Merge from emacs-24; up to 2012-12-02T06:22:32Z!cyd@gnu.org
[bpt/emacs.git] / doc / misc / woman.texi
1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2 @c %**start of header
3 @setfilename ../../info/woman
4 @settitle WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
5 @include emacsver.texi
6 @afourpaper
7 @c With different size paper the printed page breaks will need attention!
8 @c Look for @page and @need commands.
9 @setchapternewpage off
10 @paragraphindent 0
11 @c %**end of header
12
13 @copying
14 This file documents WoMan: A program to browse Unix manual pages `W.O.
15 (without) man'.
16
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2001--2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
18
19 @quotation
20 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
21 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
22 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
23 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual,''
24 and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license
25 is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License.''
26
27 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and
28 modify this GNU manual.''
29 @end quotation
30 @end copying
31
32 @dircategory Emacs misc features
33 @direntry
34 * WoMan: (woman). Browse UN*X Manual Pages "W.O. (without) Man".
35 @end direntry
36
37 @finalout
38
39 @titlepage
40 @title WoMan
41 @subtitle Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
42 @subtitle as distributed with Emacs @value{EMACSVER}
43 @author Francis J. Wright
44 @sp 2
45 @author School of Mathematical Sciences
46 @author Queen Mary and Westfield College
47 @author (University of London)
48 @author Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
49 @author @email{F.J.Wright@@qmul.ac.uk}
50 @author @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/}
51 @c He no longer maintains this manual.
52
53 @comment The following two commands start the copyright page.
54 @page
55 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
56 @insertcopying
57 @end titlepage
58
59 @contents
60
61 @c ===================================================================
62
63 @ifnottex
64 @node Top
65 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
66 @top WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
67
68 @display
69 As distributed with Emacs @value{EMACSVER}.
70
71 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, Francis J. Wright}
72 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/, School of Mathematical Sciences}
73 Queen Mary and Westfield College (University of London)
74 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
75 @end display
76
77 @insertcopying
78 @end ifnottex
79
80 @menu
81 * Introduction:: Introduction
82 * Background:: Background
83 * Finding:: Finding and Formatting Man Pages
84 * Browsing:: Browsing Man Pages
85 * Customization:: Customization
86 * Log:: The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
87 * Technical:: Technical Details
88 * Bugs:: Reporting Bugs
89 * Acknowledgments:: Acknowledgments
90 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
91 * Command Index:: Command Index
92 * Variable Index:: Variable Index
93 * Keystroke Index:: Keystroke Index
94 * Concept Index:: Concept Index
95 @end menu
96
97 @c ===================================================================
98
99 @node Introduction
100 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
101 @chapter Introduction
102 @cindex introduction
103
104 This version of WoMan should run with GNU Emacs 20.3 or later on any
105 platform. It has not been tested, and may not run, with any other
106 version of Emacs. It was developed primarily on various versions of
107 Microsoft Windows, but has also been tested on MS-DOS, and various
108 versions of UNIX and GNU/Linux.
109
110 WoMan is distributed with GNU Emacs. In addition, the current source
111 code and documentation files are available from
112 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/, the WoMan web
113 server}.
114
115 WoMan implements a subset of the formatting performed by the Emacs
116 @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry}) command to format a Unix-style
117 @dfn{manual page} (usually abbreviated to @dfn{man page}) for display,
118 but without calling any external programs. It is intended to emulate
119 the whole of the @code{roff -man} macro package, plus those @code{roff}
120 requests (@pxref{Background, , Background}) that are most commonly used
121 in man pages. However, the emulation is modified to include the
122 reformatting done by the Emacs @code{man} command. No hyphenation is
123 performed.
124
125 @table @b
126 @item Advantages
127 Much more direct, does not require any external programs. Supports
128 completion on man page names.
129 @item Disadvantages
130 Not a complete emulation. Currently no support for @code{eqn} or
131 @code{tbl}. Slightly slower for large man pages (but usually faster for
132 small- and medium-size pages).
133 @end table
134
135 This browser works quite well on simple well-written man files. It
136 works less well on idiosyncratic files that ``break the rules'' or use
137 the more obscure @code{roff} requests directly. Current test results
138 are available in the file
139 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/files/woman.status,
140 @file{woman.status}}.
141
142 WoMan supports the use of compressed man files via
143 @code{auto-compression-mode} by turning it on if necessary. But you may
144 need to adjust the user option @code{woman-file-compression-regexp}.
145 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
146
147 Brief help on the WoMan interactive commands and user options, all of
148 which begin with the prefix @code{woman-} (or occasionally
149 @code{WoMan-}), is available most easily by loading WoMan and then
150 either running the command @code{woman-mini-help} or selecting the WoMan
151 menu option @samp{Mini Help}.
152
153 WoMan is (of course) still under development! Please
154 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, let me know} what doesn't work---I am
155 adding and improving functionality as testing shows that it is
156 necessary. Guidance on reporting bugs is given below. @xref{Bugs, ,
157 Reporting Bugs}.
158
159 @c ===================================================================
160
161 @node Background
162 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
163 @chapter Background
164 @cindex background
165
166 WoMan is a browser for traditional Unix-style manual page documentation.
167 Each such document is conventionally referred to as a @dfn{manual page},
168 or @dfn{man page} for short, even though some are very much longer than
169 one page. A man page is a document written using the Unix ``man''
170 macros, which are themselves written in the nroff/troff text processing
171 markup language. @code{nroff} and @code{troff} are text processors
172 originally written for the UNIX operating system by Joseph F. Ossanna at
173 Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA@. They are closely
174 related, and except in the few cases where the distinction between them
175 is important I will refer to them both ambiguously as @code{roff}.
176
177 @code{roff} markup consists of @dfn{requests} and @dfn{escape
178 sequences}. A request occupies a complete line and begins with either a
179 period or a single forward quote. An escape sequences is embedded
180 within the input text and begins (by default) with a backslash. The
181 original man macro package defines 20 new @code{roff} requests
182 implemented as macros, which were considered to be sufficient for
183 writing man pages. But whilst in principle man pages use only the man
184 macros, in practice a significant number use many other @code{roff}
185 requests.
186
187 The distinction between @code{troff} and @code{nroff} is that
188 @code{troff} was designed to drive a phototypesetter whereas
189 @code{nroff} was designed to produce essentially @acronym{ASCII} output for a
190 character-based device similar to a teletypewriter (usually abbreviated
191 to ``teletype'' or ``tty''). Hence, @code{troff} supports much finer
192 control over output positioning than does @code{nroff} and can be seen
193 as a forerunner of @TeX{}. Traditionally, man pages are either
194 formatted by @code{troff} for typesetting or by @code{nroff} for
195 printing on a character printer or displaying on a screen. Of course,
196 over the last 25 years or so, the distinction between typeset output on
197 paper and characters on a screen has become blurred by the fact that
198 most screens now support bit-mapped displays, so that any information
199 that can be printed can also be rendered on screen, the only difference
200 being the resolution.
