=================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/mandoc/mdoc.7,v retrieving revision 1.20 retrieving revision 1.39 diff -u -p -r1.20 -r1.39 --- mandoc/mdoc.7 2009/04/12 19:19:57 1.20 +++ mandoc/mdoc.7 2009/07/12 15:32:26 1.39 @@ -1,22 +1,20 @@ -.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.20 2009/04/12 19:19:57 kristaps Exp $ +.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.39 2009/07/12 15:32:26 kristaps Exp $ .\" -.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons +.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any -.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the -.\" above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all -.\" copies. +.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above +.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies. .\" -.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL -.\" WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED -.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE -.\" AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL -.\" DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR -.\" PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER -.\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR -.\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. +.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES +.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF +.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR +.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES +.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN +.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF +.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. .\" -.Dd $Mdocdate: April 12 2009 $ +.Dd $Mdocdate: July 12 2009 $ .Dt MDOC 7 .Os .\" SECTION @@ -30,10 +28,15 @@ The language is used to format .Bx .Ux -manuals. In this reference document, we describe the syntax, ontology -and structure of the +manuals. In this reference document, we describe the syntax and +structure of the .Nm -language. +language. Our reference implementation is +.Xr mandoc 1 . +The +.Sx COMPATIBILITY +section describes compatibility with +.Xr groff 1 . .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp An @@ -43,7 +46,7 @@ character .Sq \. are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of prior macros: -.Bd -literal -offset XXX +.Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Sh Macro lines change control state. Other lines are interpreted within the current state. .Ed @@ -75,9 +78,19 @@ or .Sq \&.Bd \-unfilled contexts. .\" SUB-SECTION +.Ss Comments +Anything following a +.Sq \e" +delimiter is considered a comment (unless the +.Sq \e +itself has been escaped) and is ignored to the end of line. +Furthermore, a macro line with only a control character +.Sq \. , +optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored. +.\" SUB-SECTION .Ss Reserved Characters Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved: -.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset XXXX -compact +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact .It \&. .Pq period .It \&, @@ -98,6 +111,8 @@ Within a macro line, the following characters are rese .Pq question .It \&! .Pq exclamation +.It \&| +.Pq vertical bar .El .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp @@ -121,14 +136,41 @@ or a single one-character sequence. .Pp Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk, .Sq \e* , -with the same combinations as described above. This form is deprecated. +with the same combinations as described above. +.Pp +Terms may also be text-decorated using the +.Sq \ef +escape followed by a text-decoration letter: B (bold), I, (italic), or P +and R (Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended. +.\" SUB-SECTION +.Ss Whitespace +Unless in literal mode or specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of +whitespace are pruned from input. These are later re-added, if +applicable, by a front-end utility such as +.Xr mandoc 1 . .\" SECTION .Sh STRUCTURE -Macros are classified in an ontology described by their scope rules. -Some macros are allowed to deviate from their classifications to -preserve backward-compatibility with old macro combinations still found -in the manual corpus. These are specifically noted on a per-macro -basis. +Each +.Nm +document must begin with the document prologue, containing, in order, +.Sq \&.Dd , +.Sq \&.Dt , +and +.Sq \&.Os . +Following these, the document body must begin with the NAME section +containing at least one +.Sq \&.Nm +followed by a +.Sq \&.Nd +macro. +.Pp +At least one free-form or macro line must follow this prologue. +.\" +.Ss Classification +Macros are classified by their scope rules. Some macros are allowed to +deviate from their classifications to preserve backward-compatibility +with old macro combinations still found in the manual corpus. These are +specifically noted on a per-macro basis. .\" SUB-SECTION .Ss Scope .Bl -inset @@ -136,7 +178,7 @@ basis. .It Em Block macros enclose other block macros, in-line macros or text, and may span multiple lines. -.Bl -inset -offset XXXX +.Bl -inset -offset indent .\" LIST-ITEM .It Em Full-block macros always span multiple lines. They consist of zero or @@ -171,7 +213,7 @@ on whether it's parsable. In this table, refers to block full-explicit and so on. .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp -.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset XXXX -compact +.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent -compact .It BPE , BFE corresponding explicit closure macro .It BFI @@ -189,7 +231,7 @@ If a macro (block or in-line) is parsable, it may also one of the following scenarios (unless specifically noted otherwise): .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp -.Bl -dash -offset XXXX -compact +.Bl -dash -offset indent -compact .It a sequence of >0 space-separated .Sx Reserved Characters , @@ -222,7 +264,7 @@ closes it out (closure may be implicit at end-of-line .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp Block full-explicit (may contain head, body, tail). -.Bd -literal -offset XXXX +.Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB @@ -230,7 +272,7 @@ Block full-explicit (may contain head, body, tail). .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp Block full-implicit (may contain zero or more heads, body, no tail). -.Bd -literal -offset XXXX +.Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \&.Yc @@ -238,7 +280,7 @@ Block full-implicit (may contain zero or more heads, b .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp Block partial-explicit (may contain head, multi-line body, tail). -.Bd -literal -offset XXXX +.Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB @@ -252,22 +294,22 @@ Block partial-implicit (no head, body, no tail). Note section may be followed by zero or more .Sx Reserved Words . These are in the block scope, but not in the body scope. -.Bd -literal -offset XXXX +.Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBreserved...\(rB .Ed .\" PARAGRAPH .Pp In-lines have \(>=0 scoped arguments. -.Bd -literal -offset XXX +.Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yy \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \&.Yy \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN .Ed -.\" +.\" SECTION .Sh MACROS This section contains a complete list of all .Nm -macros, arranged ontologically. A +macros, arranged by classification. A .Qq callable macro is invoked subsequent to the initial macro-line macro. A .Qq parsable @@ -286,7 +328,7 @@ some .Pc don't have heads. .Pp -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Closing" -compact -offset XXXX +.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Closing" .