I've got this one fairly far along. As with AD/HY, I'd forgotten about mdoc, and it certainly does recognize and use the LL register for the same purpose as groff_man. (LT, too.)
Someone tell me if the rationale in the patch to the ChangeLog is too terse. ;-) Thoughts? Regards, Branden
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index bb891530..02792450 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,56 @@
+2020-08-22 G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robin...@gmail.com>
+
+ Drop the .ll hack for setting the line length on nroff devices.
+
+ Once upon a time, the only way to get man pages to render on a
+ terminal at any width other than the nroff default of 65n was to
+ put an .ll request into the page--or your man pager could sneak
+ such a request into nroff's input stream. Also, in times long
+ passed, John Eaton of UT Austin wrote a man(1) program. In a
+ few years this implementation branched into two lines of
+ development, which I'll call man-db man (Wilford/Polacco/Watson)
+ and another, Brouwer/Lucifredi man, which as of this writing saw
+ its last release in 2011 (1.6g).
+
+ The man macros of groff 1.18 (July 2002) featured an LL register
+ for configuring the line length which respected an -rLL
+ command-line option. The source change was made by Werner
+ Lemberg on 3 May 2002 and Colin Watson updated man-db man(1)--on
+ the same day!--to support it. For compatibility with other
+ implementations, possibly Brouwer/Lucifredi man, any existing
+ .ll setting (technically, value of \n[.l], the only way this
+ value can be introspected) was still respected--usually--if LL
+ was not set. It is impossible to distinguish a user-supplied
+ ".ll 65n" setting from nroff's default setting, which was in
+ that case overridden to the modern default of 78n. This led to
+ {1} suprising behavior for users accustomed to old methods and
+ desirous of the nroff default and {2} lengthy apologia in groff
+ source code comments.
+
+ Let us survey the field in 2020. man-db man has supported the
+ LL register for 18 years. Heirloom Doctools's man macros set
+ the line length to 78n on nroff devices unconditionally.
+ mandoc(1) similarly also always formats for 78 columns on
+ terminals. By its 1.6 release (20 June 2005), Brouwer/Lucifredi
+ man had also started using the LL register.
+
+ There no longer seems to be any reason to preserve this hack.
+
+ * tmac/an-old.tmac (initialization): Drop complex set up of LL
+ register.
+ (TH): Relocate line length reset; no behavior change.
+ (after .mso man.local): Initialize LL if the user hasn't.
+ Otherwise, use device default in troff mode, and 78n in nroff
+ mode.
+
+ * tmac/groff_man.7.man.in (Options) <-rLL>: Stop documenting the
+ .ll hack.
+
+ * tmac/tests/an-old_init_LL_sanely.sh: Add test.
+ * tmac/tmac.am (tmac_TESTS): Run test.
+
+ Fixes Savannah #58992.
+
2020-08-22 G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robin...@gmail.com>
* tmac/tests/an-old_TH_repairs_ad_damage.sh:
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index f36585dc..917fd640 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -104,6 +104,13 @@ o The an (man) macro package supports new CS and CT number registers to
implementations) a way to view the rendered page elements in full
capitals if desired.
+o The an (man) macro package no longer honors an .ll request to set the
+ line length in nroff devices prior to processing a man page. This was
+ deprecated 18 years ago, and all known man program and macro package
+ implementations either have set/respected an LL register since 2005 or
+ earlier (man-db man and Brouwer/Lucifredi man), or simply use a
+ non-configurable line length of 78n (mandoc, Heirloom Doctools).
+
o The groff_man(7) man page documenting the groff implementation of the
man macro package has been split into two pages. The original page
remains as a terser reference for experienced users. A new page,
diff --git a/tmac/an-old.tmac b/tmac/an-old.tmac
index 3d9e6cd7..c389fa04 100644
--- a/tmac/an-old.tmac
+++ b/tmac/an-old.tmac
@@ -55,30 +55,6 @@
.nr need_eo_h 0
.nr need_col2 0
.
-.\" set up the line length...
-.\" giving precedence to any prior assignment to the \n[LL] register.
-.if !r LL \{\
-.
-. \" but if that isn't predefined...
-. \" then try to respect any prior '.ll' request.
-. nr LL \n[.l]
-.
-. \" For troff, this is sufficient to give us a default line length of
-. \" 6.5i, but for nroff, we prefer a default of 78n to nroff's default
-. \" 65n. This has the unfortunate side effect that we will override a
-. \" user's '.ll 65n' request, with our preferred 78n default; we can't
-. \" possibly know that the 65n came from a '.ll' request, and MUST
-. \" assume that it was set by nroff, as its built-in default! If the
-. \" user wants to force this setting, then he MUST use the '-rLL=65n'
-. \" option, or an equivalent '.nr LL 65n' request.
-. if n \
-. if (\n[LL] = 65n) \
-. nr LL 78n
-.\}
-.
-.if !r LT \
-. nr LT \n[LL]
-.
.nr FT (-.5i)
.
.nr an-first 1
@@ -159,11 +135,11 @@
.