201
202 Nevertheless, Unix-style manual page documentation is still normally
203 browsed on screen by running a program called @code{man}. This program
204 looks in a predefined set of directories for the man page matching a
205 specified topic, then either formats the source file by running
206 @code{nroff} or recovers a pre-formatted file, and displays it via a
207 pager such as @code{more}. @code{nroff} normally formats for a printer,
208 so it paginates the output, numbers the pages, etc., most of which is
209 irrelevant when the document is browsed as a continuous scrollable
210 document on screen. The only concession to on-screen browsing normally
211 implemented by the @code{man} program is to squeeze consecutive blank
212 lines into a single blank line.
213
214 For some time, Emacs has offered an improved interface for browsing man
215 pages in the form of the Emacs @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry})
216 command, see @ref{Documentation, man, Documentation Commands, emacs, GNU
217 Emacs Manual}.
218 This command runs @code{man} as described above, perhaps in
219 the background, and then post-processes the output to remove much of the
220 @code{nroff} pagination such as page headers and footers, and places the
221 result into an Emacs buffer. It puts this buffer into a special major
222 mode, which is tailored for man page browsing, and provides a number of
223 useful navigation commands, support for following references, etc. It
224 provides some support for special display faces (fonts), but no special
225 menu or mouse support. The Emacs man package appears to have been
226 developed over about 10 years, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.
227
228 There is considerable inefficiency in having @code{nroff} paginate a
229 document and then removing most of the pagination!
230
231 WoMan is an Emacs Lisp library that provides an emulation of the
232 functionality of the Emacs @code{man} command, the main difference being
233 that WoMan does not use any external programs. The only situation in
234 which WoMan might use an external program is when the source file is
235 compressed, when WoMan will use the standard Emacs automatic
236 decompression facility, which does call an external program.
237
238 I began developing WoMan in the Spring of 1997 and the first version was
239 released in May 1997. The original motivation for WoMan was the fact
240 that many GNU and Unix programs are ported to other platforms and come
241 with Unix-style manual page documentation. This may be difficult to
242 read because ports of the Unix-style @code{man} program can be a little
243 awkward to set up. I decided that it should not be too hard to emulate
244 the 20 @code{man} macros directly, without treating them as macros and
245 largely ignoring the underlying @code{roff} requests, given the text
246 processing capabilities of Emacs. This proved to be essentially true,
247 and it did not take a great deal of work to be able to format simple man
248 pages acceptably.
249
250 One problem arose with the significant number of man pages that use
251 @code{roff} requests in addition to the @code{man} macros, and since
252 releasing the first version of WoMan I have been continually extending
253 it to support more @code{roff} requests. WoMan can now format a
254 significant proportion of the man pages that I have tested, either well
255 or at least readably. However, I have added capabilities partly by
256 making additional passes through the document, a design that is
257 fundamentally flawed. This can only be solved by a major re-design of
258 WoMan to handle the major formatting within a single recursive pass,
259 rather than the present multiple passes without any significant
260 recursion. There are some @code{roff} requests that cannot be handled
261 satisfactorily within the present design. Some of these are currently
262 handled by kludges that ``usually more or less work.''
263
264 The principle advantage of WoMan is that it does not require @code{man},
265 and indeed the name WoMan is a contraction of ``without man.'' But it
266 has other advantages. It does not paginate the document, so it does not
267 need to un-paginate it again, thereby saving time. It could take full
268 advantage of the display capabilities available to it, and I hope to
269 develop WoMan to take advantage of developments in Emacs itself. At
270 present, WoMan uses several display faces to support bold and italic
271 text, to indicate other fonts, etc. The default faces are also
272 colored, but the choice of faces is customizable. WoMan provides menu
273 support for navigation and mouse support for following references, in
274 addition to the navigation facilities provided by @code{man} mode.
275 WoMan has (this) texinfo documentation!
276
277 WoMan @emph{does not} replace @code{man}, although it does use a number
278 of the facilities implemented in the Emacs @code{man} library. WoMan
279 and man can happily co-exist, which is very useful for comparison and
280 debugging purposes.
281
282 @code{nroff} simulates non-@acronym{ASCII} characters by using one or more
283 @acronym{ASCII} characters. WoMan should be able to do much better than
284 this. I have recently begun to add support for WoMan to use more of the
285 characters in its default font and to use a symbol font, and it is an
286 aspect that I intend to develop further in the near future. It should
287 be possible to move WoMan from an emulation of @code{nroff} to an
288 emulation of @code{troff} as GNU Emacs moves to providing bit-mapped
289 display facilities.
290
291 @node Finding
292 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
293 @chapter Finding and Formatting Man Pages
294 @cindex using, finding man pages
295 @cindex using, formatting man pages
296 @cindex finding man pages
297 @cindex formatting man pages
298 @cindex man pages, finding
299 @cindex man pages, formatting
300
301 WoMan provides three user interfaces for finding and formatting man pages:
302
303 @itemize @bullet
304 @item
305 a topic interface similar to that provided by the standard Emacs
306 @code{man} command;
307
308 @item
309 a family of filename interfaces analogous to the standard Emacs
310 @code{view-file} command;
311
312 @item
313 an automatic interface that detects the file type from its contents.
314 (This is currently neither well tested, well supported nor recommended!)
315 @end itemize
316
317 The topic and filename interfaces support completion in the usual way.
318
319 The topic interface is generally the most convenient for regular use,
320 although it may require some special setup, especially if your machine
321 does not already have a conventional @code{man} installation (which
322 WoMan tries to detect).
323
324 The simplest filename interface command @code{woman-find-file} can
325 always be used with no setup at all (provided WoMan is installed and
326 loaded or set up to autoload).
327
328 The automatic interface always requires special setup.
329
330
331 @heading Case-Dependence of Filenames
332
333 @cindex case-sensitivity
334 @vindex w32-downcase-file-names
335 By default, WoMan ignores case in file pathnames only when it seems
336 appropriate. Microsoft Windows users who want complete case
337 independence should set the special NTEmacs variable
338 @code{w32-downcase-file-names} to @code{t} and use all lower case when
339 setting WoMan file paths.
340
341
342 @menu
343 * Topic:: Topic Interface
344 * Filename:: Filename Interface
345 * Automatic:: Automatic Interface
346 @end menu
347
348 @node Topic
349 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
350 @section Topic Interface
351 @cindex topic interface
352
353 The topic interface is accessed principally via the command
354 @code{woman}. The same command can be accessed via the menu item
355 @samp{Help->Manuals->Read Man Page (WoMan)...} once WoMan has been
356 loaded. The command reads a manual topic in the minibuffer, which can
357 be the @dfn{basename} of a man file anywhere in the man file
358 structure. The ``basename'' in this context means the filename
359 without any directory component and without any extension or suffix
360 components that relate to the file type. So, for example, if there is
361 a compressed source file in Chapter 5 of the UNIX Programmer's Manual
362 with the full pathname @file{/usr/local/man/man5/man.conf.5.gz} then
363 the topic is @code{man.conf}. Provided WoMan is configured correctly,
364 this topic will appear among the completions offered by @code{woman}.
