Remove references to external license, since doclicense is included.
[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 @c Manual last updated:
6 @set UPDATED Time-stamp: <Fri 13-Jun-2008 13:07:05 gmorris on xoc2.stanford.edu>
7 @c Software version:
8 @set VERSION 0.54 (beta)
9 @afourpaper
10 @c With different size paper the printed page breaks will need attention!
11 @c Look for @page and @need commands.
12 @setchapternewpage off
13 @paragraphindent 0
14 @c %**end of header
15
16 @copying
17 This file documents WoMan: A program to browse Unix manual pages `W.O.
18 (without) man'.
19
20 Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
21 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
22
23 @quotation
24 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
25 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
26 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
27 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual,''
28 and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license
29 is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License.''
30
31 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and
32 modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
33 developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
34 @end quotation
35 @end copying
36
37 @dircategory Emacs
38 @direntry
39 * WoMan: (woman). Browse UN*X Manual Pages "W.O. (without) Man".
40 @end direntry
41
42 @finalout
43
44 @titlepage
45 @title WoMan
46 @subtitle Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
47 @subtitle Software Version @value{VERSION}
48 @author Francis J. Wright
49 @sp 2
50 @author School of Mathematical Sciences
51 @author Queen Mary and Westfield College
52 @author (University of London)
53 @author Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
54 @author @email{F.J.Wright@@qmul.ac.uk}
55 @author @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/}
56 @c He no longer maintains this manual.
57 @sp 2
58 @author Manual Last Updated @value{UPDATED}
59
60 @comment The following two commands start the copyright page.
61 @page
62 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
63 @insertcopying
64 @end titlepage
65
66 @contents
67
68 @c ===================================================================
69
70 @ifnottex
71 @node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)
72 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
73 @top WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
74
75 @display
76 Software Version @value{VERSION}
77 Manual Last Updated @value{UPDATED}
78
79 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, Francis J. Wright}
80 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/, School of Mathematical Sciences}
81 Queen Mary and Westfield College (University of London)
82 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
83 @end display
84 @end ifnottex
85
86 @menu
87 * Introduction:: Introduction
88 * Background:: Background
89 * Finding:: Finding and Formatting Man Pages
90 * Browsing:: Browsing Man Pages
91 * Customization:: Customization
92 * Log:: The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
93 * Technical:: Technical Details
94 * Bugs:: Reporting Bugs
95 * Acknowledgements:: Acknowledgements
96 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
97 * Command Index:: Command Index
98 * Variable Index:: Variable Index
99 * Keystroke Index:: Keystroke Index
100 * Concept Index:: Concept Index
101 @end menu
102
103 @c ===================================================================
104
105 @node Introduction, Background, Top, Top
106 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
107 @chapter Introduction
108 @cindex introduction
109
110 This version of WoMan should run with GNU Emacs 20.3 or later on any
111 platform. It has not been tested, and may not run, with any other
112 version of Emacs. It was developed primarily on various versions of
113 Microsoft Windows, but has also been tested on MS-DOS, and various
114 versions of UNIX and GNU/Linux.
115
116 WoMan is distributed with GNU Emacs. In addition, the current source
117 code and documentation files are available from
118 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/, the WoMan web
119 server}.
120
121 WoMan implements a subset of the formatting performed by the Emacs
122 @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry}) command to format a Unix-style
123 @dfn{manual page} (usually abbreviated to @dfn{man page}) for display,
124 but without calling any external programs. It is intended to emulate
125 the whole of the @code{roff -man} macro package, plus those @code{roff}
126 requests (@pxref{Background, , Background}) that are most commonly used
127 in man pages. However, the emulation is modified to include the
128 reformatting done by the Emacs @code{man} command. No hyphenation is
129 performed.
130
131 @table @b
132 @item Advantages
133 Much more direct, does not require any external programs. Supports
134 completion on man page names.
135 @item Disadvantages
136 Not a complete emulation. Currently no support for @code{eqn} or
137 @code{tbl}. Slightly slower for large man pages (but usually faster for
138 small- and medium-size pages).
139 @end table
140
141 This browser works quite well on simple well-written man files. It
142 works less well on idiosyncratic files that ``break the rules'' or use
143 the more obscure @code{roff} requests directly. Current test results
144 are available in the file
145 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/files/woman.status,
146 @file{woman.status}}.
147
148 WoMan supports the use of compressed man files via
149 @code{auto-compression-mode} by turning it on if necessary. But you may
150 need to adjust the user option @code{woman-file-compression-regexp}.
151 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
152
153 Brief help on the WoMan interactive commands and user options, all of
154 which begin with the prefix @code{woman-} (or occasionally
155 @code{WoMan-}), is available most easily by loading WoMan and then
156 either running the command @code{woman-mini-help} or selecting the WoMan
157 menu option @samp{Mini Help}.
158
159 WoMan is (of course) still under development! Please
160 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, let me know} what doesn't work---I am
161 adding and improving functionality as testing shows that it is
162 necessary. Guidance on reporting bugs is given below. @xref{Bugs, ,
163 Reporting Bugs}.
164
165 @c ===================================================================
166
167 @node Background, Finding, Introduction, Top
168 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
169 @chapter Background
170 @cindex background
171
172 WoMan is a browser for traditional Unix-style manual page documentation.
173 Each such document is conventionally referred to as a @dfn{manual page},
174 or @dfn{man page} for short, even though some are very much longer than
175 one page. A man page is a document written using the Unix ``man''
176 macros, which are themselves written in the nroff/troff text processing
177 markup language. @code{nroff} and @code{troff} are text processors
178 originally written for the UNIX operating system by Joseph F. Ossanna at
179 Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA@. They are closely
180 related, and except in the few cases where the distinction between them
181 is important I will refer to them both ambiguously as @code{roff}.
182
183 @code{roff} markup consists of @dfn{requests} and @dfn{escape
184 sequences}. A request occupies a complete line and begins with either a
185 period or a single forward quote. An escape sequences is embedded
186 within the input text and begins (by default) with a backslash. The
187 original man macro package defines 20 new @code{roff} requests
188 implemented as macros, which were considered to be sufficient for
189 writing man pages. But whilst in principle man pages use only the man
190 macros, in practice a significant number use many other @code{roff}
191 requests.
192
193 The distinction between @code{troff} and @code{nroff} is that
194 @code{troff} was designed to drive a phototypesetter whereas
195 @code{nroff} was designed to produce essentially @acronym{ASCII} output for a
196 character-based device similar to a teletypewriter (usually abbreviated
197 to ``teletype'' or ``tty''). Hence, @code{troff} supports much finer
198 control over output positioning than does @code{nroff} and can be seen
199 as a forerunner of @TeX{}. Traditionally, man pages are either
200 formatted by @code{troff} for typesetting or by @code{nroff} for
201 printing on a character printer or displaying on a screen. Of course,
202 over the last 25 years or so, the distinction between typeset output on
203 paper and characters on a screen has become blurred by the fact that
204 most screens now support bit-mapped displays, so that any information
205 that can be printed can also be rendered on screen, the only difference
206 being the resolution.
