Merge from emacs--rel--22
[bpt/emacs.git] / doc / misc / woman.texi
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1\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2@c %**start of header
db78a8cb 3@setfilename ../../info/woman
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4@settitle WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
5@c Manual last updated:
debf4439 6@set UPDATED Time-stamp: <Fri 13-Jun-2008 13:07:05 gmorris on xoc2.stanford.edu>
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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
17This file documents WoMan: A program to browse Unix manual pages `W.O.
18(without) man'.
19
20Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
3f548a7c 212005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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22
23@quotation
24Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
25under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
26any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
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27Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual,''
28and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license
29is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License.''
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31(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and
32modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
33developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
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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
76Software Version @value{VERSION}
77Manual 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}
81Queen Mary and Westfield College (University of London)
82Mile 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
110This version of WoMan should run with GNU Emacs 20.3 or later on any
111platform. It has not been tested, and may not run, with any other
112version of Emacs. It was developed primarily on various versions of
113Microsoft Windows, but has also been tested on MS-DOS, and various
114versions of UNIX and GNU/Linux.
115
116WoMan is distributed with GNU Emacs. In addition, the current source
117code and documentation files are available from
118@uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/, the WoMan web
119server}.
120
121WoMan 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,
124but without calling any external programs. It is intended to emulate
125the whole of the @code{roff -man} macro package, plus those @code{roff}
126requests (@pxref{Background, , Background}) that are most commonly used
127in man pages. However, the emulation is modified to include the
128reformatting done by the Emacs @code{man} command. No hyphenation is
129performed.
130
131@table @b
132@item Advantages
133Much more direct, does not require any external programs. Supports
134completion on man page names.
135@item Disadvantages
136Not a complete emulation. Currently no support for @code{eqn} or
137@code{tbl}. Slightly slower for large man pages (but usually faster for
138small- and medium-size pages).
139@end table
140
141This browser works quite well on simple well-written man files. It
142works less well on idiosyncratic files that ``break the rules'' or use
143the more obscure @code{roff} requests directly. Current test results
144are available in the file
145@uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/files/woman.status,
146@file{woman.status}}.
147
148WoMan supports the use of compressed man files via
149@code{auto-compression-mode} by turning it on if necessary. But you may
150need to adjust the user option @code{woman-file-compression-regexp}.
151@xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
152
153Brief help on the WoMan interactive commands and user options, all of
154which begin with the prefix @code{woman-} (or occasionally
155@code{WoMan-}), is available most easily by loading WoMan and then
156either running the command @code{woman-mini-help} or selecting the WoMan
157menu option @samp{Mini Help}.
158
159WoMan is (of course) still under development! Please
160@email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, let me know} what doesn't work---I am
161adding and improving functionality as testing shows that it is
162necessary. Guidance on reporting bugs is given below. @xref{Bugs, ,
163Reporting 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
172WoMan is a browser for traditional Unix-style manual page documentation.
173Each such document is conventionally referred to as a @dfn{manual page},
174or @dfn{man page} for short, even though some are very much longer than
175one page. A man page is a document written using the Unix ``man''
176macros, which are themselves written in the nroff/troff text processing
177markup language. @code{nroff} and @code{troff} are text processors
178originally written for the UNIX operating system by Joseph F. Ossanna at
179Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA@. They are closely
180related, and except in the few cases where the distinction between them
181is important I will refer to them both ambiguously as @code{roff}.
182
183@code{roff} markup consists of @dfn{requests} and @dfn{escape
184sequences}. A request occupies a complete line and begins with either a
185period or a single forward quote. An escape sequences is embedded
186within the input text and begins (by default) with a backslash. The
187original man macro package defines 20 new @code{roff} requests
188implemented as macros, which were considered to be sufficient for
189writing man pages. But whilst in principle man pages use only the man
190macros, in practice a significant number use many other @code{roff}
191requests.
192
193The 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
196character-based device similar to a teletypewriter (usually abbreviated
197to ``teletype'' or ``tty''). Hence, @code{troff} supports much finer
198control over output positioning than does @code{nroff} and can be seen
199as a forerunner of @TeX{}. Traditionally, man pages are either
200formatted by @code{troff} for typesetting or by @code{nroff} for
201printing on a character printer or displaying on a screen. Of course,
202over the last 25 years or so, the distinction between typeset output on
203paper and characters on a screen has become blurred by the fact that
204most screens now support bit-mapped displays, so that any information
205that can be printed can also be rendered on screen, the only difference
206being the resolution.
207
208Nevertheless, Unix-style manual page documentation is still normally
209browsed on screen by running a program called @code{man}. This program
210looks in a predefined set of directories for the man page matching a
211specified topic, then either formats the source file by running
212@code{nroff} or recovers a pre-formatted file, and displays it via a
213pager such as @code{more}. @code{nroff} normally formats for a printer,
214so it paginates the output, numbers the pages, etc., most of which is
215irrelevant when the document is browsed as a continuous scrollable
216document on screen. The only concession to on-screen browsing normally
217implemented by the @code{man} program is to squeeze consecutive blank
218lines into a single blank line.