365 If more than one file has the same topic name then WoMan will prompt
366 for which file to format. Completion of topics is case insensitive.
367
368 Clearly, @code{woman} has to know where to look for man files and there
369 are two customizable user options that store this information:
370 @code{woman-manpath} and @code{woman-path}. @xref{Interface Options, ,
371 Interface Options}. If @code{woman-manpath} is not set explicitly then
372 WoMan tries to pick up the information that would be used by the
373 @code{man} command, as follows. If the environment variable
374 @code{MANPATH} is set, which seems to be the standard mechanism under
375 UNIX, then WoMan parses that. Otherwise, if WoMan can find a
376 configuration file named (by default) @file{man.conf} (or something very
377 similar), which seems to be the standard mechanism under GNU/Linux, then
378 it parses that. To be precise, ``something very similar'' means
379 starting with @samp{man} and ending with @samp{.conf} and possibly more
380 lowercase letters, e.g., @file{manual.configuration}.
381 The search path and/or precise full path name for this file are set by
382 the value of the customizable user option @code{woman-man.conf-path}.
383 If all else fails, WoMan uses a plausible default man search path.
384
385 If the above default configuration does not work correctly for any
386 reason then simply customize the value of @code{woman-manpath}. To
387 access man files that are not in a conventional man file hierarchy,
388 customize the value of @code{woman-path} to include the directories
389 containing the files. In this way, @code{woman} can access manual files
390 @emph{anywhere} in the entire file system.
391
392 There are two differences between @code{woman-manpath} and
393 @code{woman-path}. Firstly, the elements of @code{woman-manpath} must
394 be directories that contain @emph{directories of} man files, whereas the
395 elements of @code{woman-path} must be directories that contain man files
396 @emph{directly}. Secondly, the last directory component of each element
397 of @code{woman-path} is treated as a regular (Emacs) match expression
398 rather than a fixed name, which allows collections of related
399 directories to be specified succinctly. Also, elements of
400 @code{woman-manpath} can be conses, indicating a mapping from
401 @samp{PATH} environment variable components to man directory
402 hierarchies.
403
404 For topic completion to work, WoMan must build a list of all the manual
405 files that it can access, which can be very slow, especially if a
406 network is involved. For this reason, it caches various amounts of
407 information, after which retrieving it from the cache is very fast. If
408 the cache ever gets out of synchronism with reality, running the
409 @code{woman} command with a prefix argument (e.g., @kbd{C-u M-x woman})
410 will force it to rebuild its cache. This is necessary only if the names
411 or locations of any man files change; it is not necessary if only their
412 contents change. It would always be necessary if such a change occurred
413 whilst Emacs were running and after WoMan has been loaded. It may be
414 necessary if such a change occurs between Emacs sessions and persistent
415 caching is used, although WoMan can detect some changes that invalidate
416 its cache and rebuild it automatically.
417
418 Customize the variable @code{woman-cache-filename} to save the cache
419 between Emacs sessions. This is recommended only if the @code{woman}
420 command is too slow the first time it is run in an Emacs session, while
421 it builds its cache in main memory, which @emph{may} be @emph{very}
422 slow. @xref{Cache, , The WoMan Topic Cache}, for further details.
423
424
425 @menu
426 * Cache:: The WoMan Topic Cache
427 * Word at point:: Using the "Word at Point" as a Topic Suggestion
428 @end menu
429
430 @node Cache
431 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
432 @subsection The WoMan Topic Cache
433 @cindex topic cache
434 @cindex cache, topic
435
436 The amount of information that WoMan caches (in main memory and,
437 optionally, saved to disc) is controlled by the user option
438 @code{woman-cache-level}. There is a trade-off between the speed with
439 which WoMan can find a file and the size of the cache, and the default
440 setting gives a reasonable compromise.
441
442 The @code{woman} command always performs a certain amount of caching in
443 main memory, but it can also write its cache to the filestore as a
444 persistent cache under control of the user option
445 @code{woman-cache-filename}. If persistent caching is turned on then
446 WoMan re-loads its internal cache from the cache file almost
447 instantaneously, so that there is never any perceptible start-up delay
448 @emph{except} when WoMan rebuilds its cache. Persistent caching is
449 currently turned off by default. This is because users with persistent
450 caching turned on may overlook the need to force WoMan to rebuild its
451 cache the first time they run it after they have installed new man
452 files; with persistent caching turned off, WoMan automatically rebuilds
453 its cache every time it is run in a new Emacs session.
454
455 A prefix argument always causes the @code{woman} command (only) to
456 rebuild its topic cache, and to re-save it to
457 @code{woman-cache-filename} if this variable has a non-@code{nil} value. This
458 is necessary if the @emph{names} of any of the directories or files in
459 the paths specified by @code{woman-manpath} or @code{woman-path} change.
460 If WoMan user options that affect the cache are changed then WoMan will
461 automatically update its cache file on disc (if one is in use) the next
462 time it is run in a new Emacs session.
463
464
465 @node Word at point
466 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
467 @subsection Using the "Word at Point" as a Topic Suggestion
468 @cindex word at point
469 @cindex point, word at
470
471 By default, the @code{woman} command uses the word nearest to point in
472 the current buffer as a suggestion for the topic to look up, if it
473 exists as a valid topic. The topic can be confirmed or edited in the
474 minibuffer.
475
476 You can also bind the variable @code{woman-use-topic-at-point} locally
477 to a non-@code{nil} value (using @code{let}), in which case
478 @code{woman} will can use the suggested topic without confirmation if
479 possible. This may be useful to provide special private key bindings,
480 e.g., this key binding for @kbd{C-c w} runs WoMan on the topic at
481 point without seeking confirmation:
482
483 @lisp
484 (global-set-key "\C-cw"
485 (lambda ()
486 (interactive)
487 (let ((woman-use-topic-at-point t))
488 (woman))))
489 @end lisp
490
491
492 @node Filename
493 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
494 @section Filename Interface
495 @cindex filename interface
496
497 The commands in this family are completely independent of the topic
498 interface, caching mechanism, etc.
499
500 @findex woman-find-file
501 The filename interface is accessed principally via the extended command
502 @code{woman-find-file}, which is available without any configuration at
503 all (provided WoMan is installed and loaded or set up to autoload).