207
208 Nevertheless, Unix-style manual page documentation is still normally
209 browsed on screen by running a program called @code{man}. This program
210 looks in a predefined set of directories for the man page matching a
211 specified topic, then either formats the source file by running
212 @code{nroff} or recovers a pre-formatted file, and displays it via a
213 pager such as @code{more}. @code{nroff} normally formats for a printer,
214 so it paginates the output, numbers the pages, etc., most of which is
215 irrelevant when the document is browsed as a continuous scrollable
216 document on screen. The only concession to on-screen browsing normally
217 implemented by the @code{man} program is to squeeze consecutive blank
218 lines into a single blank line.
219
220 For some time, Emacs has offered an improved interface for browsing man
221 pages in the form of the Emacs @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry})
222 command, see @ref{Documentation, man, Documentation Commands, emacs, GNU
223 Emacs Manual}.
224 This command runs @code{man} as described above, perhaps in
225 the background, and then post-processes the output to remove much of the
226 @code{nroff} pagination such as page headers and footers, and places the
227 result into an Emacs buffer. It puts this buffer into a special major
228 mode, which is tailored for man page browsing, and provides a number of
229 useful navigation commands, support for following references, etc. It
230 provides some support for special display faces (fonts), but no special
231 menu or mouse support. The Emacs man package appears to have been
232 developed over about 10 years, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.
233
234 There is considerable inefficiency in having @code{nroff} paginate a
235 document and then removing most of the pagination!
236
237 WoMan is an Emacs Lisp library that provides an emulation of the
238 functionality of the Emacs @code{man} command, the main difference being
239 that WoMan does not use any external programs. The only situation in
240 which WoMan might use an external program is when the source file is
241 compressed, when WoMan will use the standard Emacs automatic
242 decompression facility, which does call an external program.
243
244 I began developing WoMan in the Spring of 1997 and the first version was
245 released in May 1997. The original motivation for WoMan was the fact
246 that many GNU and Unix programs are ported to other platforms and come
247 with Unix-style manual page documentation. This may be difficult to
248 read because ports of the Unix-style @code{man} program can be a little
249 awkward to set up. I decided that it should not be too hard to emulate
250 the 20 @code{man} macros directly, without treating them as macros and
251 largely ignoring the underlying @code{roff} requests, given the text
252 processing capabilities of Emacs. This proved to be essentially true,
253 and it did not take a great deal of work to be able to format simple man
254 pages acceptably.
255
256 One problem arose with the significant number of man pages that use
257 @code{roff} requests in addition to the @code{man} macros, and since
258 releasing the first version of WoMan I have been continually extending
259 it to support more @code{roff} requests. WoMan can now format a
260 significant proportion of the man pages that I have tested, either well
261 or at least readably. However, I have added capabilities partly by
262 making additional passes through the document, a design that is
263 fundamentally flawed. This can only be solved by a major re-design of
264 WoMan to handle the major formatting within a single recursive pass,
265 rather than the present multiple passes without any significant
266 recursion. There are some @code{roff} requests that cannot be handled
267 satisfactorily within the present design. Some of these are currently
268 handled by kludges that ``usually more or less work.''
269
270 The principle advantage of WoMan is that it does not require @code{man},
271 and indeed the name WoMan is a contraction of ``without man.'' But it
272 has other advantages. It does not paginate the document, so it does not
273 need to un-paginate it again, thereby saving time. It could take full
274 advantage of the display capabilities available to it, and I hope to
275 develop WoMan to take advantage of developments in Emacs itself. At
276 present, WoMan uses several display faces to support bold and italic
277 text, to indicate other fonts, etc. The default faces are also
278 colored, but the choice of faces is customizable. WoMan provides menu
279 support for navigation and mouse support for following references, in
280 addition to the navigation facilities provided by @code{man} mode.
281 WoMan has (this) texinfo documentation!
282
283 WoMan @emph{does not} replace @code{man}, although it does use a number
284 of the facilities implemented in the Emacs @code{man} library. WoMan
285 and man can happily co-exist, which is very useful for comparison and
286 debugging purposes.
287
288 @code{nroff} simulates non-@acronym{ASCII} characters by using one or more
289 @acronym{ASCII} characters. WoMan should be able to do much better than
290 this. I have recently begun to add support for WoMan to use more of the
291 characters in its default font and to use a symbol font, and it is an
292 aspect that I intend to develop further in the near future. It should
293 be possible to move WoMan from an emulation of @code{nroff} to an
294 emulation of @code{troff} as GNU Emacs moves to providing bit-mapped
295 display facilities.
296
297 @node Finding, Browsing, Background, Top
298 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
299 @chapter Finding and Formatting Man Pages
300 @cindex using, finding man pages
301 @cindex using, formatting man pages
302 @cindex finding man pages
303 @cindex formatting man pages
304 @cindex man pages, finding
305 @cindex man pages, formatting
306
307 WoMan provides three user interfaces for finding and formatting man pages:
308
309 @itemize @bullet
310 @item
311 a topic interface similar to that provided by the standard Emacs
312 @code{man} command;
313
314 @item
315 a family of filename interfaces analogous to the standard Emacs
316 @code{view-file} command;
317
318 @item
319 an automatic interface that detects the file type from its contents.
320 (This is currently neither well tested, well supported nor recommended!)
321 @end itemize
322
323 The topic and filename interfaces support completion in the usual way.
324
325 The topic interface is generally the most convenient for regular use,
326 although it may require some special setup, especially if your machine
327 does not already have a conventional @code{man} installation (which
328 WoMan tries to detect).
329
330 The simplest filename interface command @code{woman-find-file} can
331 always be used with no setup at all (provided WoMan is installed and
332 loaded or set up to autoload).
333
334 The automatic interface always requires special setup.
335
336
337 @heading Case-Dependence of Filenames
338
339 @cindex case-sensitivity
340 @vindex w32-downcase-file-names
341 By default, WoMan ignores case in file pathnames only when it seems
342 appropriate. Microsoft Windows users who want complete case
343 independence should set the special NTEmacs variable
344 @code{w32-downcase-file-names} to @code{t} and use all lower case when
345 setting WoMan file paths.
346
347
348 @menu
349 * Topic:: Topic Interface
350 * Filename:: Filename Interface
351 * Automatic:: Automatic Interface
352 @end menu
353
354 @node Topic, Filename, Finding, Finding
355 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
356 @section Topic Interface
357 @cindex topic interface
358
359 The topic interface is accessed principally via the command
360 @code{woman}. The same command can be accessed via the menu item
361 @samp{Help->Manuals->Read Man Page (WoMan)...} once WoMan has been
362 loaded. The command reads a manual topic in the minibuffer, which can
363 be the @dfn{basename} of a man file anywhere in the man file
364 structure. The ``basename'' in this context means the filename
365 without any directory component and without any extension or suffix
366 components that relate to the file type. So, for example, if there is
367 a compressed source file in Chapter 5 of the UNIX Programmer's Manual
368 with the full pathname @file{/usr/local/man/man5/man.conf.5.gz} then
369 the topic is @code{man.conf}. Provided WoMan is configured correctly,
370 this topic will appear among the completions offered by @code{woman}.
