front-ends
(terminal-based, CGI and so on). The front-end is <A HREF="mandoc.1.html">mandoc</A>, which formats
manuals for display.
</P>
<P>
The <SPAN CLASS="nm">mdocml</SPAN> suite is a <A CLASS="external" HREF="http://bsd.lv/">BSD.lv
Project</A> member.
</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<H1>
<A NAME="sources">SOURCES</A>
</H1>
<P>
Sources correctly build and install on DragonFly BSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, GNU/Linux, and many
other operating systems, tested variously on i386, AMD64, alpha, and others. The most current version
is <SPAN CLASS="attn">@VERSION@</SPAN>, dated <SPAN class="attn">@VDATE@</SPAN>. A full <A
HREF="ChangeLog.html">ChangeLog</A> (<A HREF="ChangeLog.txt">txt</A>) is written with each release.
</P>
<H2>
Current
</H2>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" SUMMARY="Current Sources">
<COL WIDTH="200">
<COL>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>Source archive</TD>
<TD>
<A HREF="/snapshots/mdocml.tar.gz">/snapshots/mdocml.tar.gz</A>
(<A HREF="/snapshots/mdocml.md5">md5</A>)
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>Online source</TD>
<TD>
<A HREF="http://mdocml.bsd.lv/cgi-bin/cvsweb/?cvsroot=mdocml">cvsweb</A>
</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
</TABLE>
<H2>
Downstream
</H2>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" SUMMARY="Downstream Sources">
<COL WIDTH="200">
<COL>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>DragonFly BSD</TD>
<TD>
<A HREF="http://gitweb.dragonflybsd.org/dragonfly.git/tree/HEAD:/usr.bin/mandoc"
CLASS="external">usr.bin/mandoc</A>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>FreeBSD</TD>
<TD>
<A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/textproc/mdocml/"
CLASS="external">ports/textproc/mdocml</A>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>NetBSD</TD>
<TD>
<A HREF="http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/src/external/bsd/mdocml/"
CLASS="external">src/external/bsd/mdocml</A>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>OpenBSD</TD>
<TD>
<A HREF="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/mandoc/"
CLASS="external">src/usr.bin/mandoc</A>
</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
</TABLE>
<H2>
Historical
</H2>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" SUMMARY="Archived Sources">
<COL WIDTH="200">
<COL>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>Source archive</TD>
<TD>
<A HREF="/snapshots/">/snapshots/</A>
</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
</TABLE>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<H1>
<A NAME="documentation">DOCUMENTATION</A>
</H1>
<P>
These manuals are generated automatically and refer to the current snapshot.
</P>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" SUMMARY="Documentation">
<COL WIDTH="200">
<COL>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="man.3.html">man(3)</A> (<A HREF="man.3.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>man macro compiler library</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="man.7.html">man(7)</A> (<A HREF="man.7.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>man language reference</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="mandoc.1.html">mandoc(1)</A> (<A HREF="mandoc.1.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>format and display UNIX manuals</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="mandoc_char.7.html">mandoc_char(7)</A> (<A HREF="mandoc_char.7.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>mandoc special characters</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="mdoc.3.html">mdoc(3)</A> (<A HREF="mdoc.3.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>mdoc macro compiler library</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="mdoc.7.html">mdoc(7)</A> (<A HREF="mdoc.7.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>mdoc language reference</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="roff.3.html">roff(3)</A> (<A HREF="roff.3.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>roff macro compiler library</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD><A HREF="roff.7.html">roff(7)</A> (<A HREF="roff.7.txt">text</A>)</TD>
<TD>roff-mandoc language reference</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
</TABLE>
<P>
See <Q><A CLASS="external" HREF="http://manpages.bsd.lv">Writing UNIX Manual Pages</A></Q> for a general
introduction to manpages and mdoc.