504 This command can be used to browse any accessible man file, regardless
505 of its filename or location. If the file is compressed then automatic
506 file decompression must already be turned on (e.g., see the
507 @samp{Help->Options} submenu)---it is turned on automatically only by
508 the @code{woman} topic interface.
509
510 @findex woman-dired-find-file
511 Once WoMan is loaded (or if specially set up), various additional
512 commands in this family are available. In a dired buffer, the command
513 @code{woman-dired-find-file} allows the file on the same line as point
514 to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It is bound to the key @kbd{W} in
515 the dired mode map and added to the dired major mode menu. It may also
516 be bound to @kbd{w}, unless this key is bound by another library, which
517 it is by @code{dired-x}, for example. Because it is quite likely that
518 other libraries will extend the capabilities of such a commonly used
519 mode as dired, the precise key bindings added by WoMan to the dired mode
520 map are controlled by the user option @code{woman-dired-keys}.
521
522 @findex woman-tar-extract-file
523 When a tar (Tape ARchive) file is visited in Emacs, it is opened in tar
524 mode, which parses the tar file and shows a dired-like view of its
525 contents. The WoMan command @code{woman-tar-extract-file} allows the
526 file on the same line as point to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It
527 is bound to the key @kbd{w} in the tar mode map and added to the tar
528 major mode menu.
529
530 The command @code{woman-reformat-last-file}, which is bound to the key
531 @kbd{R} in WoMan mode and available on the major mode menu, reformats
532 the last file formatted by WoMan. This may occasionally be useful if
533 formatting parameters, such as the fill column, are changed, or perhaps
534 if the buffer is somehow corrupted.
535
536 @findex woman-decode-buffer
537 The command @code{woman-decode-buffer} can be used to decode and browse
538 the current buffer if it is visiting a man file, although it is
539 primarily used internally by WoMan.
540
541
542 @node Automatic
543 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
544 @section Automatic Interface
545 @cindex automatic interface
546
547 Emacs provides an interface to detect automatically the format of a file
548 and decode it when it is visited. It is used primarily by the
549 facilities for editing rich (i.e., formatted) text, as a way to store
550 formatting information transparently as @acronym{ASCII} markup. WoMan can in
551 principle use this interface, but it must be configured explicitly.
552
553 This use of WoMan does not seem to be particularly advantageous, so it
554 is not really supported. It originated during early experiments on how
555 best to implement WoMan, before I implemented the current topic
556 interface, and I subsequently stopped using it. I might revive it as a
557 mechanism for storing pre-formatted WoMan files, somewhat analogous to
558 the standard Unix @code{catman} facility. In the meantime, it exists
559 for anyone who wants to experiment with it. Once it is set up it is
560 simply a question of visiting the file and there is no WoMan-specific
561 user interface!
562
563 To use it, put something like this in your @file{.emacs} file. [The
564 call to @code{set-visited-file-name} is to avoid font-locking triggered
565 by automatic major mode selection.]
566
567 @lisp
568 (autoload 'woman-decode-region "woman")
569
570 (add-to-list 'format-alist
571 '(man "Unix man-page source format" "\\.\\(TH\\|ig\\) "
572 woman-decode-region nil nil
573 (lambda (arg)
574 set-visited-file-name
575 (file-name-sans-extension buffer-file-name))))
576 @end lisp
577
578 @c ===================================================================
579
580 @node Browsing
581 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
582 @chapter Browsing Man Pages
583 @cindex using, browsing man pages
584 @cindex browsing man pages
585 @cindex man pages, browsing
586
587 Once a man page has been found and formatted, WoMan provides a browsing
588 interface that is essentially the same as that provided by the standard
589 Emacs @code{man} command (and much of the code is inherited from the
590 @code{man} library, which WoMan currently requires). Many WoMan
591 facilities can be accessed from the WoMan major mode menu as well as via
592 key bindings, etc.
593
594 WoMan does not produce any page breaks or page numbers, and in fact does
595 not paginate the man page at all, since this is not appropriate for
596 continuous online browsing. It produces a document header line that is
597 constructed from the standard man page header and footer. Apart from
598 that, the appearance of the formatted man page should be almost
599 identical to what would be produced by @code{man}, with consecutive
600 blank lines squeezed to a single blank line.
601
602 @menu
603 * Fonts:: Fonts and Faces
604 * Navigation:: Navigation
605 * References:: Following References
606 * Changing:: Changing the Current Man Page
607 * Convenience:: Convenience Key Bindings
608 * Imenu:: Imenu Support; Contents Menu
609 @end menu
610
611 @node Fonts
612 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
613 @section Fonts and Faces
614 @cindex fonts
615 @cindex faces
616
617 Fonts used by @code{roff} are handled by WoMan as faces, the details of
618 which are customizable. @xref{Faces, , Faces}. WoMan supports both the
619 italic and bold fonts normally used in man pages, together with a single
620 face to represent all unknown fonts (which are occasionally used in
621 ``non-standard'' man pages, usually to represent a ``typewriter'' font)
622 and a face to indicate additional symbols introduced by WoMan. This
623 currently means the characters ^ and _ used to indicate super- and
624 sub-scripts, which are not displayed well by WoMan.
625
626
627 @node Navigation
628 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
629 @section Navigation
630 @cindex navigation
631
632 Man (and hence WoMan) mode can be thought of as a superset of view mode.
633 The buffer cannot be edited, so keys that would normally self-insert are
634 used for navigation. The WoMan key bindings are a minor modification of
635 the @code{man} key bindings.
636
637 @table @kbd
638 @item @key{SPC}
639 @kindex SPC
640 @findex scroll-up
641 Scroll the man page up the window (@code{scroll-up}).
642
643 @item @key{DEL}
644 @kindex DEL
645 @findex scroll-down
646 Scroll the man page down the window (@code{scroll-down}).
647
648 @item n
649 @kindex n
650 @findex Man-next-section
651 Move point to the Nth next section---default 1 (@code{Man-next-section}).
652
653 @item p
654 @kindex p
655 @findex Man-previous-section
656 Move point to Nth previous section---default 1
657 (@code{Man-previous-section}).
658
659 @item g
660 @kindex g
661 @findex Man-goto-section
662 Move point to the specified section (@code{Man-goto-section}).
663
664 @item s
665 @kindex s
666 @findex Man-goto-see-also-section
667 Move point to the ``SEE ALSO'' section
668 (@code{Man-goto-see-also-section}). Actually the section moved to is
669 described by @code{Man-see-also-regexp}.
670 @end table
671
672
673 @node References
674 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
675 @section Following References
676 @cindex following references
677 @cindex references
678
679 Man pages usually contain a ``SEE ALSO'' section containing references
680 to other man pages. If these man pages are installed then WoMan can
681 easily be directed to follow the reference, i.e., to find and format the
682 man page. When the mouse is passed over a correctly formatted reference
683 it is highlighted, in which case clicking the middle button
684 @kbd{Mouse-2} will cause WoMan to follow the reference. Alternatively,
685 when point is over such a reference the key @key{RET} will follow the
686 reference.