371 If more than one file has the same topic name then WoMan will prompt
372 for which file to format. Completion of topics is case insensitive.
373
374 Clearly, @code{woman} has to know where to look for man files and there
375 are two customizable user options that store this information:
376 @code{woman-manpath} and @code{woman-path}. @xref{Interface Options, ,
377 Interface Options}. If @code{woman-manpath} is not set explicitly then
378 WoMan tries to pick up the information that would be used by the
379 @code{man} command, as follows. If the environment variable
380 @code{MANPATH} is set, which seems to be the standard mechanism under
381 UNIX, then WoMan parses that. Otherwise, if WoMan can find a
382 configuration file named (by default) @file{man.conf} (or something very
383 similar), which seems to be the standard mechanism under GNU/Linux, then
384 it parses that. To be precise, ``something very similar'' means
385 starting with @samp{man} and ending with @samp{.conf} and possibly more
386 lowercase letters, e.g.@: @file{manual.configuration}.
387 The search path and/or precise full path name for this file are set by
388 the value of the customizable user option @code{woman-man.conf-path}.
389 If all else fails, WoMan uses a plausible default man search path.
390
391 If the above default configuration does not work correctly for any
392 reason then simply customize the value of @code{woman-manpath}. To
393 access man files that are not in a conventional man file hierarchy,
394 customize the value of @code{woman-path} to include the directories
395 containing the files. In this way, @code{woman} can access manual files
396 @emph{anywhere} in the entire file system.
397
398 There are two differences between @code{woman-manpath} and
399 @code{woman-path}. Firstly, the elements of @code{woman-manpath} must
400 be directories that contain @emph{directories of} man files, whereas the
401 elements of @code{woman-path} must be directories that contain man files
402 @emph{directly}. Secondly, the last directory component of each element
403 of @code{woman-path} is treated as a regular (Emacs) match expression
404 rather than a fixed name, which allows collections of related
405 directories to be specified succinctly. Also, elements of
406 @code{woman-manpath} can be conses, indicating a mapping from
407 @samp{PATH} environment variable components to man directory
408 hierarchies.
409
410 For topic completion to work, WoMan must build a list of all the manual
411 files that it can access, which can be very slow, especially if a
412 network is involved. For this reason, it caches various amounts of
413 information, after which retrieving it from the cache is very fast. If
414 the cache ever gets out of synchronism with reality, running the
415 @code{woman} command with a prefix argument (e.g.@: @kbd{C-u M-x woman})
416 will force it to rebuild its cache. This is necessary only if the names
417 or locations of any man files change; it is not necessary if only their
418 contents change. It would always be necessary if such a change occurred
419 whilst Emacs were running and after WoMan has been loaded. It may be
420 necessary if such a change occurs between Emacs sessions and persistent
421 caching is used, although WoMan can detect some changes that invalidate
422 its cache and rebuild it automatically.
423
424 Customize the variable @code{woman-cache-filename} to save the cache
425 between Emacs sessions. This is recommended only if the @code{woman}
426 command is too slow the first time it is run in an Emacs session, while
427 it builds its cache in main memory, which @emph{may} be @emph{very}
428 slow. @xref{Cache, , The WoMan Topic Cache}, for further details.
429
430
431 @menu
432 * Cache:: The WoMan Topic Cache
433 * Word at point:: Using the ``Word at Point'' as a Topic Suggestion
434 @end menu
435
436 @node Cache, Word at point, Topic, Topic
437 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
438 @subsection The WoMan Topic Cache
439 @cindex topic cache
440 @cindex cache, topic
441
442 The amount of information that WoMan caches (in main memory and,
443 optionally, saved to disc) is controlled by the user option
444 @code{woman-cache-level}. There is a trade-off between the speed with
445 which WoMan can find a file and the size of the cache, and the default
446 setting gives a reasonable compromise.
447
448 The @code{woman} command always performs a certain amount of caching in
449 main memory, but it can also write its cache to the filestore as a
450 persistent cache under control of the user option
451 @code{woman-cache-filename}. If persistent caching is turned on then
452 WoMan re-loads its internal cache from the cache file almost
453 instantaneously, so that there is never any perceptible start-up delay
454 @emph{except} when WoMan rebuilds its cache. Persistent caching is
455 currently turned off by default. This is because users with persistent
456 caching turned on may overlook the need to force WoMan to rebuild its
457 cache the first time they run it after they have installed new man
458 files; with persistent caching turned off, WoMan automatically rebuilds
459 its cache every time it is run in a new Emacs session.
460
461 A prefix argument always causes the @code{woman} command (only) to
462 rebuild its topic cache, and to re-save it to
463 @code{woman-cache-filename} if this variable has a non-@code{nil} value. This
464 is necessary if the @emph{names} of any of the directories or files in
465 the paths specified by @code{woman-manpath} or @code{woman-path} change.
466 If WoMan user options that affect the cache are changed then WoMan will
467 automatically update its cache file on disc (if one is in use) the next
468 time it is run in a new Emacs session.
469
470
471 @node Word at point, , Cache, Topic
472 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
473 @subsection Using the ``Word at Point'' as a Topic Suggestion
474 @cindex word at point
475 @cindex point, word at
476
477 By default, the @code{woman} command uses the word nearest to point in
478 the current buffer as a suggestion for the topic to look up, if it
479 exists as a valid topic. The topic can be confirmed or edited in the
480 minibuffer.
481
482 You can also bind the variable @code{woman-use-topic-at-point} locally
483 to a non-@code{nil} value (using @code{let}), in which case
484 @code{woman} will can use the suggested topic without confirmation if
485 possible. This may be useful to provide special private key bindings,
486 e.g.@: this key binding for @kbd{C-c w} runs WoMan on the topic at
487 point without seeking confirmation:
488
489 @lisp
490 (global-set-key "\C-cw"
491 (lambda ()
492 (interactive)
493 (let ((woman-use-topic-at-point t))
494 (woman))))
495 @end lisp
496
497
498 @node Filename, Automatic, Topic, Finding
499 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
500 @section Filename Interface
501 @cindex filename interface
502
503 The commands in this family are completely independent of the topic
504 interface, caching mechanism, etc.
505
506 @findex woman-find-file
507 The filename interface is accessed principally via the extended command
508 @code{woman-find-file}, which is available without any configuration at
509 all (provided WoMan is installed and loaded or set up to autoload).
510 This command can be used to browse any accessible man file, regardless
511 of its filename or location. If the file is compressed then automatic
512 file decompression must already be turned on (e.g.@: see the
513 @samp{Help->Options} submenu)---it is turned on automatically only by
514 the @code{woman} topic interface.