219
220For some time, Emacs has offered an improved interface for browsing man
221pages in the form of the Emacs @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry})
222command, see @ref{Documentation, man, Documentation Commands, emacs, GNU
223Emacs Manual}.
224This command runs @code{man} as described above, perhaps in
225the 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
227result into an Emacs buffer. It puts this buffer into a special major
228mode, which is tailored for man page browsing, and provides a number of
229useful navigation commands, support for following references, etc. It
230provides some support for special display faces (fonts), but no special
231menu or mouse support. The Emacs man package appears to have been
232developed over about 10 years, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.
233
234There is considerable inefficiency in having @code{nroff} paginate a
235document and then removing most of the pagination!
236
237WoMan is an Emacs Lisp library that provides an emulation of the
238functionality of the Emacs @code{man} command, the main difference being
239that WoMan does not use any external programs. The only situation in
240which WoMan might use an external program is when the source file is
241compressed, when WoMan will use the standard Emacs automatic
242decompression facility, which does call an external program.
243
244I began developing WoMan in the Spring of 1997 and the first version was
245released in May 1997. The original motivation for WoMan was the fact
246that many GNU and Unix programs are ported to other platforms and come
247with Unix-style manual page documentation. This may be difficult to
248read because ports of the Unix-style @code{man} program can be a little
249awkward to set up. I decided that it should not be too hard to emulate
250the 20 @code{man} macros directly, without treating them as macros and
251largely ignoring the underlying @code{roff} requests, given the text
252processing capabilities of Emacs. This proved to be essentially true,
253and it did not take a great deal of work to be able to format simple man
254pages acceptably.
255
256One problem arose with the significant number of man pages that use
257@code{roff} requests in addition to the @code{man} macros, and since
258releasing the first version of WoMan I have been continually extending
259it to support more @code{roff} requests. WoMan can now format a
260significant proportion of the man pages that I have tested, either well
261or at least readably. However, I have added capabilities partly by
262making additional passes through the document, a design that is
263fundamentally flawed. This can only be solved by a major re-design of
264WoMan to handle the major formatting within a single recursive pass,
265rather than the present multiple passes without any significant
266recursion. There are some @code{roff} requests that cannot be handled
267satisfactorily within the present design. Some of these are currently
268handled by kludges that ``usually more or less work.''
269
270The principle advantage of WoMan is that it does not require @code{man},
271and indeed the name WoMan is a contraction of ``without man.'' But it
272has other advantages. It does not paginate the document, so it does not
273need to un-paginate it again, thereby saving time. It could take full
274advantage of the display capabilities available to it, and I hope to
275develop WoMan to take advantage of developments in Emacs itself. At
276present, WoMan uses several display faces to support bold and italic
277text, to indicate other fonts, etc. The default faces are also
278colored, but the choice of faces is customizable. WoMan provides menu
279support for navigation and mouse support for following references, in
280addition to the navigation facilities provided by @code{man} mode.
281WoMan has (this) texinfo documentation!
282
283WoMan @emph{does not} replace @code{man}, although it does use a number
284of the facilities implemented in the Emacs @code{man} library. WoMan
285and man can happily co-exist, which is very useful for comparison and
286debugging 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
290this. I have recently begun to add support for WoMan to use more of the
291characters in its default font and to use a symbol font, and it is an
292aspect that I intend to develop further in the near future. It should
293be possible to move WoMan from an emulation of @code{nroff} to an
294emulation of @code{troff} as GNU Emacs moves to providing bit-mapped
295display 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
307WoMan provides three user interfaces for finding and formatting man pages:
308
309@itemize @bullet
310@item
311a topic interface similar to that provided by the standard Emacs
312@code{man} command;
313
314@item
315a family of filename interfaces analogous to the standard Emacs
316@code{view-file} command;
317
318@item
319an 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
323The topic and filename interfaces support completion in the usual way.
324
325The topic interface is generally the most convenient for regular use,
326although it may require some special setup, especially if your machine
327does not already have a conventional @code{man} installation (which
328WoMan tries to detect).
329
330The simplest filename interface command @code{woman-find-file} can
331always be used with no setup at all (provided WoMan is installed and
332loaded or set up to autoload).