687
688 Any word in the buffer can be used as a reference by clicking
689 @kbd{Mouse-2} over it provided the Meta key is also used (although in
690 general such a ``reference'' will not lead to a man page).
691 Alternatively, the key @kbd{r} allows completion to be used to select a
692 reference to follow, based on the word at point as default.
693
694 @table @kbd
695 @item @kbd{Mouse-2}
696 @kindex Mouse-2
697 @findex woman-mouse-2
698 Run WoMan with word under mouse as topic (@code{woman-mouse-2}). The
699 word must be mouse-highlighted unless @code{woman-mouse-2} is used with
700 the Meta key.
701
702 @item @key{RET}
703 @kindex RET
704 @findex man-follow
705 Get the man page for the topic under (or nearest to) point
706 (@code{man-follow}).
707
708 @item r
709 @kindex r
710 @findex Man-follow-manual-reference
711 Get one of the man pages referred to in the ``SEE ALSO'' section
712 (@code{Man-follow-manual-reference}). Specify which reference to use;
713 default is based on word at point.
714 @end table
715
716
717 @node Changing
718 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
719 @section Changing the Current Man Page
720 @cindex changing current man page
721 @cindex current man page, changing
722
723 The man page currently being browsed by WoMan can be changed in several
724 ways. The command @code{woman} can be invoked to format another man
725 page, or the current WoMan buffer can be buried or killed. WoMan
726 maintains a ring of formatted man pages, and it is possible to move
727 forwards and backwards in this ring by moving to the next or previous
728 man page. It is sometimes useful to reformat the current page, for
729 example after the right margin (the wrap column) or some other
730 formatting parameter has been changed.
731
732 Buffers formatted by Man and WoMan are completely unrelated, even though
733 some of the commands to manipulate them are superficially the same (and
734 share code).
735
736 @table @kbd
737 @item m
738 @kindex m
739 @findex man
740 Run the command @code{man} to get a Un*x manual page and put it in a
741 buffer. This command is the top-level command in the man package. It
742 runs a Un*x command to retrieve and clean a man page in the background
743 and places the results in a Man mode (man page browsing) buffer. If a
744 man buffer already exists for this man page, it will display
745 immediately. This works exactly the same if WoMan is loaded, except
746 that the formatting time is displayed in the mini-buffer.
747
748 @item w
749 @kindex w
750 @findex woman
751 Run the command @code{woman} exactly as if the extended command or menu
752 item had been used.
753
754 @item q
755 @kindex q
756 @findex Man-quit
757 Bury the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-quit}),
758 i.e., move it to the bottom of the buffer stack.
759
760 @item k
761 @kindex k
762 @findex Man-kill
763 Kill the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-kill}),
764 i.e., delete it completely so that it can be retrieved only by formatting
765 the page again.
766
767 @item M-p
768 @kindex M-p
769 @findex WoMan-previous-manpage
770 Find the previous WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-previous-manpage}).
771
772 @item M-n
773 @kindex M-n
774 @findex WoMan-next-manpage
775 Find the next WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-next-manpage}).
776
777 @item R
778 @kindex R
779 @findex woman-reformat-last-file
780 Call WoMan to reformat the last man page formatted by WoMan
781 (@code{woman-reformat-last-file}), e.g., after changing the fill column.
782 @end table
783
784
785 @node Convenience
786 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
787 @section Convenience Key Bindings
788 @cindex convenience key bindings
789 @cindex key bindings, convenience
790
791 @table @kbd
792 @item -
793 @kindex -
794 @findex negative-argument
795 Begin a negative numeric argument for the next command
796 (@code{negative-argument}).
797
798 @item 0 .. 9
799 @kindex 0 .. 9
800 @findex digit-argument
801 Part of the numeric argument for the next command
802 (@code{digit-argument}).
803
804 @item <
805 @kindex <
806 @itemx .
807 @kindex .
808 @findex beginning-of-buffer
809 Move point to the beginning of the buffer; leave mark at previous
810 position (@code{beginning-of-buffer}).
811
812 @item >
813 @kindex >
814 @findex end-of-buffer
815 Move point to the end of the buffer; leave mark at previous position
816 (@code{end-of-buffer}).
817
818 @item ?
819 @kindex ?
820 @findex describe-mode
821 Display documentation of current major mode and minor modes
822 (@code{describe-mode}). The major mode description comes first,
823 followed by the minor modes, each on a separate page.
824 @end table
825
826
827 @node Imenu
828 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
829 @section Imenu Support; Contents Menu
830 @cindex imenu support
831 @cindex contents menu
832
833 The WoMan menu provides an option to make a contents menu for the
834 current man page (using @code{imenu}). Alternatively, if you customize
835 the option @code{woman-imenu} to @code{t} then WoMan will do it
836 automatically for every man page. The menu title is set by the option
837 @code{woman-imenu-title}, which is ``CONTENTS'' by default. The menu
838 shows manual sections and subsections by default, but you can change
839 this by customizing @code{woman-imenu-generic-expression}.
840
841 WoMan is configured not to replace spaces in an imenu
842 @code{*Completion*} buffer. For further documentation on the use of
843 imenu, such as menu sorting, see the source file @file{imenu.el}, which
844 is distributed with GNU Emacs.
845
846 @c ===================================================================
847
848 @node Customization
849 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
850 @chapter Customization
851 @cindex customization
852
853 All WoMan user options are customizable, and it is recommended to
854 change them only via the standard Emacs customization facilities.
855 WoMan defines a top-level customization group called @code{WoMan}
856 under the parent group @code{Help}. It can be accessed either via the
857 standard Emacs facilities, e.g., via the @samp{Help->Customize}
858 submenu, or via the WoMan major mode menu.
859
860 The top-level WoMan group contains only a few general options and three
861 subgroups. The hooks are provided only for special purposes that, for
862 example, require code to be executed, and should be changed only via
863 @code{Customization} or the function @code{add-hook}. Most
864 customization should be possible via existing user options.
865
866 @vtable @code
867 @item woman-show-log
868 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then show the
869 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer if appropriate, i.e., if any warning messages
870 are written to it. @xref{Log, , The *WoMan-Log* Buffer}.
871
872 @item woman-pre-format-hook
873 A hook run immediately before formatting a buffer. It might, for
874 example, be used for face customization. @xref{Faces, , Faces},
875 however.
876
877 @item woman-post-format-hook
878 A hook run immediately after formatting a buffer. It might, for
879 example, be used for installing a dynamic menu using @code{imenu}.
880 (However. in this case it is better to use the built-in WoMan
881 @code{imenu} support. @xref{Imenu, , Imenu Support; Contents Menu}.)