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<H1>
<A NAME="contact">CONTACT</A>
</H1>
<P>
For all issues related to <SPAN CLASS="nm">mdocml</SPAN>, contact Kristaps Dzonsons, kris<A
CLASS="external"
HREF="http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/d?k=01M6h_w7twDp58ZgH57eWC_w==&c=Q2DBUt401ePlSeupJFrq_Q=="
TITLE="Reveal this e-mail address">...</A>@bsd.lv.
</P>
<P>
You may also subscribe to several mailing lists (these require subscription, which is moderated). An
archive is not yet available on-line, although you may request one once subscribed.
</P>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" SUMMARY="Mailing Lists">
<COL WIDTH="200">
<COL>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>
disc<A CLASS="external" TITLE="Reveal this e-mail address"
HREF="http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01KQ80PFH5n3BBNpF5Gs4sRg==&c=EV1QytpQqTHSItc2IXvZyocgYLPnG5K0JKw_gwMC9yc=">...</A>@mdocml.bsd.lv
</TD>
<TD>high-level discussions and version announcements</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
tec<A CLASS="external" TITLE="Reveal this e-mail address"
HREF="http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01qDX_iV0RlUOarEvb6mR28g==&c=gRXsTjza0NNCFPaYu-Taj2tF0pmYZSc90EZkFkhkxgo=">...</A>@mdocml.bsd.lv
</TD>
<TD>low-level discussions</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
sou<A CLASS="external" TITLE="Reveal this e-mail address"
HREF="http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01prQrAZhhl2EbIwVcRfABsQ==&c=KtTW4Yic9xk-8g40KzJoca4fR3MYXv28g8NC6OQV-T8=">...</A>@mdocml.bsd.lv
</TD>
<TD>source commit messages</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
</TABLE>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<H1>
<A NAME="news">NEWS</A>
</H1>
<DIV CLASS="news">
<P>
<SPAN CLASS="date">07-06-2010</SPAN>:
version 1.10.1
</P>
<P>
This primarily focusses on the <Q>Bl</Q> and <Q>It</Q> macros described in <A
HREF="mdoc.7.html">mdoc</A>. Multi-line column support is now fully compatible with
groff, as are implicit list entries for columns. Removed manuals.7 in favour of <A
CLASS="external" HREF="http://manpages.bsd.lv">http://manpages.bsd.lv</A>. The way we
handle the SYNOPSIS section (see the SYNOPSIS documentation in <A
HREF="mdoc.7.html#x4d414e55414cx20x535452554354555245">MANUAL STRUCTURE</A>) has also
been considerably simplified compared to groff's method. Lastly, the <SPAN
CLASS="flag">-Owidth=width</SPAN> output option has been added to <SPAN
CLASS="flag">-Tascii</SPAN> (see <A HREF="mandoc.1.html">mandoc</A>).
</P>
</DIV>
<DIV CLASS="news">
<P>
<SPAN CLASS="date">29-05-2010</SPAN>:
version 1.10.0
</P>
<P>
Release consisting of the results from the m2k10 hackathon and up-merge from OpenBSD.
This requires a significant note of thanks to Ingo Schwarze (OpenBSD) and Joerg
Sonnenberger (NetBSD) for their hard work, and again to Joerg for hosting m2k10.