515
516 @findex woman-dired-find-file
517 Once WoMan is loaded (or if specially set up), various additional
518 commands in this family are available. In a dired buffer, the command
519 @code{woman-dired-find-file} allows the file on the same line as point
520 to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It is bound to the key @kbd{W} in
521 the dired mode map and added to the dired major mode menu. It may also
522 be bound to @kbd{w}, unless this key is bound by another library, which
523 it is by @code{dired-x}, for example. Because it is quite likely that
524 other libraries will extend the capabilities of such a commonly used
525 mode as dired, the precise key bindings added by WoMan to the dired mode
526 map are controlled by the user option @code{woman-dired-keys}.
527
528 @findex woman-tar-extract-file
529 When a tar (Tape ARchive) file is visited in Emacs, it is opened in tar
530 mode, which parses the tar file and shows a dired-like view of its
531 contents. The WoMan command @code{woman-tar-extract-file} allows the
532 file on the same line as point to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It
533 is bound to the key @kbd{w} in the tar mode map and added to the tar
534 major mode menu.
535
536 The command @code{woman-reformat-last-file}, which is bound to the key
537 @kbd{R} in WoMan mode and available on the major mode menu, reformats
538 the last file formatted by WoMan. This may occasionally be useful if
539 formatting parameters, such as the fill column, are changed, or perhaps
540 if the buffer is somehow corrupted.
541
542 @findex woman-decode-buffer
543 The command @code{woman-decode-buffer} can be used to decode and browse
544 the current buffer if it is visiting a man file, although it is
545 primarily used internally by WoMan.
546
547
548 @node Automatic, , Filename, Finding
549 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
550 @section Automatic Interface
551 @cindex automatic interface
552
553 Emacs provides an interface to detect automatically the format of a file
554 and decode it when it is visited. It is used primarily by the
555 facilities for editing rich (i.e.@: formatted) text, as a way to store
556 formatting information transparently as @acronym{ASCII} markup. WoMan can in
557 principle use this interface, but it must be configured explicitly.
558
559 This use of WoMan does not seem to be particularly advantageous, so it
560 is not really supported. It originated during early experiments on how
561 best to implement WoMan, before I implemented the current topic
562 interface, and I subsequently stopped using it. I might revive it as a
563 mechanism for storing pre-formatted WoMan files, somewhat analogous to
564 the standard Unix @code{catman} facility. In the meantime, it exists
565 for anyone who wants to experiment with it. Once it is set up it is
566 simply a question of visiting the file and there is no WoMan-specific
567 user interface!
568
569 To use it, put something like this in your @file{.emacs} file. [The
570 call to @code{set-visited-file-name} is to avoid font-locking triggered
571 by automatic major mode selection.]
572
573 @lisp
574 (autoload 'woman-decode-region "woman")
575
576 (add-to-list 'format-alist
577 '(man "Unix man-page source format" "\\.\\(TH\\|ig\\) "
578 woman-decode-region nil nil
579 (lambda (arg)
580 set-visited-file-name
581 (file-name-sans-extension buffer-file-name))))
582 @end lisp
583
584 @c ===================================================================
585
586 @node Browsing, Customization, Finding, Top
587 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
588 @chapter Browsing Man Pages
589 @cindex using, browsing man pages
590 @cindex browsing man pages
591 @cindex man pages, browsing
592
593 Once a man page has been found and formatted, WoMan provides a browsing
594 interface that is essentially the same as that provided by the standard
595 Emacs @code{man} command (and much of the code is inherited from the
596 @code{man} library, which WoMan currently requires). Many WoMan
597 facilities can be accessed from the WoMan major mode menu as well as via
598 key bindings, etc.
599
600 WoMan does not produce any page breaks or page numbers, and in fact does
601 not paginate the man page at all, since this is not appropriate for
602 continuous online browsing. It produces a document header line that is
603 constructed from the standard man page header and footer. Apart from
604 that, the appearance of the formatted man page should be almost
605 identical to what would be produced by @code{man}, with consecutive
606 blank lines squeezed to a single blank line.
607
608 @menu
609 * Fonts:: Fonts and Faces
610 * Navigation:: Navigation
611 * References:: Following References
612 * Changing:: Changing the Current Man Page
613 * Convenience:: Convenience Key Bindings
614 * Imenu:: Imenu Support; Contents Menu
615 @end menu
616
617 @node Fonts, Navigation, Browsing, Browsing
618 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
619 @section Fonts and Faces
620 @cindex fonts
621 @cindex faces
622
623 Fonts used by @code{roff} are handled by WoMan as faces, the details of
624 which are customizable. @xref{Faces, , Faces}. WoMan supports both the
625 italic and bold fonts normally used in man pages, together with a single
626 face to represent all unknown fonts (which are occasionally used in
627 ``non-standard'' man pages, usually to represent a ``typewriter'' font)
628 and a face to indicate additional symbols introduced by WoMan. This
629 currently means the characters ^ and _ used to indicate super- and
630 sub-scripts, which are not displayed well by WoMan.
631
632
633 @node Navigation, References, Fonts, Browsing
634 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
635 @section Navigation
636 @cindex navigation
637
638 Man (and hence WoMan) mode can be thought of as a superset of view mode.
639 The buffer cannot be edited, so keys that would normally self-insert are
640 used for navigation. The WoMan key bindings are a minor modification of
641 the @code{man} key bindings.
642
643 @table @kbd
644 @item @key{SPC}
645 @kindex SPC
646 @findex scroll-up
647 Scroll the man page up the window (@code{scroll-up}).
648
649 @item @key{DEL}
650 @kindex DEL
651 @findex scroll-down
652 Scroll the man page down the window (@code{scroll-down}).
653
654 @item n
655 @kindex n
656 @findex Man-next-section
657 Move point to the Nth next section---default 1 (@code{Man-next-section}).
658
659 @item p
660 @kindex p
661 @findex Man-previous-section
662 Move point to Nth previous section---default 1
663 (@code{Man-previous-section}).
664
665 @item g
666 @kindex g
667 @findex Man-goto-section
668 Move point to the specified section (@code{Man-goto-section}).
669
670 @item s
671 @kindex s
672 @findex Man-goto-see-also-section
673 Move point to the ``SEE ALSO'' section
674 (@code{Man-goto-see-also-section}). Actually the section moved to is
675 described by @code{Man-see-also-regexp}.
676 @end table
677
678
679 @node References, Changing, Navigation, Browsing
680 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
681 @section Following References
682 @cindex following references
683 @cindex references
684
685 Man pages usually contain a ``SEE ALSO'' section containing references
686 to other man pages. If these man pages are installed then WoMan can
687 easily be directed to follow the reference, i.e.@: to find and format the
688 man page. When the mouse is passed over a correctly formatted reference
689 it is highlighted, in which case clicking the middle button
690 @kbd{Mouse-2} will cause WoMan to follow the reference. Alternatively,
691 when point is over such a reference the key @key{RET} will follow the
692 reference.