882 @end vtable
883
884 @heading Customization Subgroups
885
886 @table @code
887 @item WoMan Interface
888 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
889 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
890
891 @item WoMan Formatting
892 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
893
894 @item WoMan Faces
895 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
896 man page.
897 @end table
898
899 @menu
900 * Interface Options::
901 * Formatting Options::
902 * Faces::
903 * Special symbols::
904 @end menu
905
906 @node Interface Options
907 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
908 @section Interface Options
909 @cindex interface options
910
911 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
912 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
913
914 @vtable @code
915 @item woman-man.conf-path
916 A list of strings representing directories to search and/or files to try
917 for a man configuration file. The default is
918
919 @lisp
920 ("/etc" "/usr/local/lib")
921 @end lisp
922
923 @noindent
924 [for GNU/Linux and Cygwin respectively.] A trailing separator (@file{/}
925 for UNIX etc.) on directories is optional and the filename matched if a
926 directory is specified is the first to match the regexp
927 @code{man.*\.conf}. If the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is not
928 set but a configuration file is found then it is parsed instead (or as
929 well) to provide a default value for @code{woman-manpath}.
930
931 @item woman-manpath
932 A list of strings representing @emph{directory trees} to search for Unix
933 manual files. Each element should be the name of a directory that
934 contains subdirectories of the form @file{man?}, or more precisely
935 subdirectories selected by the value of @code{woman-manpath-man-regexp}.
936 Non-directory and unreadable files are ignored. This can also contain
937 conses, with the car indicating a @code{PATH} variable component mapped
938 to the directory tree given in the cdr.
939
940 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, environment variable
941 If not set then the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is used. If no
942 such environment variable is found, the default list is determined by
943 consulting the man configuration file if found. By default this is
944 expected to be either @file{/etc/man.config} or
945 @file{/usr/local/lib/man.conf}, which is controlled by the user option
946 @code{woman-man.conf-path}. An empty substring of @code{MANPATH}
947 denotes the default list. Otherwise, the default value of this variable
948 is
949
950 @lisp
951 ("/usr/man" "/usr/local/man")
952 @end lisp
953
954 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
955 @code{$NAME}, e.g., @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
956 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
957 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name. Trailing @file{/}s are
958 ignored. (Specific directories in @code{woman-path} are also searched.)
959
960 On Microsoft platforms I recommend including drive letters explicitly,
961 e.g.:
962
963 @lisp
964 ("C:/Cygwin/usr/man" "C:/usr/man" "C:/usr/local/man")
965 @end lisp
966
967 @cindex directory separator character
968 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, directory separator
969 The @code{MANPATH} environment variable may be set using DOS
970 semi-colon-separated or Unix-style colon-separated syntax (but not
971 mixed).
972
973 @item woman-manpath-man-regexp
974 A regular expression to match man directories @emph{under} the
975 @code{woman-manpath} directories. These normally have names of the form
976 @file{man?}. Its default value is @code{"[Mm][Aa][Nn]"}, which is
977 case-insensitive mainly for the benefit of Microsoft platforms. Its
978 purpose is to avoid directories such as @file{cat?}, @file{.},
979 @file{..}, etc.
980
981 @item woman-path
982 A list of strings representing @emph{specific directories} to search for
983 Unix manual files. For example
984
985 @lisp
986 ("/emacs/etc")
987 @end lisp
988
989 These directories are searched in addition to the directory trees
990 specified in @code{woman-manpath}. Each element should be a directory
991 string or @code{nil}, which represents the current directory when the
992 path is expanded and cached. However, the last component (only) of each
993 directory string is treated as a regexp (Emacs, not shell) and the
994 string is expanded into a list of matching directories. Non-directory
995 and unreadable files are ignored. The default value on MS-DOS is
996
997 @lisp
998 ("$DJDIR/info" "$DJDIR/man/cat[1-9onlp]")
999 @end lisp
1000
1001 @noindent
1002 and on other platforms is @code{nil}.
1003
1004 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
1005 @code{$NAME}, e.g., @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
1006 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
1007 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name (regexp, see above). For
1008 example
1009
1010 @lisp
1011 ("$EMACSDATA")
1012 @end lisp
1013
1014 @noindent
1015 or equivalently
1016
1017 @lisp
1018 ("$EMACS_DIR/etc")
1019 @end lisp
1020
1021 @noindent
1022 Trailing @file{/}s are discarded. (The directory trees in
1023 @code{woman-manpath} are also searched.) On Microsoft platforms I
1024 recommend including drive letters explicitly.
1025
1026 @item woman-cache-level
1027 A positive integer representing the level of topic caching:
1028
1029 @enumerate
1030 @item
1031 cache only the topic and directory lists (uses minimal memory, but not
1032 recommended);
1033 @item
1034 cache also the directories for each topic (faster, without using much
1035 more memory);
1036 @item
1037 cache also the actual filenames for each topic (fastest, but uses twice
1038 as much memory).
1039 @end enumerate
1040
1041 The default value is currently 2, a good general compromise. If the
1042 @code{woman} command is slow to find files then try 3, which may be
1043 particularly beneficial with large remote-mounted man directories. Run
1044 the @code{woman} command with a prefix argument or delete the cache file
1045 @code{woman-cache-filename} for a change to take effect. (Values < 1
1046 behave like 1; values > 3 behave like 3.)
1047
1048 @item woman-cache-filename
1049 Either a string representing the full pathname of the WoMan directory
1050 and topic cache file, or @code{nil}. It is used to save and restore the
1051 cache between Emacs sessions. This is especially useful with
1052 remote-mounted man page files! The default value of @code{nil}
1053 suppresses this action. The ``standard'' non-@code{nil} filename is
1054 @file{~/.wmncach.el}. Remember that a prefix argument forces the
1055 @code{woman} command to update and re-write the cache.
1056
1057 @item woman-dired-keys
1058 A list of @code{dired} mode keys to be defined to run WoMan on the
1059 current file, e.g., @code{("w" "W")} or any non-@code{nil} atom to
1060 automatically define @kbd{w} and @kbd{W} if they are unbound, or
1061 @code{nil} to do nothing. Default is @code{t}.
1062
1063 @item woman-imenu-generic-expression
1064 Imenu support for Sections and Subsections: an alist with elements of
1065 the form @code{(MENU-TITLE REGEXP INDEX)}---see the documentation for
1066 @code{imenu-generic-expression}. Default value is
1067
1068 @lisp
1069 ((nil "\n\\([A-Z].*\\)" 1) ; SECTION, but not TITLE
1070 ("*Subsections*" "^ \\([A-Z].*\\)" 1))
1071 @end lisp
1072
1073 @item woman-imenu
1074 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan adds
1075 a Contents menu to the menubar by calling @code{imenu-add-to-menubar}.
1076
1077 @item woman-imenu-title
1078 A string representing the title to use if WoMan adds a Contents menu to
1079 the menubar. Default is @code{"CONTENTS"}.