333
334The 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
341By default, WoMan ignores case in file pathnames only when it seems
342appropriate. Microsoft Windows users who want complete case
343independence should set the special NTEmacs variable
344@code{w32-downcase-file-names} to @code{t} and use all lower case when
345setting 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
359The 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
362loaded. The command reads a manual topic in the minibuffer, which can
363be the @dfn{basename} of a man file anywhere in the man file
364structure. The ``basename'' in this context means the filename
365without any directory component and without any extension or suffix
366components that relate to the file type. So, for example, if there is
367a compressed source file in Chapter 5 of the UNIX Programmer's Manual
368with the full pathname @file{/usr/local/man/man5/man.conf.5.gz} then
369the topic is @code{man.conf}. Provided WoMan is configured correctly,
370this topic will appear among the completions offered by @code{woman}.
371If more than one file has the same topic name then WoMan will prompt
372for which file to format. Completion of topics is case insensitive.
373
374Clearly, @code{woman} has to know where to look for man files and there
375are two customizable user options that store this information:
376@code{woman-manpath} and @code{woman-path}. @xref{Interface Options, ,
377Interface Options}. If @code{woman-manpath} is not set explicitly then
378WoMan 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
381UNIX, then WoMan parses that. Otherwise, if WoMan can find a
382configuration file named (by default) @file{man.conf} (or something very
383similar), which seems to be the standard mechanism under GNU/Linux, then
384it parses that. To be precise, ``something very similar'' means
385starting with @samp{man} and ending with @samp{.conf} and possibly more
386lowercase letters, e.g.@: @file{manual.configuration}.
387The search path and/or precise full path name for this file are set by
388the value of the customizable user option @code{woman-man.conf-path}.
389If all else fails, WoMan uses a plausible default man search path.
390
391If the above default configuration does not work correctly for any
392reason then simply customize the value of @code{woman-manpath}. To
393access man files that are not in a conventional man file hierarchy,
394customize the value of @code{woman-path} to include the directories
395containing the files. In this way, @code{woman} can access manual files
396@emph{anywhere} in the entire file system.
397
398There are two differences between @code{woman-manpath} and
399@code{woman-path}. Firstly, the elements of @code{woman-manpath} must
400be directories that contain @emph{directories of} man files, whereas the
401elements of @code{woman-path} must be directories that contain man files
402@emph{directly}. Secondly, the last directory component of each element
403of @code{woman-path} is treated as a regular (Emacs) match expression
404rather than a fixed name, which allows collections of related
405directories 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
408hierarchies.
409
410For topic completion to work, WoMan must build a list of all the manual
411files that it can access, which can be very slow, especially if a
412network is involved. For this reason, it caches various amounts of
413information, after which retrieving it from the cache is very fast. If
414the 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})
416will force it to rebuild its cache. This is necessary only if the names
417or locations of any man files change; it is not necessary if only their
418contents change. It would always be necessary if such a change occurred
419whilst Emacs were running and after WoMan has been loaded. It may be
420necessary if such a change occurs between Emacs sessions and persistent
421caching is used, although WoMan can detect some changes that invalidate
422its cache and rebuild it automatically.
423
424Customize the variable @code{woman-cache-filename} to save the cache
425between Emacs sessions. This is recommended only if the @code{woman}
426command is too slow the first time it is run in an Emacs session, while
427it builds its cache in main memory, which @emph{may} be @emph{very}
428slow. @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
442The amount of information that WoMan caches (in main memory and,
443optionally, saved to disc) is controlled by the user option
444@code{woman-cache-level}. There is a trade-off between the speed with
445which WoMan can find a file and the size of the cache, and the default
446setting gives a reasonable compromise.
447
448The @code{woman} command always performs a certain amount of caching in
449main memory, but it can also write its cache to the filestore as a
450persistent cache under control of the user option
451@code{woman-cache-filename}. If persistent caching is turned on then
452WoMan re-loads its internal cache from the cache file almost
453instantaneously, so that there is never any perceptible start-up delay
454@emph{except} when WoMan rebuilds its cache. Persistent caching is
455currently turned off by default. This is because users with persistent
456caching turned on may overlook the need to force WoMan to rebuild its
457cache the first time they run it after they have installed new man
458files; with persistent caching turned off, WoMan automatically rebuilds
459its cache every time it is run in a new Emacs session.
460
461A prefix argument always causes the @code{woman} command (only) to
462rebuild its topic cache, and to re-save it to
463@code{woman-cache-filename} if this variable has a non-@code{nil} value. This
464is necessary if the @emph{names} of any of the directories or files in
465the paths specified by @code{woman-manpath} or @code{woman-path} change.
466If WoMan user options that affect the cache are changed then WoMan will
467automatically update its cache file on disc (if one is in use) the next
468time 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
477By default, the @code{woman} command uses the word nearest to point in
478the current buffer as a suggestion for the topic to look up, if it
479exists as a valid topic. The topic can be confirmed or edited in the
480minibuffer.