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Closing .It \&.Sh Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta \&.Sh .It \&.Ss Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta \&.Sh, \&.Ss @@ -298,7 +340,7 @@ None of these macros are callable or parsed. The last the explicit scope rules. All contains bodies, some may contain heads .Pq So \&Bf Sc . .Pp -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX" -compact -offset XXXX +.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX" .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope .It \&.Bd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&.Ed .It \&.Ed Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by \&.Bd @@ -314,7 +356,7 @@ the explicit scope rules. All contains bodies, some m All of these are callable and parsed for further macros. Their scopes close at the invocation's end-of-line. .Pp -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset XXXX +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset indent .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable .It \&.Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes .It \&.Op Ta Yes Ta Yes @@ -335,7 +377,7 @@ The may be broken by .Sq \&.Oc as in the following example: -.Bd -literal -offset XXXX +.Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Oo \&.Op Fl a Oc .Ed @@ -354,7 +396,7 @@ head and/or tail .Pq So \&.Ec Sc . .Pp -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset XXXX +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope .It \&.Ao Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&.Ac .It \&.Ac Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&.Ao @@ -388,14 +430,14 @@ arguments is .Pq n , then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments. .Pp -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Arguments" -compact -offset XXXX +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Arguments .It \&.Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It \&.Dt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It \&.Os Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It \&.Pp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It \&.Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It \&.An Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta n +.It \&.An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It \&.Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It \&.Cd Ta Yes Ta \&No Ta >0 .It \&.Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n @@ -407,7 +449,7 @@ then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument .It \&.Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It \&.Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It \&.Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It \&.Ft Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta n +.It \&.Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It \&.Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It \&.In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It \&.Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n @@ -438,7 +480,7 @@ then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument .It \&.Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 .It \&.Em Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It \&.Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It \&.Ms Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It \&.Ms Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It \&.No Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 .It \&.Ns Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 .It \&.Nx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n @@ -457,8 +499,8 @@ then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument .It \&.Lb Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 .It \&.Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 .It \&.Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It \&.Lk Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It \&.Mt Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It \&.Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It \&.Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It \&.Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It \&.En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .El @@ -472,29 +514,54 @@ and macros are obsolete. .\" SECTION .Sh COMPATIBILITY -The mdoc language was traditionally a -.Qq roff -macro package; most existing manuals were written with mdoc syntax -dictated by system-dependent roff installations. This section documents -compatibility with these systems. +This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at +this time limited to +.Xr groff 1 . +The term +.Qq historic groff +refers to those versions before the +.Pa doc.tmac +file re-write +.Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 . .Pp .Bl -dash -compact .\" LIST-ITEM .It -.Sq \&.Fo +Some character sequences in groff are not handled depending on escape +style, e.g., +.Sq \e(ba and -.Sq \&.St -historically weren't always callable. Both are now correctly callable. +.Sq \e*(Ba +may not be interchanged. This is no longer the case: all character +sequences resolve to the same symbol, regardless the escape style. .\" LIST-ITEM .It +Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text +lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace +in free-form text lines. +.\" LIST-ITEM +.It +Historic groff has many un-callable macros. Most of these (excluding +some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming to the +non-historic groff version. +.\" LIST-ITEM +.It +The vertical bar +.Sq \(ba +made historic groff +.Qq go orbital +but is a proper delimiter in this implementation. +.\" LIST-ITEM +.It .Sq \&.It \-nested -is assumed for all lists: any list may be nested and +is assumed for all lists (it wasn't in historic groff): any list may be +nested and .Sq \-enum lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list. .\" LIST-ITEM .It .Sq \&.It \-column -syntax where column widths may be preceeded by other arguments (instead +syntax where column widths may be preceded by other arguments (instead of proceeded) is not supported. .\" LIST-ITEM .It @@ -503,26 +570,16 @@ The macro only accepts a single parameter. .\" LIST-ITEM .It -The system-name macros ( -.Ns Sq \&.At , -.Sq \&.Bsx , -.Sq \&.Bx , -.Sq \&.Fx , -.Sq \&.Nx , -.Sq \&.Ox , -and -.Sq \&.Ux ) -are callable. -.\" LIST-ITEM -.It Some manuals use .Sq \&.Li incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the delimiter to render. This is not supported. .\" LIST-ITEM .It -.Sq \&.Cd -is callable. +If an special-character control character is escaped +.Sq \e\e , +it will obviously not render the subsequent sequence. Even newer +versions of groff seem to dither on this. .El .\" SECTION .Sh SEE ALSO @@ -533,10 +590,10 @@ is callable. The .Nm utility was written by -.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@openbsd.org . +.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se . .\" SECTION .Sh CAVEATS -There are several ambiguous parts of mdoc. +There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc. .Pp .Bl -dash -compact .\" LIST-ITEM @@ -560,7 +617,7 @@ which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same co .It .Sq \&.Va should formalise that only one or two arguments are acceptable: a -variable name and optional, preceeding type. +variable name and optional, preceding type. .\" LIST-ITEM .It .Sq \&.Fd @@ -601,4 +658,13 @@ etc.). There's no way to refer to references in .Sq \&.Rs/.Re blocks. +.\" LIST-ITEM +.It +The \-split and \-nosplit arguments to +.Sq \&.An +are inane. +.\" LIST-ITEM +.It +The end-of-line whitespace warnings are superfluous holdovers from +historic groff. .El