- mdocml is a suite of tools compiling “-mdoc”, the roff macro - package of choice for BSD manual pages. The mission of mdocml is to deprecate - groff, the GNU roff implementation, - for displaying -mdoc pages. + mdocml is a suite of tools compiling “-mdoc”, the roff macro package + of choice for BSD manual pages, and “-man”, the predominant historical package for UNIX + manuals. The mission of mdocml is to deprecate groff, the GNU roff implementation, for + displaying mdoc(7) pages whilst providing token support for man(7).
+ What are UNIX manuals? Read manuals(7) for an introduction. +
+ +Why? groff amounts to over 5 MB of source code, most of which is C++ and all of which is GPL. It runs slowly, produces uncertain output, and varies in operation from system to system. mdocml strives to fix this (respectively small, C, ISC-licensed, fast and regular).
- The core of mdocml is the libmdoc library, a validating scanner-parser producing - intermediate-form output from -mdoc input. libmdoc is a simple, fast library operating on memory - buffers, so it can be used for a variety of front-ends (terminal-based, CGI and so on). + The core of mdocml are the man(3) and mdoc(3) libraries, validating compilers producing intermediate-form + output from -man or -mdoc input. Both are simple, fast libraries operating on memory buffers, so they + may be used for a variety of front-ends (terminal-based, CGI and so on).
- The primary front-end is mandoc(1), which formats -mdoc manuals for display on - the terminal. The mandoc(1) utility is intended to deprecate usage of groff for displaying mdoc manuals on the - terminal. + The primary front-end is mandoc(1), which formats manuals for + display on the terminal. Its purpose is to deprecate usage of groff for displaying -mdoc and, to a + limited extent, -man manuals on the terminal.
@@ -69,7 +75,7 @@
The most current version is @VERSION@, dated - @VDATE@. + @VDATE@.
CVS sources are checkedout and snapshotted with version updates. These may be found in the /snapshots/ directory. + href="/snapshots/">/snapshots/ directory. A full ChangeLog is + written with each new snapshot.
% cd /tmp
- % ftp -V -o- http://mdocml.bsd.lv/snapshots/mdocml.tar.gz | tar -zvxf -
+ % ftp -V -o-
+ http://mdocml.bsd.lv/snapshots/mdocml.tar.gz | tar -zvxf -
% cd mdocml
% make all
- % make regress
# make install
- # pkg_delete mdocml
- # cd /usr/ports/textproc/
- # rm -rf mdocml
- # ftp -V -o- http://mdocml.bsd.lv/ports-freebsd/mdocml.tar.gz | tar -zvxf -
+ # pkg_delete -x mdocml
+ # cd /tmp
+ # ftp -V -o-
+ http://mdocml.bsd.lv/ports-freebsd/mdocml.tar.gz | tar -zvxf -
# cd mdocml
- # make build
+ # make
# make install
@@ -171,7 +181,7 @@