481
482You can also bind the variable @code{woman-use-topic-at-point} locally
483to a non-@code{nil} value (using @code{let}), in which case
484@code{woman} will can use the suggested topic without confirmation if
485possible. This may be useful to provide special private key bindings,
486e.g.@: this key binding for @kbd{C-c w} runs WoMan on the topic at
487point 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
503The commands in this family are completely independent of the topic
504interface, caching mechanism, etc.
505
506@findex woman-find-file
507The filename interface is accessed principally via the extended command
508@code{woman-find-file}, which is available without any configuration at
509all (provided WoMan is installed and loaded or set up to autoload).
510This command can be used to browse any accessible man file, regardless
511of its filename or location. If the file is compressed then automatic
512file decompression must already be turned on (e.g.@: see the
513@samp{Help->Options} submenu)---it is turned on automatically only by
514the @code{woman} topic interface.
515
516@findex woman-dired-find-file
517Once WoMan is loaded (or if specially set up), various additional
518commands 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
520to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It is bound to the key @kbd{W} in
521the dired mode map and added to the dired major mode menu. It may also
522be bound to @kbd{w}, unless this key is bound by another library, which
523it is by @code{dired-x}, for example. Because it is quite likely that
524other libraries will extend the capabilities of such a commonly used
525mode as dired, the precise key bindings added by WoMan to the dired mode
526map are controlled by the user option @code{woman-dired-keys}.
527
528@findex woman-tar-extract-file
529When a tar (Tape ARchive) file is visited in Emacs, it is opened in tar
530mode, which parses the tar file and shows a dired-like view of its
531contents. The WoMan command @code{woman-tar-extract-file} allows the
532file on the same line as point to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It
533is bound to the key @kbd{w} in the tar mode map and added to the tar
534major mode menu.
535
536The 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
538the last file formatted by WoMan. This may occasionally be useful if
539formatting parameters, such as the fill column, are changed, or perhaps
540if the buffer is somehow corrupted.
541
542@findex woman-decode-buffer
543The command @code{woman-decode-buffer} can be used to decode and browse
544the current buffer if it is visiting a man file, although it is
545primarily 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
553Emacs provides an interface to detect automatically the format of a file
554and decode it when it is visited. It is used primarily by the
555facilities for editing rich (i.e.@: formatted) text, as a way to store
556formatting information transparently as @acronym{ASCII} markup. WoMan can in
557principle use this interface, but it must be configured explicitly.
558
559This use of WoMan does not seem to be particularly advantageous, so it
560is not really supported. It originated during early experiments on how
561best to implement WoMan, before I implemented the current topic
562interface, and I subsequently stopped using it. I might revive it as a
563mechanism for storing pre-formatted WoMan files, somewhat analogous to
564the standard Unix @code{catman} facility. In the meantime, it exists
565for anyone who wants to experiment with it. Once it is set up it is
566simply a question of visiting the file and there is no WoMan-specific
567user interface!
568
569To use it, put something like this in your @file{.emacs} file. [The
570call to @code{set-visited-file-name} is to avoid font-locking triggered
571by 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
593Once a man page has been found and formatted, WoMan provides a browsing
594interface that is essentially the same as that provided by the standard
595Emacs @code{man} command (and much of the code is inherited from the
596@code{man} library, which WoMan currently requires). Many WoMan
597facilities can be accessed from the WoMan major mode menu as well as via
598key bindings, etc.
599
600WoMan does not produce any page breaks or page numbers, and in fact does
601not paginate the man page at all, since this is not appropriate for
602continuous online browsing. It produces a document header line that is
603constructed from the standard man page header and footer. Apart from
604that, the appearance of the formatted man page should be almost
605identical to what would be produced by @code{man}, with consecutive
606blank 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
623Fonts used by @code{roff} are handled by WoMan as faces, the details of
624which are customizable. @xref{Faces, , Faces}. WoMan supports both the
625italic and bold fonts normally used in man pages, together with a single
626face to represent all unknown fonts (which are occasionally used in
627``non-standard'' man pages, usually to represent a ``typewriter'' font)
628and a face to indicate additional symbols introduced by WoMan. This
629currently means the characters ^ and _ used to indicate super- and
630sub-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
638Man (and hence WoMan) mode can be thought of as a superset of view mode.
639The buffer cannot be edited, so keys that would normally self-insert are
640used for navigation. The WoMan key bindings are a minor modification of
641the @code{man} key bindings.
642
643@table @kbd
644@item @key{SPC}
645@kindex SPC
646@findex scroll-up
647Scroll the man page up the window (@code{scroll-up}).
648
649@item @key{DEL}
650@kindex DEL
651@findex scroll-down
652Scroll the man page down the window (@code{scroll-down}).
653
654@item n
655@kindex n
656@findex Man-next-section
657Move point to the Nth next section---default 1 (@code{Man-next-section}).