693
694 Any word in the buffer can be used as a reference by clicking
695 @kbd{Mouse-2} over it provided the Meta key is also used (although in
696 general such a ``reference'' will not lead to a man page).
697 Alternatively, the key @kbd{r} allows completion to be used to select a
698 reference to follow, based on the word at point as default.
699
700 @table @kbd
701 @item @kbd{Mouse-2}
702 @kindex Mouse-2
703 @findex woman-mouse-2
704 Run WoMan with word under mouse as topic (@code{woman-mouse-2}). The
705 word must be mouse-highlighted unless @code{woman-mouse-2} is used with
706 the Meta key.
707
708 @item @key{RET}
709 @kindex RET
710 @findex man-follow
711 Get the man page for the topic under (or nearest to) point
712 (@code{man-follow}).
713
714 @item r
715 @kindex r
716 @findex Man-follow-manual-reference
717 Get one of the man pages referred to in the ``SEE ALSO'' section
718 (@code{Man-follow-manual-reference}). Specify which reference to use;
719 default is based on word at point.
720 @end table
721
722
723 @node Changing, Convenience, References, Browsing
724 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
725 @section Changing the Current Man Page
726 @cindex changing current man page
727 @cindex current man page, changing
728
729 The man page currently being browsed by WoMan can be changed in several
730 ways. The command @code{woman} can be invoked to format another man
731 page, or the current WoMan buffer can be buried or killed. WoMan
732 maintains a ring of formatted man pages, and it is possible to move
733 forwards and backwards in this ring by moving to the next or previous
734 man page. It is sometimes useful to reformat the current page, for
735 example after the right margin (the wrap column) or some other
736 formatting parameter has been changed.
737
738 Buffers formatted by Man and WoMan are completely unrelated, even though
739 some of the commands to manipulate them are superficially the same (and
740 share code).
741
742 @table @kbd
743 @item m
744 @kindex m
745 @findex man
746 Run the command @code{man} to get a Un*x manual page and put it in a
747 buffer. This command is the top-level command in the man package. It
748 runs a Un*x command to retrieve and clean a man page in the background
749 and places the results in a Man mode (man page browsing) buffer. If a
750 man buffer already exists for this man page, it will display
751 immediately. This works exactly the same if WoMan is loaded, except
752 that the formatting time is displayed in the mini-buffer.
753
754 @item w
755 @kindex w
756 @findex woman
757 Run the command @code{woman} exactly as if the extended command or menu
758 item had been used.
759
760 @item q
761 @kindex q
762 @findex Man-quit
763 Bury the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-quit}),
764 i.e.@: move it to the bottom of the buffer stack.
765
766 @item k
767 @kindex k
768 @findex Man-kill
769 Kill the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-kill}),
770 i.e.@: delete it completely so that it can be retrieved only by formatting
771 the page again.
772
773 @item M-p
774 @kindex M-p
775 @findex WoMan-previous-manpage
776 Find the previous WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-previous-manpage}).
777
778 @item M-n
779 @kindex M-n
780 @findex WoMan-next-manpage
781 Find the next WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-next-manpage}).
782
783 @item R
784 @kindex R
785 @findex woman-reformat-last-file
786 Call WoMan to reformat the last man page formatted by WoMan
787 (@code{woman-reformat-last-file}), e.g.@: after changing the fill column.
788 @end table
789
790
791 @node Convenience, Imenu, Changing, Browsing
792 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
793 @section Convenience Key Bindings
794 @cindex convenience key bindings
795 @cindex key bindings, convenience
796
797 @table @kbd
798 @item -
799 @kindex -
800 @findex negative-argument
801 Begin a negative numeric argument for the next command
802 (@code{negative-argument}).
803
804 @item 0 .. 9
805 @kindex 0 .. 9
806 @findex digit-argument
807 Part of the numeric argument for the next command
808 (@code{digit-argument}).
809
810 @item <
811 @kindex <
812 @itemx .
813 @kindex .
814 @findex beginning-of-buffer
815 Move point to the beginning of the buffer; leave mark at previous
816 position (@code{beginning-of-buffer}).
817
818 @item >
819 @kindex >
820 @findex end-of-buffer
821 Move point to the end of the buffer; leave mark at previous position
822 (@code{end-of-buffer}).
823
824 @item ?
825 @kindex ?
826 @findex describe-mode
827 Display documentation of current major mode and minor modes
828 (@code{describe-mode}). The major mode description comes first,
829 followed by the minor modes, each on a separate page.
830 @end table
831
832
833 @node Imenu, , Convenience, Browsing
834 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
835 @section Imenu Support; Contents Menu
836 @cindex imenu support
837 @cindex contents menu
838
839 The WoMan menu provides an option to make a contents menu for the
840 current man page (using @code{imenu}). Alternatively, if you customize
841 the option @code{woman-imenu} to @code{t} then WoMan will do it
842 automatically for every man page. The menu title is set by the option
843 @code{woman-imenu-title}, which is ``CONTENTS'' by default. The menu
844 shows manual sections and subsections by default, but you can change
845 this by customizing @code{woman-imenu-generic-expression}.
846
847 WoMan is configured not to replace spaces in an imenu
848 @code{*Completion*} buffer. For further documentation on the use of
849 imenu, such as menu sorting, see the source file @file{imenu.el}, which
850 is distributed with GNU Emacs.
851
852 @c ===================================================================
853
854 @node Customization, Log, Browsing, Top
855 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
856 @chapter Customization
857 @cindex customization
858
859 All WoMan user options are customizable, and it is recommended to
860 change them only via the standard Emacs customization facilities.
861 WoMan defines a top-level customization group called @code{WoMan}
862 under the parent group @code{Help}. It can be accessed either via the
863 standard Emacs facilities, e.g.@: via the @samp{Help->Customize}
864 submenu, or via the WoMan major mode menu.
865
866 The top-level WoMan group contains only a few general options and three
867 subgroups. The hooks are provided only for special purposes that, for
868 example, require code to be executed, and should be changed only via
869 @code{Customization} or the function @code{add-hook}. Most
870 customization should be possible via existing user options.
871
872 @vtable @code
873 @item woman-show-log
874 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then show the
875 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer if appropriate, i.e.@: if any warning messages
876 are written to it. @xref{Log, , The *WoMan-Log* Buffer}.
877
878 @item woman-pre-format-hook
879 A hook run immediately before formatting a buffer. It might, for
880 example, be used for face customization. @xref{Faces, , Faces},
881 however.
882
883 @item woman-post-format-hook
884 A hook run immediately after formatting a buffer. It might, for
885 example, be used for installing a dynamic menu using @code{imenu}.
886 (However. in this case it is better to use the built-in WoMan
887 @code{imenu} support. @xref{Imenu, , Imenu Support; Contents Menu}.)
888 @end vtable
889
890 @heading Customization Subgroups
891
892 @table @code
893 @item WoMan Interface
894 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
895 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
896
897 @item WoMan Formatting
898 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
899
900 @item WoMan Faces
901 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
902 man page.
