Hi John, At 2023-06-29T19:45:18+1000, John Gardner wrote: > Support for 'f' may disappear in the next release, producing an error > > diagnostic regarding an unrecognized command. > > > > This doesn't sit right with me. Removing an obsolete feature to > encourage adoption of a newer one runs counter to Groff's normative > handling of legacy features—a manual that's formatted correctly and > consistently for the past 20 years will logically be expected to > continue doing so. I'm aware that \D'f…' isn't supported by AT&T Troff > (although it *is* supported by SQTroff), but that strikes me as a weak > argument to justify the feature's removal. > > Assuming there's no practical benefit to removing \D'f…' outright, I > instead suggest documenting it as an explicitly obsolete feature, > similar to how the *"Legacy command(s)"* section in groff_out(5) > documents the old "jump right *dd*u and print char *c**"* method for > outputting text. The section makes it crystal clear to readers that > this syntax is supported for backwards compatibility only, and > suggests modern alternatives they should be using instead. \D'f…' > should do likewise, IMO.
I should have titled the thread "further deprecate" or "diagnose on use of". So I am doing so now. If you review the attached diff, it does in fact retain support for the feature, it's simply noisy about it. diff --git a/src/devices/gropdf/gropdf.pl b/src/devices/gropdf/gropdf.pl index e86644da5..2067f0a19 100644 --- a/src/devices/gropdf/gropdf.pl +++ b/src/devices/gropdf/gropdf.pl @@ -3140,6 +3140,7 @@ sub do_D } elsif ($Dcmd eq 'f') { + Warn("'f' drawing command is obsolete; use 'Fg' instead"); my $mcmd=substr($par,0,1); $par=substr($par,1); diff --git a/src/libs/libdriver/input.cpp b/src/libs/libdriver/input.cpp index 821b526bd..78f73379a 100644 --- a/src/libs/libdriver/input.cpp +++ b/src/libs/libdriver/input.cpp @@ -1361,6 +1361,7 @@ parse_D_command() } case 'f': // Df: set fill gray; obsoleted by DFg { + warning("'f' drawing command is obsolete; use 'Fg' instead"); IntArg arg = get_integer_arg(); if ((arg >= 0) && (arg <= 1000)) { // convert arg and treat it like DFg diff --git a/src/roff/troff/input.cpp b/src/roff/troff/input.cpp index e797e2200..cc0b59f38 100644 --- a/src/roff/troff/input.cpp +++ b/src/roff/troff/input.cpp @@ -8754,6 +8754,9 @@ static node *read_draw_node() error("even number of arguments needed for spline"); break; case 'f': + error("'f' drawing command is obsolete;" + " use 'Fg' drawing command, 'M' escape sequence," + " or 'fcolor' request instead"); if (npoints != 1 || !no_last_v) { error("one argument needed for gray shade"); npoints = 1; Do you also object to the emission of these diagnostic messages? The actual feature removal is something I don't contemplate for groff 1.24, may never happen (though I think we should not pretend to foreclose the option from future groff developers, which means warning users strongly now/soon), and would prefer to discuss your philosophy of feature retention in a separate thread. Regards, Branden
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