658
659@item p
660@kindex p
661@findex Man-previous-section
662Move point to Nth previous section---default 1
663(@code{Man-previous-section}).
664
665@item g
666@kindex g
667@findex Man-goto-section
668Move point to the specified section (@code{Man-goto-section}).
669
670@item s
671@kindex s
672@findex Man-goto-see-also-section
673Move point to the ``SEE ALSO'' section
674(@code{Man-goto-see-also-section}). Actually the section moved to is
675described 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
685Man pages usually contain a ``SEE ALSO'' section containing references
686to other man pages. If these man pages are installed then WoMan can
687easily be directed to follow the reference, i.e.@: to find and format the
688man page. When the mouse is passed over a correctly formatted reference
689it is highlighted, in which case clicking the middle button
690@kbd{Mouse-2} will cause WoMan to follow the reference. Alternatively,
691when point is over such a reference the key @key{RET} will follow the
692reference.
693
694Any 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
696general such a ``reference'' will not lead to a man page).
697Alternatively, the key @kbd{r} allows completion to be used to select a
698reference 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
704Run WoMan with word under mouse as topic (@code{woman-mouse-2}). The
705word must be mouse-highlighted unless @code{woman-mouse-2} is used with
706the Meta key.
707
708@item @key{RET}
709@kindex RET
710@findex man-follow
711Get 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
717Get one of the man pages referred to in the ``SEE ALSO'' section
718(@code{Man-follow-manual-reference}). Specify which reference to use;
719default 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
729The man page currently being browsed by WoMan can be changed in several
730ways. The command @code{woman} can be invoked to format another man
731page, or the current WoMan buffer can be buried or killed. WoMan
732maintains a ring of formatted man pages, and it is possible to move
733forwards and backwards in this ring by moving to the next or previous
734man page. It is sometimes useful to reformat the current page, for
735example after the right margin (the wrap column) or some other
736formatting parameter has been changed.
737
738Buffers formatted by Man and WoMan are completely unrelated, even though
739some of the commands to manipulate them are superficially the same (and
740share code).
741
742@table @kbd
743@item m
744@kindex m
745@findex man
746Run the command @code{man} to get a Un*x manual page and put it in a
747buffer. This command is the top-level command in the man package. It
748runs a Un*x command to retrieve and clean a man page in the background
749and places the results in a Man mode (man page browsing) buffer. If a
750man buffer already exists for this man page, it will display
751immediately. This works exactly the same if WoMan is loaded, except
752that the formatting time is displayed in the mini-buffer.
753
754@item w
755@kindex w
756@findex woman
757Run the command @code{woman} exactly as if the extended command or menu
758item had been used.
759
760@item q
761@kindex q
762@findex Man-quit
763Bury the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-quit}),
764i.e.@: move it to the bottom of the buffer stack.
765
766@item k
767@kindex k
768@findex Man-kill
769Kill the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-kill}),
770i.e.@: delete it completely so that it can be retrieved only by formatting
771the page again.
772
773@item M-p
774@kindex M-p
775@findex WoMan-previous-manpage
776Find the previous WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-previous-manpage}).
777
778@item M-n
779@kindex M-n
780@findex WoMan-next-manpage
781Find the next WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-next-manpage}).
782
783@item R
784@kindex R
785@findex woman-reformat-last-file
786Call 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
801Begin 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
807Part 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
815Move point to the beginning of the buffer; leave mark at previous
816position (@code{beginning-of-buffer}).
817
818@item >
819@kindex >
820@findex end-of-buffer
821Move 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
827Display documentation of current major mode and minor modes
828(@code{describe-mode}). The major mode description comes first,
829followed 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
839The WoMan menu provides an option to make a contents menu for the
840current man page (using @code{imenu}). Alternatively, if you customize
841the option @code{woman-imenu} to @code{t} then WoMan will do it
842automatically for every man page. The menu title is set by the option
843@code{woman-imenu-title}, which is ``CONTENTS'' by default. The menu
844shows manual sections and subsections by default, but you can change
845this by customizing @code{woman-imenu-generic-expression}.
846
847WoMan is configured not to replace spaces in an imenu
848@code{*Completion*} buffer. For further documentation on the use of
849imenu, such as menu sorting, see the source file @file{imenu.el}, which
850is 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
859All WoMan user options are customizable, and it is recommended to
860change them only via the standard Emacs customization facilities.
861WoMan defines a top-level customization group called @code{WoMan}
862under the parent group @code{Help}. It can be accessed either via the
863standard Emacs facilities, e.g.@: via the @samp{Help->Customize}
864submenu, or via the WoMan major mode menu.
865
866The top-level WoMan group contains only a few general options and three
867subgroups. The hooks are provided only for special purposes that, for
868example, require code to be executed, and should be changed only via
869@code{Customization} or the function @code{add-hook}. Most
870customization should be possible via existing user options.