903 @end table
904
905 @menu
906 * Interface Options::
907 * Formatting Options::
908 * Faces::
909 * Special symbols::
910 @end menu
911
912 @node Interface Options, Formatting Options, Customization, Customization
913 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
914 @section Interface Options
915 @cindex interface options
916
917 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
918 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
919
920 @vtable @code
921 @item woman-man.conf-path
922 A list of strings representing directories to search and/or files to try
923 for a man configuration file. The default is
924
925 @lisp
926 ("/etc" "/usr/local/lib")
927 @end lisp
928
929 @noindent
930 [for GNU/Linux and Cygwin respectively.] A trailing separator (@file{/}
931 for UNIX etc.) on directories is optional and the filename matched if a
932 directory is specified is the first to match the regexp
933 @code{man.*\.conf}. If the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is not
934 set but a configuration file is found then it is parsed instead (or as
935 well) to provide a default value for @code{woman-manpath}.
936
937 @item woman-manpath
938 A list of strings representing @emph{directory trees} to search for Unix
939 manual files. Each element should be the name of a directory that
940 contains subdirectories of the form @file{man?}, or more precisely
941 subdirectories selected by the value of @code{woman-manpath-man-regexp}.
942 Non-directory and unreadable files are ignored. This can also contain
943 conses, with the car indicating a @code{PATH} variable component mapped
944 to the directory tree given in the cdr.
945
946 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, environment variable
947 If not set then the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is used. If no
948 such environment variable is found, the default list is determined by
949 consulting the man configuration file if found. By default this is
950 expected to be either @file{/etc/man.config} or
951 @file{/usr/local/lib/man.conf}, which is controlled by the user option
952 @code{woman-man.conf-path}. An empty substring of @code{MANPATH}
953 denotes the default list. Otherwise, the default value of this variable
954 is
955
956 @lisp
957 ("/usr/man" "/usr/local/man")
958 @end lisp
959
960 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
961 @code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
962 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
963 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name. Trailing @file{/}s are
964 ignored. (Specific directories in @code{woman-path} are also searched.)
965
966 On Microsoft platforms I recommend including drive letters explicitly,
967 e.g.
968
969 @lisp
970 ("C:/Cygwin/usr/man" "C:/usr/man" "C:/usr/local/man")
971 @end lisp
972
973 @cindex directory separator character
974 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, directory separator
975 The @code{MANPATH} environment variable may be set using DOS
976 semi-colon-separated or Unix-style colon-separated syntax (but not
977 mixed).
978
979 @item woman-manpath-man-regexp
980 A regular expression to match man directories @emph{under} the
981 @code{woman-manpath} directories. These normally have names of the form
982 @file{man?}. Its default value is @code{"[Mm][Aa][Nn]"}, which is
983 case-insensitive mainly for the benefit of Microsoft platforms. Its
984 purpose is to avoid directories such as @file{cat?}, @file{.},
985 @file{..}, etc.
986
987 @item woman-path
988 A list of strings representing @emph{specific directories} to search for
989 Unix manual files. For example
990
991 @lisp
992 ("/emacs/etc")
993 @end lisp
994
995 These directories are searched in addition to the directory trees
996 specified in @code{woman-manpath}. Each element should be a directory
997 string or @code{nil}, which represents the current directory when the
998 path is expanded and cached. However, the last component (only) of each
999 directory string is treated as a regexp (Emacs, not shell) and the
1000 string is expanded into a list of matching directories. Non-directory
1001 and unreadable files are ignored. The default value on MS-DOS is
1002
1003 @lisp
1004 ("$DJDIR/info" "$DJDIR/man/cat[1-9onlp]")
1005 @end lisp
1006
1007 @noindent
1008 and on other platforms is @code{nil}.
1009
1010 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
1011 @code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
1012 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
1013 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name (regexp, see above). For
1014 example
1015
1016 @lisp
1017 ("$EMACSDATA")
1018 @end lisp
1019
1020 @noindent
1021 or equivalently
1022
1023 @lisp
1024 ("$EMACS_DIR/etc")
1025 @end lisp
1026
1027 @noindent
1028 Trailing @file{/}s are discarded. (The directory trees in
1029 @code{woman-manpath} are also searched.) On Microsoft platforms I
1030 recommend including drive letters explicitly.
1031
1032 @item woman-cache-level
1033 A positive integer representing the level of topic caching:
1034
1035 @enumerate
1036 @item
1037 cache only the topic and directory lists (uses minimal memory, but not
1038 recommended);
1039 @item
1040 cache also the directories for each topic (faster, without using much
1041 more memory);
1042 @item
1043 cache also the actual filenames for each topic (fastest, but uses twice
1044 as much memory).
1045 @end enumerate
1046
1047 The default value is currently 2, a good general compromise. If the
1048 @code{woman} command is slow to find files then try 3, which may be
1049 particularly beneficial with large remote-mounted man directories. Run
1050 the @code{woman} command with a prefix argument or delete the cache file
1051 @code{woman-cache-filename} for a change to take effect. (Values < 1
1052 behave like 1; values > 3 behave like 3.)
1053
1054 @item woman-cache-filename
1055 Either a string representing the full pathname of the WoMan directory
1056 and topic cache file, or @code{nil}. It is used to save and restore the
1057 cache between Emacs sessions. This is especially useful with
1058 remote-mounted man page files! The default value of @code{nil}
1059 suppresses this action. The ``standard'' non-@code{nil} filename is
1060 @file{~/.wmncach.el}. Remember that a prefix argument forces the
1061 @code{woman} command to update and re-write the cache.
1062
1063 @item woman-dired-keys
1064 A list of @code{dired} mode keys to be defined to run WoMan on the
1065 current file, e.g.@: @code{("w" "W")} or any non-@code{nil} atom to
1066 automatically define @kbd{w} and @kbd{W} if they are unbound, or
1067 @code{nil} to do nothing. Default is @code{t}.
1068
1069 @item woman-imenu-generic-expression
1070 Imenu support for Sections and Subsections: an alist with elements of
1071 the form @code{(MENU-TITLE REGEXP INDEX)}---see the documentation for
1072 @code{imenu-generic-expression}. Default value is
1073
1074 @lisp
1075 ((nil "\n\\([A-Z].*\\)" 1) ; SECTION, but not TITLE
1076 ("*Subsections*" "^ \\([A-Z].*\\)" 1))
1077 @end lisp
1078
1079 @item woman-imenu
1080 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan adds
1081 a Contents menu to the menubar by calling @code{imenu-add-to-menubar}.
1082
1083 @item woman-imenu-title
1084 A string representing the title to use if WoMan adds a Contents menu to
1085 the menubar. Default is @code{"CONTENTS"}.
1086
1087 @item woman-use-topic-at-point
1088 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then
1089 the @code{woman} command uses the word at point as the topic,
1090 @emph{without interactive confirmation}, if it exists as a topic.