. ps \\n[PS]u
. vs \\n[VS]u
-. ll \\n[LL]u
.
. \" Restore parameters that a previous man page might have messed up.
. ad \\*[AD]
. hy \\n[HY]
+. ll \\n[LL]u
.
.\" We must select an integer indentation value for nroff;
.\" see comment in an-do-tag.
@@ -694,6 +670,20 @@
. nr HY 6
.\}
.
+.\" Similarly for line length.
+.if !r LL \{\
+. \" If in troff mode, respect device default.
+. ie t \
+. nr LL \n[.l]
+. \" Otherwise, override nroff mode default of 65n.
+. el \
+. nr LL 78n
+.\}
+.
+.\" Similarly for title length.
+.if !r LT \
+. nr LT \n[LL]u
+.
.\" Set the default adjustment mode and heading font only if -d options
.\" or man.local did not.
.if !d AD \
diff --git a/tmac/groff_man.7.man.in b/tmac/groff_man.7.man.in
index 90e0c78d..a871b695 100644
--- a/tmac/groff_man.7.man.in
+++ b/tmac/groff_man.7.man.in
@@ -3010,51 +3010,6 @@ Set line length;
the default is 78n for terminal devices
and 6.5i for typesetter devices.
.
-If this option is not given,
-.\" Don't bold the .ll request in this discussion; it's not a major
-.\" topic of _this_ page as it would be in groff(7). Also, we don't
-.\" want to encourage people to mess with this old kludge by drawing
-.\" attention to it.
-the line length is set to respect any value set by a prior \(lq.ll\(rq
-request
-(which
-.I must
-be in effect when the
-.B .TH
-macro is invoked),
-if this differs from the built-in default for the formatter.
-.
-.
-.IP
-Note that the use of an \(lq.ll\(rq request to initialize the line
-length is supported for backward compatibility with some versions of
-the
-.I man
-program;
-direct initialization of the
-.B LL
-register should
-.I always
-be preferred to the use of such a request.
-.
-In particular,
-note that an \(lq.ll\~65n\(rq request does
-.I not
-preserve the default
-.I nroff
-line length
-(the
-.I man
-default initialization to 78n prevails),
-whereas the
-.B \-rLL=65n
-option,
-or an equivalent \(lq.nr\~LL\~65n\(rq request preceding the use of the
-.B .TH
-macro,
-.I does
-set a line length of 65n.
-.
.
.TP
.BI \-rLT= title-length
diff --git a/tmac/tests/an-old_init_LL_sanely.sh b/tmac/tests/an-old_init_LL_sanely.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..12b24b1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tmac/tests/an-old_init_LL_sanely.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+#
+# This file is part of groff.
+#
+# groff is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+# the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
+# Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# groff is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+# ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
+# for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+groff="${abs_top_builddir:-.}/test-groff"
+
+# Regression-test Savannah #58992.
+#
+# Our man macros should no longer attempt to read the .l register on
+# nroff devices to set the line length. That register may or may not
+# have been set by a user .ll request; we can't tell whether a value of
+# 65n came from nroff or the user.
+#
+# Instead, the LL register must be used to set the line length.
+#
+# In this test we _expect_ the .ll request to be ignored and overridden.
+# We choose a value that is not nroff's default nor man's default.
+
+EXAMPLE='
+.ll 70n
+.TH ll\-hell 1 2020-08-22 "groff test suite"
+.SH Name
+ll\-hell \- see how long the lines are
+.SH Description
+LL=\n[LL]u
+.PP
+\&.l=\n[.l]u'
+
+printf "%s\n" "$EXAMPLE" | "$groff" -Tascii -P-cbou -man \
+ | grep -q 'LL=1872u'
+
+# vim:set ai et sw=4 ts=4 tw=72:
diff --git a/tmac/tmac.am b/tmac/tmac.am
index 2e771609..73c047ec 100644
--- a/tmac/tmac.am
+++ b/tmac/tmac.am
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ EXTRA_DIST += \
tmac_TESTS = \
tmac/tests/an-ext_ME_punct_hyphenates.sh \
- tmac/tests/an-ext_UE_punct_hyphenates.sh \
tmac/tests/an-ext_MT_body_hyphenates.sh \
+ tmac/tests/an-ext_UE_punct_hyphenates.sh \
tmac/tests/an-ext_UR_body_hyphenates.sh \
tmac/tests/an-old_AT_and_UC_footer_saved_and_restored.sh \
tmac/tests/an-old_CS_register_off.sh \
@@ -153,7 +153,8 @@ tmac_TESTS = \
tmac/tests/an-old_CT_register_on.sh \
tmac/tests/an-old_CT_register_unspecified.sh \
tmac/tests/an-old_TH_repairs_ad_damage.sh \
- tmac/tests/an-old_TH_repairs_hy_damage.sh
+ tmac/tests/an-old_TH_repairs_hy_damage.sh \
+ tmac/tests/an-old_init_LL_sanely.sh
TESTS += $(tmac_TESTS)
tmac_XFAIL_TESTS = \
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