871
872@vtable @code
873@item woman-show-log
874A 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
876are written to it. @xref{Log, , The *WoMan-Log* Buffer}.
877
878@item woman-pre-format-hook
879A hook run immediately before formatting a buffer. It might, for
880example, be used for face customization. @xref{Faces, , Faces},
881however.
882
883@item woman-post-format-hook
884A hook run immediately after formatting a buffer. It might, for
885example, 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
894These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
895browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
896
897@item WoMan Formatting
898These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
899
900@item WoMan Faces
901These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
902man 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
917These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
918browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
919
920@vtable @code
921@item woman-man.conf-path
922A list of strings representing directories to search and/or files to try
923for 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{/}
931for UNIX etc.) on directories is optional and the filename matched if a
932directory is specified is the first to match the regexp
933@code{man.*\.conf}. If the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is not
934set but a configuration file is found then it is parsed instead (or as
935well) to provide a default value for @code{woman-manpath}.
936
937@item woman-manpath
938A list of strings representing @emph{directory trees} to search for Unix
939manual files. Each element should be the name of a directory that
940contains subdirectories of the form @file{man?}, or more precisely
941subdirectories selected by the value of @code{woman-manpath-man-regexp}.
942Non-directory and unreadable files are ignored. This can also contain
943conses, with the car indicating a @code{PATH} variable component mapped
944to the directory tree given in the cdr.
945
946@cindex @code{MANPATH}, environment variable
947If not set then the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is used. If no
948such environment variable is found, the default list is determined by
949consulting the man configuration file if found. By default this is
950expected 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}
953denotes the default list. Otherwise, the default value of this variable
954is
955
956@lisp
957("/usr/man" "/usr/local/man")
958@end lisp
959
960Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
961@code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
962regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
963evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name. Trailing @file{/}s are
964ignored. (Specific directories in @code{woman-path} are also searched.)
965
966On Microsoft platforms I recommend including drive letters explicitly,
967e.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
975The @code{MANPATH} environment variable may be set using DOS
976semi-colon-separated or Unix-style colon-separated syntax (but not
977mixed).
978
979@item woman-manpath-man-regexp
980A 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
983case-insensitive mainly for the benefit of Microsoft platforms. Its
984purpose is to avoid directories such as @file{cat?}, @file{.},
985@file{..}, etc.
986
987@item woman-path
988A list of strings representing @emph{specific directories} to search for
989Unix manual files. For example
990
991@lisp
992("/emacs/etc")
993@end lisp
994
995These directories are searched in addition to the directory trees
996specified in @code{woman-manpath}. Each element should be a directory
997string or @code{nil}, which represents the current directory when the
998path is expanded and cached. However, the last component (only) of each
999directory string is treated as a regexp (Emacs, not shell) and the
1000string is expanded into a list of matching directories. Non-directory
1001and 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
1008and on other platforms is @code{nil}.
1009
1010Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
1011@code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
1012regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
1013evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name (regexp, see above). For
1014example
1015
1016@lisp
1017("$EMACSDATA")
1018@end lisp
1019
1020@noindent
1021or equivalently
1022
1023@lisp
1024("$EMACS_DIR/etc")
1025@end lisp
1026
1027@noindent
1028Trailing @file{/}s are discarded. (The directory trees in
1029@code{woman-manpath} are also searched.) On Microsoft platforms I
1030recommend including drive letters explicitly.
1031
1032@item woman-cache-level
1033A positive integer representing the level of topic caching:
1034
1035@enumerate
1036@item
1037cache only the topic and directory lists (uses minimal memory, but not
1038recommended);
1039@item
1040cache also the directories for each topic (faster, without using much
1041more memory);
1042@item
1043cache also the actual filenames for each topic (fastest, but uses twice
1044as much memory).
1045@end enumerate
1046
1047The 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
1049particularly beneficial with large remote-mounted man directories. Run
1050the @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
1052behave like 1; values > 3 behave like 3.)
1053
1054@item woman-cache-filename
1055Either a string representing the full pathname of the WoMan directory
1056and topic cache file, or @code{nil}. It is used to save and restore the
1057cache between Emacs sessions. This is especially useful with
1058remote-mounted man page files! The default value of @code{nil}
1059suppresses 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
1064A list of @code{dired} mode keys to be defined to run WoMan on the
1065current file, e.g.@: @code{("w" "W")} or any non-@code{nil} atom to
1066automatically 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
1070Imenu support for Sections and Subsections: an alist with elements of
1071the 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
1080A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan adds
1081a Contents menu to the menubar by calling @code{imenu-add-to-menubar}.
1082
1083@item woman-imenu-title
1084A string representing the title to use if WoMan adds a Contents menu to
1085the menubar. Default is @code{"CONTENTS"}.