1091
1092 @item woman-use-topic-at-point-default
1093 A boolean value representing the default value for
1094 @code{woman-use-topic-at-point}. The default value is @code{nil}.
1095 [The variable @code{woman-use-topic-at-point} may be @code{let}-bound
1096 when @code{woman} is loaded, in which case its global value does not
1097 get defined. The function @code{woman-file-name} sets it to this
1098 value if it is unbound.]
1099
1100 @item woman-uncompressed-file-regexp
1101 A regular match expression used to select man source files (ignoring any
1102 compression extension). The default value is
1103 @code{"\\.\\([0-9lmnt]\\w*\\)"} [which means a filename extension is
1104 required].
1105
1106 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1107
1108 The SysV standard man pages use two character suffixes, and this is
1109 becoming more common in the GNU world. For example, the man pages in
1110 the @code{ncurses} package include @file{toe.1m}, @file{form.3x}, etc.
1111
1112 @strong{Please note:} an optional compression regexp will be appended,
1113 so this regexp @emph{must not} end with any kind of string terminator
1114 such as @code{$} or @code{\\'}.
1115
1116 @item woman-file-compression-regexp
1117 A regular match expression used to match compressed man file extensions
1118 for which decompressors are available and handled by auto-compression
1119 mode. It should begin with @code{\\.} and end with @code{\\'} and
1120 @emph{must not} be optional. The default value is
1121 @code{"\\.\\(g?z\\|bz2\\)\\'"}, which matches the @code{gzip} and
1122 @code{bzip2} compression extensions.
1123
1124 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1125
1126 [It should be compatible with the @code{car} of
1127 @code{jka-compr-file-name-handler-entry}, but that is unduly
1128 complicated, includes an inappropriate extension (@file{.tgz}) and is
1129 not loaded by default!]
1130
1131 @item woman-use-own-frame
1132 If non-@code{nil} then use a dedicated frame for displaying WoMan windows.
1133 This is useful only when WoMan is run under a window system such as X or
1134 Microsoft Windows that supports real multiple frames, in which case the
1135 default value is non-@code{nil}.
1136 @end vtable
1137
1138
1139 @node Formatting Options, Faces, Interface Options, Customization
1140 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1141 @section Formatting Options
1142 @cindex formatting options
1143
1144 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
1145
1146 @vtable @code
1147 @item woman-fill-column
1148 An integer specifying the right margin for formatted text. Default is
1149 65.
1150
1151 @item woman-fill-frame
1152 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then most of the frame width is used,
1153 overriding the value of @code{woman-fill-column}. Default is @code{nil}.
1154
1155 @item woman-default-indent
1156 An integer specifying the default prevailing indent for the @code{-man}
1157 macros. Default is 5. Set this variable to 7 to emulate GNU/Linux man
1158 formatting.
1159
1160 @item woman-bold-headings
1161 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then embolden section and subsection
1162 headings. Default is @code{t}. [Heading emboldening is @emph{not} standard
1163 @code{man} behavior.]
1164
1165 @item woman-ignore
1166 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then unrecognised requests etc. are
1167 ignored. Default is @code{t}. This gives the standard @code{roff} behavior.
1168 If @code{nil} then they are left in the buffer, which may aid debugging.
1169
1170 @item woman-preserve-ascii
1171 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then preserve @acronym{ASCII} characters in the
1172 WoMan buffer. Otherwise, non-@acronym{ASCII} characters (that display as
1173 @acronym{ASCII}) may remain, which is irrelevant unless the buffer is to be
1174 saved to a file. Default is @code{nil}.
1175
1176 @item woman-emulation
1177 WoMan emulation, currently either @code{nroff} or @code{troff}. Default
1178 is @code{nroff}. @code{troff} emulation is experimental and largely
1179 untested.
1180 @end vtable
1181
1182
1183 @node Faces, Special symbols, Formatting Options, Customization
1184 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1185 @section Faces
1186 @cindex faces
1187
1188 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
1189 man page.
1190
1191 @vtable @code
1192 @item woman-fontify
1193 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan assumes that face support is
1194 available. It defaults to a non-@code{nil} value if the display supports
1195 either colors or different fonts.
1196
1197 @item woman-italic-face
1198 Face for italic font in man pages. Default: italic, underlined,
1199 foreground red. This is overkill! @code{troff} uses just italic;
1200 @code{nroff} uses just underline. You should probably select either
1201 italic or underline as you prefer, but not both, although italic and
1202 underline work together perfectly well!
1203
1204 @item woman-bold-face
1205 Face for bold font in man pages. Default: bold, foreground blue.
1206
1207 @item woman-unknown-face
1208 Face for all unknown fonts in man pages. Default: foreground brown.
1209 Brown is a good compromise: it is distinguishable from the default but
1210 not enough so as to make font errors look terrible. (Files that use
1211 non-standard fonts seem to do so badly or in idiosyncratic ways!)
1212
1213 @item woman-addition-face
1214 Face for all additions made by WoMan to man pages.
1215 Default: foreground orange.
1216 @end vtable
1217
1218
1219 @node Special symbols, , Faces, Customization
1220 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1221 @section Special symbols
1222 @cindex special symbols
1223
1224 This section currently applies @emph{only} to Microsoft Windows.
1225
1226 WoMan provides partial experimental support for special symbols,
1227 initially only for MS-Windows and only for MS-Windows fonts. This
1228 includes both non-@acronym{ASCII} characters from the main text font and use
1229 of a separate symbol font. Later, support will be added for other font
1230 types (e.g.@: @code{bdf} fonts) and for the X Window System. In Emacs
1231 20.7, the current support works partially under Windows 9x but may not
1232 work on any other platform.
1233
1234 @vtable @code
1235 @item woman-use-extended-font
1236 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use non-@acronym{ASCII} characters
1237 from the default font. Default is @code{t}.
1238
1239 @item woman-use-symbol-font
1240 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use the symbol font.
1241 Default is @code{nil}, mainly because it may change the line spacing (at
1242 least in NTEmacs 20).
1243
1244 @item woman-symbol-font
1245 A string describing the symbol font to use for special characters.
1246 It should be compatible with, and the same size as, the default text font.
1247 Under MS-Windows, the default is
1248
1249 @lisp
1250 "-*-Symbol-normal-r-*-*-*-*-96-96-p-*-ms-symbol"
1251 @end lisp
1252 @end vtable
1253
1254
1255 @c ===================================================================
1256
1257 @node Log, Technical, Customization, Top
1258 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1259 @chapter The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
1260 @cindex log buffer
1261 @cindex buffer, log
1262
1263 This is modeled on the Emacs byte-compiler. It logs all files
1264 formatted by WoMan and the time taken. If WoMan finds anything that it
1265 cannot handle then it writes a warning to this buffer. If the variable
1266 @code{woman-show-log} is non-@code{nil} (by default it is @code{nil}) then
1267 WoMan automatically displays this buffer. @xref{Interface Options, ,
1268 Interface Options}. Many WoMan warnings can be completely ignored,
1269 because they are reporting the fact that WoMan has ignored requests that
1270 it is correct for WoMan to ignore. In some future version this level of
1271 paranoia may be reduced, but not until WoMan is deemed more reliable.