1080
1081 @item woman-use-topic-at-point
1082 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then
1083 the @code{woman} command uses the word at point as the topic,
1084 @emph{without interactive confirmation}, if it exists as a topic.
1085
1086 @item woman-use-topic-at-point-default
1087 A boolean value representing the default value for
1088 @code{woman-use-topic-at-point}. The default value is @code{nil}.
1089 [The variable @code{woman-use-topic-at-point} may be @code{let}-bound
1090 when @code{woman} is loaded, in which case its global value does not
1091 get defined. The function @code{woman-file-name} sets it to this
1092 value if it is unbound.]
1093
1094 @item woman-uncompressed-file-regexp
1095 A regular match expression used to select man source files (ignoring any
1096 compression extension). The default value is
1097 @code{"\\.\\([0-9lmnt]\\w*\\)"} [which means a filename extension is
1098 required].
1099
1100 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1101
1102 The SysV standard man pages use two character suffixes, and this is
1103 becoming more common in the GNU world. For example, the man pages in
1104 the @code{ncurses} package include @file{toe.1m}, @file{form.3x}, etc.
1105
1106 @strong{Please note:} an optional compression regexp will be appended,
1107 so this regexp @emph{must not} end with any kind of string terminator
1108 such as @code{$} or @code{\\'}.
1109
1110 @item woman-file-compression-regexp
1111 A regular match expression used to match compressed man file extensions
1112 for which decompressors are available and handled by auto-compression
1113 mode. It should begin with @code{\\.} and end with @code{\\'} and
1114 @emph{must not} be optional. The default value is
1115 @code{"\\.\\(g?z\\|bz2\\|xz\\)\\'"}, which matches the @code{gzip},
1116 @code{bzip2}, and @code{xz} compression extensions.
1117
1118 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1119
1120 [It should be compatible with the @code{car} of
1121 @code{jka-compr-file-name-handler-entry}, but that is unduly
1122 complicated, includes an inappropriate extension (@file{.tgz}) and is
1123 not loaded by default!]
1124
1125 @item woman-use-own-frame
1126 If non-@code{nil} then use a dedicated frame for displaying WoMan windows.
1127 This is useful only when WoMan is run under a window system such as X or
1128 Microsoft Windows that supports real multiple frames, in which case the
1129 default value is non-@code{nil}.
1130 @end vtable
1131
1132
1133 @node Formatting Options
1134 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1135 @section Formatting Options
1136 @cindex formatting options
1137
1138 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
1139
1140 @vtable @code
1141 @item woman-fill-column
1142 An integer specifying the right margin for formatted text. Default is
1143 65.
1144
1145 @item woman-fill-frame
1146 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then most of the frame width is used,
1147 overriding the value of @code{woman-fill-column}. Default is @code{nil}.
1148
1149 @item woman-default-indent
1150 An integer specifying the default prevailing indent for the @code{-man}
1151 macros. Default is 5. Set this variable to 7 to emulate GNU/Linux man
1152 formatting.
1153
1154 @item woman-bold-headings
1155 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then embolden section and subsection
1156 headings. Default is @code{t}. [Heading emboldening is @emph{not} standard
1157 @code{man} behavior.]
1158
1159 @item woman-ignore
1160 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then unrecognized requests etc. are
1161 ignored. Default is @code{t}. This gives the standard @code{roff} behavior.
1162 If @code{nil} then they are left in the buffer, which may aid debugging.
1163
1164 @item woman-preserve-ascii
1165 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then preserve @acronym{ASCII} characters in the
1166 WoMan buffer. Otherwise, non-@acronym{ASCII} characters (that display as
1167 @acronym{ASCII}) may remain, which is irrelevant unless the buffer is to be
1168 saved to a file. Default is @code{nil}.
1169
1170 @item woman-emulation
1171 WoMan emulation, currently either @code{nroff} or @code{troff}. Default
1172 is @code{nroff}. @code{troff} emulation is experimental and largely
1173 untested.
1174 @end vtable
1175
1176
1177 @node Faces
1178 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1179 @section Faces
1180 @cindex faces
1181
1182 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
1183 man page.
1184
1185 @vtable @code
1186 @item woman-fontify
1187 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan assumes that face support is
1188 available. It defaults to a non-@code{nil} value if the display supports
1189 either colors or different fonts.
1190
1191 @item woman-italic-face
1192 Face for italic font in man pages. Default: italic, underlined,
1193 foreground red. This is overkill! @code{troff} uses just italic;
1194 @code{nroff} uses just underline. You should probably select either
1195 italic or underline as you prefer, but not both, although italic and
1196 underline work together perfectly well!
1197
1198 @item woman-bold-face
1199 Face for bold font in man pages. Default: bold, foreground blue.
1200
1201 @item woman-unknown-face
1202 Face for all unknown fonts in man pages. Default: foreground brown.
1203 Brown is a good compromise: it is distinguishable from the default but
1204 not enough so as to make font errors look terrible. (Files that use
1205 non-standard fonts seem to do so badly or in idiosyncratic ways!)
1206
1207 @item woman-addition-face
1208 Face for all additions made by WoMan to man pages.
1209 Default: foreground orange.
1210 @end vtable
1211
1212
1213 @node Special symbols
1214 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1215 @section Special symbols
1216 @cindex special symbols
1217
1218 This section currently applies @emph{only} to Microsoft Windows.
1219
1220 WoMan provides partial experimental support for special symbols,
1221 initially only for MS-Windows and only for MS-Windows fonts. This
1222 includes both non-@acronym{ASCII} characters from the main text font and use
1223 of a separate symbol font. Later, support will be added for other font
1224 types (e.g., @code{bdf} fonts) and for the X Window System. In Emacs
1225 20.7, the current support works partially under Windows 9x but may not
1226 work on any other platform.
1227
1228 @vtable @code
1229 @item woman-use-extended-font
1230 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use non-@acronym{ASCII} characters
1231 from the default font. Default is @code{t}.
1232
1233 @item woman-use-symbol-font
1234 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use the symbol font.
1235 Default is @code{nil}, mainly because it may change the line spacing (at
1236 least in NTEmacs 20).
1237
1238 @item woman-symbol-font
1239 A string describing the symbol font to use for special characters.
1240 It should be compatible with, and the same size as, the default text font.
1241 Under MS-Windows, the default is
1242
1243 @lisp
1244 "-*-Symbol-normal-r-*-*-*-*-96-96-p-*-ms-symbol"
1245 @end lisp
1246 @end vtable
1247
1248
1249 @c ===================================================================
1250
1251 @node Log
1252 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1253 @chapter The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
1254 @cindex log buffer
1255 @cindex buffer, log
1256
1257 This is modeled on the Emacs byte-compiler. It logs all files
1258 formatted by WoMan and the time taken. If WoMan finds anything that it
1259 cannot handle then it writes a warning to this buffer. If the variable
1260 @code{woman-show-log} is non-@code{nil} (by default it is @code{nil}) then
1261 WoMan automatically displays this buffer. @xref{Interface Options, ,
1262 Interface Options}. Many WoMan warnings can be completely ignored,
1263 because they are reporting the fact that WoMan has ignored requests that
1264 it is correct for WoMan to ignore. In some future version this level of
1265 paranoia may be reduced, but not until WoMan is deemed more reliable.