1086
1087@item woman-use-topic-at-point
1088A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then
1089the @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
1093A 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
1096when @code{woman} is loaded, in which case its global value does not
1097get defined. The function @code{woman-file-name} sets it to this
1098value if it is unbound.]
1099
1100@item woman-uncompressed-file-regexp
1101A regular match expression used to select man source files (ignoring any
1102compression extension). The default value is
1103@code{"\\.\\([0-9lmnt]\\w*\\)"} [which means a filename extension is
1104required].
1105
1106@emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1107
1108The SysV standard man pages use two character suffixes, and this is
1109becoming more common in the GNU world. For example, the man pages in
1110the @code{ncurses} package include @file{toe.1m}, @file{form.3x}, etc.
1111
1112@strong{Please note:} an optional compression regexp will be appended,
1113so this regexp @emph{must not} end with any kind of string terminator
1114such as @code{$} or @code{\\'}.
1115
1116@item woman-file-compression-regexp
1117A regular match expression used to match compressed man file extensions
1118for which decompressors are available and handled by auto-compression
1119mode. 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
1128complicated, includes an inappropriate extension (@file{.tgz}) and is
1129not loaded by default!]
1130
1131@item woman-use-own-frame
1132If non-@code{nil} then use a dedicated frame for displaying WoMan windows.
1133This is useful only when WoMan is run under a window system such as X or
1134Microsoft Windows that supports real multiple frames, in which case the
1135default 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
1144These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
1145
1146@vtable @code
1147@item woman-fill-column
1148An integer specifying the right margin for formatted text. Default is
114965.
1150
1151@item woman-fill-frame
1152A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then most of the frame width is used,
1153overriding the value of @code{woman-fill-column}. Default is @code{nil}.
1154
1155@item woman-default-indent
1156An integer specifying the default prevailing indent for the @code{-man}
1157macros. Default is 5. Set this variable to 7 to emulate GNU/Linux man
1158formatting.
1159
1160@item woman-bold-headings
1161A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then embolden section and subsection
1162headings. Default is @code{t}. [Heading emboldening is @emph{not} standard
1163@code{man} behavior.]
1164
1165@item woman-ignore
1166A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then unrecognised requests etc. are
1167ignored. Default is @code{t}. This gives the standard @code{roff} behavior.
1168If @code{nil} then they are left in the buffer, which may aid debugging.
1169
1170@item woman-preserve-ascii
1171A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then preserve @acronym{ASCII} characters in the
1172WoMan buffer. Otherwise, non-@acronym{ASCII} characters (that display as
1173@acronym{ASCII}) may remain, which is irrelevant unless the buffer is to be
1174saved to a file. Default is @code{nil}.
1175
1176@item woman-emulation
1177WoMan emulation, currently either @code{nroff} or @code{troff}. Default
1178is @code{nroff}. @code{troff} emulation is experimental and largely
1179untested.
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
1188These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
1189man page.
1190
1191@vtable @code
1192@item woman-fontify
1193A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan assumes that face support is
1194available. It defaults to a non-@code{nil} value if the display supports
1195either colors or different fonts.
1196
1197@item woman-italic-face
1198Face for italic font in man pages. Default: italic, underlined,
1199foreground red. This is overkill! @code{troff} uses just italic;
1200@code{nroff} uses just underline. You should probably select either
1201italic or underline as you prefer, but not both, although italic and
1202underline work together perfectly well!
1203
1204@item woman-bold-face
1205Face for bold font in man pages. Default: bold, foreground blue.
1206
1207@item woman-unknown-face
1208Face for all unknown fonts in man pages. Default: foreground brown.
1209Brown is a good compromise: it is distinguishable from the default but
1210not enough so as to make font errors look terrible. (Files that use
1211non-standard fonts seem to do so badly or in idiosyncratic ways!)
1212
1213@item woman-addition-face
1214Face for all additions made by WoMan to man pages.
1215Default: 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
1224This section currently applies @emph{only} to Microsoft Windows.
1225
1226WoMan provides partial experimental support for special symbols,
1227initially only for MS-Windows and only for MS-Windows fonts. This
1228includes both non-@acronym{ASCII} characters from the main text font and use
1229of a separate symbol font. Later, support will be added for other font
1230types (e.g.@: @code{bdf} fonts) and for the X Window System. In Emacs
123120.7, the current support works partially under Windows 9x but may not
1232work on any other platform.
1233
1234@vtable @code
1235@item woman-use-extended-font
1236A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use non-@acronym{ASCII} characters
1237from the default font. Default is @code{t}.
1238
1239@item woman-use-symbol-font
1240A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use the symbol font.
1241Default is @code{nil}, mainly because it may change the line spacing (at
1242least in NTEmacs 20).
1243
1244@item woman-symbol-font
1245A string describing the symbol font to use for special characters.