Highlights (mostly cribbed from Ingo's m2k10 report) follow in no particular order:
</P>
<UL>
<LI>a <A HREF="roff.3.html">libroff</A> preprocessor in front of <A
HREF="mdoc.3.html">libmdoc</A> and <A HREF="man.3.html">libman</A> stripping out
<A HREF="roff.7.html">roff</A> instructions;</LI>
<LI>end-of-sentence (EOS) detection in free-form and macro lines;</LI>
<LI>correct handling of tab-separated columnar lists in <SPAN
CLASS="flag">-mdoc</SPAN>;</LI>
<LI>improved main calling routines to optionally use mmap() for better
performance;</LI>
<LI>cleaned up exiting when invoked as <SPAN CLASS="flag">-Tlint</SPAN> or over
multiple files with <SPAN CLASS="flag">-fign-errors</SPAN>;</LI>
<LI>error and warning message handling re-written to be unified for <A
HREF="roff.3.html">libroff</A>, <A HREF="mdoc.3.html">libmdoc</A>, and <A
HREF="man.3.html">libman</A>;</LI>
<LI>handling of badly-nested explicit-scoped macros;</LI>
<LI>improved free-form text parsing in <A HREF="man.3.html">libman</A> and <A
HREF="mdoc.3.html">libmdoc</A>;</LI>
<LI>significant GNU troff compatibility improvements in <SPAN
CLASS="flag">-Tascii</SPAN>, largely in terms of spacing;</LI>
<LI>a regression framework for making sure the many fragilities of GNU troff
aren't trampled in subsequent work;</LI>
<LI>support for <SPAN CLASS="flag">-Tascii</SPAN> breaking at hyphens
encountered in free-form text;</LI>
<LI>and many more minor fixes and improvements (no really, consult <A
HREF="http://mdocml.bsd.lv/cgi-bin/cvsweb/?cvsroot=mdocml">cvsweb</A> and see
for yourself!).</LI>
</UL>
</DIV>
<DIV CLASS="news">
<P>
<SPAN CLASS="date">13-05-2010</SPAN>:
version 1.9.25
</P>
<P>
Fixed handling of <Q>\*(Ba</Q> escape. Backed out <SPAN
CLASS="flag">-fno-ign-chars</SPAN> (pointless complexity). Fixed erroneous
breaking of literal lines. Fixed SYNOPSIS breaking lines before non-initial
macros. Changed default section ordering. Most importantly, the framework for
end-of-sentence double-spacing is in place, now implemented for the
<Q>end-of-sentence, end-of-line</Q> rule. This is a stable roll-back point
before the mandoc hackathon in Rostock!
</P>
</DIV>
<DIV CLASS="news">
<P>
<SPAN CLASS="date">09-05-2010</SPAN>:
version 1.9.24
</P>
<P>
Rolled back break-at-hyphen. <SPAN CLASS="flag">-DUGLY</SPAN> is now the
default (no feature splits!). Free-form text is not de-chunked any more: lines
are passed whole-sale into the front-end, including whitespace. Added mailing
lists. Lastly, <SPAN CLASS="nm">mdocml</SPAN> is the focus of two <A
CLASS="external" HREF="http://socghop.appspot.com/">Google Summer of Code</A>
projects this year: <Q><A CLASS="external"
HREF="http://netbsd-soc.sourceforge.net/projects/mandoc_ps/">mandoc -Tps</A></Q>
(NetBSD) and <Q><A CLASS="external"
HREF="http://wiki.freebsd.org/SummerOfCode2010Projects">BSD-licensed
Text-Processing Tools</A></Q> (FreeBSD).
</P>
</DIV>
<DIV CLASS="news">
<P>
<SPAN CLASS="date">07-04-2010</SPAN>:
version 1.9.23
</P>
<P>
<SPAN CLASS="nm">mdocml</SPAN> has been linked to the <A CLASS="external"
HREF="http://www.openbsd.org/faq/current.html#20100403">OpenBSD build</a>. This
version incorporates many small changes, mostly from patches by OpenBSD,
allowing crufty manuals to slip by with warnings instead of erroring-out. Some
subtle semantic issues, such as punctuation scope, have also been fixed.
Lastly, some issues with <SPAN CLASS="flag">-Thtml</SPAN> have been fixed, which
prompted an update to the <A HREF="mandoc.1.html">online</A> <A
HREF="mandoc_char.7.html">manual</A> <A HREF="man.7.html">pages</A> style
layout.
</P>
</DIV>
<P>
See <A HREF="http://mdocml.bsd.lv/cgi-bin/cvsweb/index.sgml?cvsroot=mdocml">cvsweb</A> for
historical notes.
</P>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<DIV CLASS="foot">
Copyright © 2008–2010 Kristaps Dzonsons, $Date$
</DIV>
</TD>
</TR>
</TBODY>
</TABLE>
</BODY>
</HTML>