1272 At present, all warnings should be treated with some suspicion.
1273 Uninterpreted escape sequences are also logged (in some cases).
1274
1275 By resetting the variable @code{woman-ignore} to @code{nil} (by default
1276 it is @code{t}), uninterpreted @code{roff} requests can optionally be
1277 left in the formatted buffer to indicate precisely where they occurred.
1278 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
1279
1280 @c ===================================================================
1281
1282 @node Technical, Bugs, Log, Top
1283 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1284 @chapter Technical Details
1285 @cindex technical details
1286 @cindex horizontal spacing
1287 @cindex spacing, horizontal and vertical
1288 @cindex vertical spacing
1289 @cindex resolution
1290
1291 @heading Horizontal and vertical spacing and resolution
1292
1293 WoMan currently assumes 10 characters per inch horizontally, hence a
1294 horizontal resolution of 24 basic units, and 5 lines per inch
1295 vertically, hence a vertical resolution of 48 basic units.
1296 (@code{nroff} uses 240 per inch.)
1297
1298 @heading Vertical spacing and blank lines
1299
1300 The number of consecutive blank lines in the formatted buffer should be
1301 either 0 or 1. A blank line should leave a space like .sp 1.
1302 Current policy is to output vertical space only immediately before text
1303 is output.
1304
1305 @c ===================================================================
1306
1307 @node Bugs, Acknowledgements, Technical, Top
1308 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1309 @chapter Reporting Bugs
1310 @cindex reporting bugs
1311 @cindex bugs, reporting
1312
1313 If WoMan fails completely, or formats a file incorrectly (i.e.@:
1314 obviously wrongly or significantly differently from @code{man}) or
1315 inelegantly, then please
1316
1317 @enumerate
1318 @item
1319 try the latest version of @file{woman.el} from the Emacs CVS repository
1320 on @uref{http://savannah.gnu.org/}. If it still fails, please
1321
1322 @item
1323 send a bug report to @email{bug-gnu-emacs@@gnu.org} and to
1324 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk}. Please include the entry from the
1325 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer relating to the problem file, together with
1326 a brief description of the problem. Please indicate where you got the
1327 man source file from, but do not send it unless asked to send it.
1328 @end enumerate
1329
1330 @c ===================================================================
1331
1332 @node Acknowledgements, GNU Free Documentation License, Bugs, Top
1333 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1334 @chapter Acknowledgements
1335 @cindex acknowledgements
1336
1337 For Heather, Kathryn and Madelyn, the women in my life (although they
1338 will probably never use it)!
1339
1340 I also thank the following for helpful suggestions, bug reports, code
1341 fragments, general interest, etc.:
1342
1343 @quotation
1344 Jari Aalto, @email{jari.aalto@@cs.tpu.fi}@*
1345 Dean Andrews, @email{dean@@dra.com}@*
1346 Juanma Barranquero, @email{barranquero@@laley-actualidad.es}@*
1347 Karl Berry, @email{kb@@cs.umb.edu}@*
1348 Jim Chapman, @email{jchapman@@netcomuk.co.uk}@*
1349 Frederic Corne, @email{frederic.corne@@erli.fr}@*
1350 Peter Craft, @email{craft@@alacritech.com}@*
1351 Charles Curley, @email{ccurley@@trib.com}@*
1352 Jim Davidson, @email{jdavidso@@teknowledge.com}@*
1353 Kevin D'Elia, @email{Kevin.DElia@@mci.com}@*
1354 John Fitch, @email{jpff@@maths.bath.ac.uk}@*
1355 Hans Frosch, @email{jwfrosch@@rish.b17c.ingr.com}@*
1356 Guy Gascoigne-Piggford, @email{ggp@@informix.com}@*
1357 Brian Gorka, @email{gorkab@@sanchez.com}@*
1358 Nicolai Henriksen, @email{nhe@@lyngso-industri.dk}@*
1359 Thomas Herchenroeder, @email{the@@software-ag.de}@*
1360 Alexander Hinds, @email{ahinds@@thegrid.net}@*
1361 Stefan Hornburg, @email{sth@@hacon.de}@*
1362 Theodore Jump, @email{tjump@@cais.com}@*
1363 Paul Kinnucan, @email{paulk@@mathworks.com}@*
1364 Jonas Linde, @email{jonas@@init.se}@*
1365 Andrew McRae, @email{andrewm@@optimation.co.nz}@*
1366 Howard Melman, @email{howard@@silverstream.com}@*
1367 Dennis Pixton, @email{dennis@@math.binghamton.edu}@*
1368 T. V. Raman, @email{raman@@Adobe.com}@*
1369 Bruce Ravel, @email{bruce.ravel@@nist.gov}@*
1370 Benjamin Riefenstahl, @email{benny@@crocodial.de}@*
1371 Kevin Ruland, @email{kruland@@seistl.com}@*
1372 Tom Schutter, @email{tom@@platte.com}@*
1373 Wei-Xue Shi, @email{wxshi@@ma.neweb.ne.jp}@*
1374 Fabio Somenzi, @email{fabio@@joplin.colorado.edu}@*
1375 Karel Sprenger, @email{ks@@ic.uva.nl}@*
1376 Chris Szurgot, @email{szurgot@@itribe.net}@*
1377 Paul A. Thompson, @email{pat@@po.cwru.edu}@*
1378 Arrigo Triulzi, @email{arrigo@@maths.qmw.ac.uk}@*
1379 Geoff Voelker, @email{voelker@@cs.washington.edu}@*
1380 Eli Zaretskii, @email{eliz@@is.elta.co.il}
1381 @end quotation
1382
1383 @c ===================================================================
1384
1385 @comment END OF MANUAL TEXT
1386 @page
1387
1388
1389 @node GNU Free Documentation License, Command Index, Acknowledgements, Top
1390 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License
1391 @include doclicense.texi
1392
1393 @node Command Index, Variable Index, GNU Free Documentation License, Top
1394 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1395 @unnumbered Command Index
1396
1397 @printindex fn
1398
1399 @node Variable Index, Keystroke Index, Command Index, Top
1400 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1401 @unnumbered Variable Index
1402
1403 @printindex vr
1404
1405 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1406 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1407 @c This must be a bug!
1408
1409 @page
1410
1411 @node Keystroke Index, Concept Index, Variable Index, Top
1412 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1413 @unnumbered Keystroke Index
1414
1415 @printindex ky
1416
1417 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1418 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1419 @c This must be a bug!
1420
1421 @page
1422
1423 @node Concept Index, , Keystroke Index, Top
1424 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1425 @unnumbered Concept Index
1426
1427 @printindex cp
1428
1429 @bye
1430
1431 @ignore
1432 arch-tag: a1a6b715-396f-4378-9b94-0b2ca0aa5028
1433 @end ignore