1246It should be compatible with, and the same size as, the default text font.
1247Under 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
1263This is modeled on the Emacs byte-compiler. It logs all files
1264formatted by WoMan and the time taken. If WoMan finds anything that it
1265cannot 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
1267WoMan automatically displays this buffer. @xref{Interface Options, ,
1268Interface Options}. Many WoMan warnings can be completely ignored,
1269because they are reporting the fact that WoMan has ignored requests that
1270it is correct for WoMan to ignore. In some future version this level of
1271paranoia may be reduced, but not until WoMan is deemed more reliable.
1272At present, all warnings should be treated with some suspicion.
1273Uninterpreted escape sequences are also logged (in some cases).
1274
1275By resetting the variable @code{woman-ignore} to @code{nil} (by default
1276it is @code{t}), uninterpreted @code{roff} requests can optionally be
1277left 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
1293WoMan currently assumes 10 characters per inch horizontally, hence a
1294horizontal resolution of 24 basic units, and 5 lines per inch
1295vertically, hence a vertical resolution of 48 basic units.
1296(@code{nroff} uses 240 per inch.)
1297
1298@heading Vertical spacing and blank lines
1299
1300The number of consecutive blank lines in the formatted buffer should be
1301either 0 or 1. A blank line should leave a space like .sp 1.
1302Current policy is to output vertical space only immediately before text
1303is 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
1313If WoMan fails completely, or formats a file incorrectly (i.e.@:
1314obviously wrongly or significantly differently from @code{man}) or
1315inelegantly, then please
1316
1317@enumerate
1318@item
1319try the latest version of @file{woman.el} from the Emacs CVS repository
1320on @uref{http://savannah.gnu.org/}. If it still fails, please
1321
1322@item
1323send 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
1326a brief description of the problem. Please indicate where you got the
1327man 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
1337For Heather, Kathryn and Madelyn, the women in my life (although they
1338will probably never use it)!
1339
1340I also thank the following for helpful suggestions, bug reports, code
1341fragments, general interest, etc.:
1342
1343@quotation
1344Jari Aalto, @email{jari.aalto@@cs.tpu.fi}@*
1345Dean Andrews, @email{dean@@dra.com}@*
1346Juanma Barranquero, @email{barranquero@@laley-actualidad.es}@*
1347Karl Berry, @email{kb@@cs.umb.edu}@*
1348Jim Chapman, @email{jchapman@@netcomuk.co.uk}@*
1349Frederic Corne, @email{frederic.corne@@erli.fr}@*
1350Peter Craft, @email{craft@@alacritech.com}@*
1351Charles Curley, @email{ccurley@@trib.com}@*
1352Jim Davidson, @email{jdavidso@@teknowledge.com}@*
1353Kevin D'Elia, @email{Kevin.DElia@@mci.com}@*
1354John Fitch, @email{jpff@@maths.bath.ac.uk}@*
1355Hans Frosch, @email{jwfrosch@@rish.b17c.ingr.com}@*
1356Guy Gascoigne-Piggford, @email{ggp@@informix.com}@*
1357Brian Gorka, @email{gorkab@@sanchez.com}@*
1358Nicolai Henriksen, @email{nhe@@lyngso-industri.dk}@*
1359Thomas Herchenroeder, @email{the@@software-ag.de}@*
1360Alexander Hinds, @email{ahinds@@thegrid.net}@*
1361Stefan Hornburg, @email{sth@@hacon.de}@*
1362Theodore Jump, @email{tjump@@cais.com}@*
1363Paul Kinnucan, @email{paulk@@mathworks.com}@*
1364Jonas Linde, @email{jonas@@init.se}@*
1365Andrew McRae, @email{andrewm@@optimation.co.nz}@*
1366Howard Melman, @email{howard@@silverstream.com}@*
1367Dennis Pixton, @email{dennis@@math.binghamton.edu}@*
1368T. V. Raman, @email{raman@@Adobe.com}@*
1369Bruce Ravel, @email{bruce.ravel@@nist.gov}@*
1370Benjamin Riefenstahl, @email{benny@@crocodial.de}@*
1371Kevin Ruland, @email{kruland@@seistl.com}@*
1372Tom Schutter, @email{tom@@platte.com}@*
1373Wei-Xue Shi, @email{wxshi@@ma.neweb.ne.jp}@*
1374Fabio Somenzi, @email{fabio@@joplin.colorado.edu}@*
1375Karel Sprenger, @email{ks@@ic.uva.nl}@*
1376Chris Szurgot, @email{szurgot@@itribe.net}@*
1377Paul A. Thompson, @email{pat@@po.cwru.edu}@*
1378Arrigo Triulzi, @email{arrigo@@maths.qmw.ac.uk}@*
1379Geoff Voelker, @email{voelker@@cs.washington.edu}@*
1380Eli 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