/contrib/groff/contrib/groffer/README

  1README
  2
  3The `groffer' program is the easiest way to read documents written in
  4some `roff' language, such as the `man pages', the manual pages in
  5many operating systems.
  6
  7
  8Input
  9
 10Input comes from either standard input or command line parameters that
 11represent names of exisiting roff files or standardized specifications
 12for searching man pages.  All of these can be compressed in a format
 13that is decompressible by `gzip', including `.gz', `bz2', and `.Z'.
 14
 15`groffer' has many built-in `man' functionalities to find and read the
 16manual pages on UNIX and similar operating systems.  It accepts the
 17information from an installed `man' program, but tries to find a man
 18path by itself.
 19
 20`groffer' bundles all filespec parameters into a single output file in
 21the same way as `groff'.  The disadvantage of this is that all file
 22name arguments must use the same groff language.  To change this, the
 23option parsing must be revised for large parts.  It seems that this
 24would create incompatibilities, so the actual option strategy is kept.
 25
 26
 27Output
 28
 29All input is first sent to `grog' to determine the necessary `groff'
 30options and then to `groff'.  So no special `groff' arguments must be
 31given.  But all `groff' options can be specified when this seems to be
 32appropriate.
 33
 34The following displaying modes for the output are available:
 35- Display formatted input with
 36-- the X `roff' viewer `gxditview',
 37-- a Postcript viewer,
 38-- a PDF viewer,
 39-- a DVI viewer,
 40-- a web browser,
 41-- a pager in a text terminal (tty).
 42- Generate `groff' output on stdout without a viewer.
 43- Generate the `groff intermediate output' on standard output without
 44  postprocessing.
 45- Output the source code without any `groff' processing.
 46- There are some information outputs without `groff' processing, such
 47  as by option `-V' and the `man' like `whatis' and `apropos'
 48  outputs.
 49
 50By default, the program tries to display with `gxditview' as graphical
 51device in X; on non-X text terminals, the `tty' text mode with a pager
 52is tried by default.
 53
 54
 55Compatibility
 56
 57`groffer' consists of two shell scripts.  It should run on any POSIX
 58or Bourne style shell that supports shell functions.  See file
 59`README_SH' for more information.
 60
 61
 62Mailing lists
 63
 64For reporting bugs of `groffer', groff's free mailing list
 65<bug-groff@gnu.org> can be used.
 66
 67For a general discussion, the mailing list <groff@gnu.org> is more
 68useful, but one has to subscribe to this list at
 69http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/groff.
 70
 71See the `README' file in the top directory of the `groff' source
 72package for more details on these mailing lists.
 73
 74
 75####### License
 76
 77Last update: 2 August 2005
 78
 79Copyright (C) 2003,2004,2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 80Written by Bernd Warken
 81
 82This file is part of `groffer', which is part of `groff'.
 83
 84`groff' is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 85under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 86the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
 87any later version.
 88
 89`groff' is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 90ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 91FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
 92for more details.
 93
 94You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 95along with `groff'; see the files COPYING and LICENSE in the top
 96directory of the `groff' source.  If not, write to the Free Software
 97Foundation, 51 Franklin St - Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
 98
 99
100####### Emacs settings
101
102Local Variables:
103mode: text
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