1266 At present, all warnings should be treated with some suspicion.
1267 Uninterpreted escape sequences are also logged (in some cases).
1268
1269 By resetting the variable @code{woman-ignore} to @code{nil} (by default
1270 it is @code{t}), uninterpreted @code{roff} requests can optionally be
1271 left in the formatted buffer to indicate precisely where they occurred.
1272 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
1273
1274 @c ===================================================================
1275
1276 @node Technical
1277 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1278 @chapter Technical Details
1279 @cindex technical details
1280 @cindex horizontal spacing
1281 @cindex spacing, horizontal and vertical
1282 @cindex vertical spacing
1283 @cindex resolution
1284
1285 @heading Horizontal and vertical spacing and resolution
1286
1287 WoMan currently assumes 10 characters per inch horizontally, hence a
1288 horizontal resolution of 24 basic units, and 5 lines per inch
1289 vertically, hence a vertical resolution of 48 basic units.
1290 (@code{nroff} uses 240 per inch.)
1291
1292 @heading Vertical spacing and blank lines
1293
1294 The number of consecutive blank lines in the formatted buffer should be
1295 either 0 or 1. A blank line should leave a space like .sp 1.
1296 Current policy is to output vertical space only immediately before text
1297 is output.
1298
1299 @c ===================================================================
1300
1301 @node Bugs
1302 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1303 @chapter Reporting Bugs
1304 @cindex reporting bugs
1305 @cindex bugs, reporting
1306
1307 If WoMan fails completely, or formats a file incorrectly (i.e.,
1308 obviously wrongly or significantly differently from @code{man}) or
1309 inelegantly, then please
1310
1311 @enumerate
1312 @item
1313 try the latest version of @file{woman.el} from the Emacs repository
1314 on @uref{http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/emacs/}. If it still fails, please
1315
1316 @item
1317 send a bug report to @email{bug-gnu-emacs@@gnu.org} and to
1318 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk}. Please include the entry from the
1319 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer relating to the problem file, together with
1320 a brief description of the problem. Please indicate where you got the
1321 man source file from, but do not send it unless asked to send it.
1322 @end enumerate
1323
1324 @c ===================================================================
1325
1326 @node Acknowledgments
1327 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1328 @chapter Acknowledgments
1329 @cindex acknowledgments
1330
1331 For Heather, Kathryn and Madelyn, the women in my life (although they
1332 will probably never use it)!
1333
1334 I also thank the following for helpful suggestions, bug reports, code
1335 fragments, general interest, etc.:
1336
1337 @quotation
1338 Jari Aalto, @email{jari.aalto@@cs.tpu.fi}@*
1339 Dean Andrews, @email{dean@@dra.com}@*
1340 Juanma Barranquero, @email{barranquero@@laley-actualidad.es}@*
1341 Karl Berry, @email{kb@@cs.umb.edu}@*
1342 Jim Chapman, @email{jchapman@@netcomuk.co.uk}@*
1343 Frederic Corne, @email{frederic.corne@@erli.fr}@*
1344 Peter Craft, @email{craft@@alacritech.com}@*
1345 Charles Curley, @email{ccurley@@trib.com}@*
1346 Jim Davidson, @email{jdavidso@@teknowledge.com}@*
1347 Kevin D'Elia, @email{Kevin.DElia@@mci.com}@*
1348 John Fitch, @email{jpff@@maths.bath.ac.uk}@*
1349 Hans Frosch, @email{jwfrosch@@rish.b17c.ingr.com}@*
1350 Guy Gascoigne-Piggford, @email{ggp@@informix.com}@*
1351 Brian Gorka, @email{gorkab@@sanchez.com}@*
1352 Nicolai Henriksen, @email{nhe@@lyngso-industri.dk}@*
1353 Thomas Herchenroeder, @email{the@@software-ag.de}@*
1354 Alexander Hinds, @email{ahinds@@thegrid.net}@*
1355 Stefan Hornburg, @email{sth@@hacon.de}@*
1356 Theodore Jump, @email{tjump@@cais.com}@*
1357 Paul Kinnucan, @email{paulk@@mathworks.com}@*
1358 Jonas Linde, @email{jonas@@init.se}@*
1359 Andrew McRae, @email{andrewm@@optimation.co.nz}@*
1360 Howard Melman, @email{howard@@silverstream.com}@*
1361 Dennis Pixton, @email{dennis@@math.binghamton.edu}@*
1362 T. V. Raman, @email{raman@@Adobe.com}@*
1363 Bruce Ravel, @email{bruce.ravel@@nist.gov}@*
1364 Benjamin Riefenstahl, @email{benny@@crocodial.de}@*
1365 Kevin Ruland, @email{kruland@@seistl.com}@*
1366 Tom Schutter, @email{tom@@platte.com}@*
1367 Wei-Xue Shi, @email{wxshi@@ma.neweb.ne.jp}@*
1368 Fabio Somenzi, @email{fabio@@joplin.colorado.edu}@*
1369 Karel Sprenger, @email{ks@@ic.uva.nl}@*
1370 Chris Szurgot, @email{szurgot@@itribe.net}@*
1371 Paul A. Thompson, @email{pat@@po.cwru.edu}@*
1372 Arrigo Triulzi, @email{arrigo@@maths.qmw.ac.uk}@*
1373 Geoff Voelker, @email{voelker@@cs.washington.edu}@*
1374 Eli Zaretskii, @email{eliz@@is.elta.co.il}
1375 @end quotation
1376
1377 @c ===================================================================
1378
1379 @comment END OF MANUAL TEXT
1380 @page
1381
1382
1383 @node GNU Free Documentation License
1384 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License
1385 @include doclicense.texi
1386
1387 @node Command Index
1388 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1389 @unnumbered Command Index
1390
1391 @printindex fn
1392
1393 @node Variable Index
1394 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1395 @unnumbered Variable Index
1396
1397 @printindex vr
1398
1399 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1400 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1401 @c This must be a bug!
1402
1403 @page
1404
1405 @node Keystroke Index
1406 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1407 @unnumbered Keystroke Index
1408
1409 @printindex ky
1410
1411 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1412 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1413 @c This must be a bug!
1414
1415 @page
1416
1417 @node Concept Index
1418 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1419 @unnumbered Concept Index
1420
1421 @printindex cp
1422
1423 @bye