Update of bug #68085 (group groff):

                Severity:              3 - Normal => 1 - Wish
              Item Group:     Incorrect behaviour => Feature change
                  Status:                    None => Postponed

    _______________________________________________________

Follow-up Comment #1:

[comment #0 original submission:]
> Inspecting the m.tmac source it seems to be possible (possibly not
> intentional ;) to change the values of the `let*name-line-length` and
> `let*date-line-length` registers and change the length of the name and date
> lines rendered using the AV macro.

Right.  These aren't officially exposed parameters, and the behavior you're
observing is not a regression from a previous _groff_ release.

In fact, former _groff_ releases, at least in nroff mode, made things pretty
ugly by default.


$ cat ATTIC/68085.mm 
.PH "''''"
.if r nll .nr let*name-line-length \n[nll]
.AV
$ ~/groff-1.23.0/bin/nroff -mm ATTIC/68085.mm | cat -s

       

       APPROVED:

       ______________________________      ______________
                                    Date



_groff_ 1.22.4 and 1.22.3 output look exactly the same.
 
> However m.tmac uses \n[…] instead of \\n[…] when defining the strings
> `let*name-line` and `let*date-line` which render the actual line, yet the
> Letdate string is placed using \\n[…] causing misalignment.
> 
> Here's a minimal working example (MWE):

> cat mwe-mm-av-line-length.mm
> .PH "''''"
> .if r nll .nr let*name-line-length \n[nll]
> .AV


> 
> With the default values the Letdate string is placed nicely in the center
> below the date line

> nroff -mm mwe-mm-av-line-length.mm | cat -s
> 
> 
> 
> APPROVED:
> 
> ________________________________________     _______________
> Date


> 
> If the length of the name line is changed however, the actual length of the
> name line stays 40n (default in m.tmac) yet the Letdate string is placed at
> 20n, causing misalignment:

> nroff -mm -rnll=20n mwe-mm-av-line-length.mm | cat -s
> 
> 
> 
> APPROVED:
> 
> ________________________________________     _______________
> Date


> 
> With the attached patch applied the name line length is shorter and the
> Letdate string is once again place nicely in the center below the date line:

> nroff -M ~src/groff/contrib/mm -mm -rnll=20n mwe-mm-av-line-length.mm | cat
> -s
> 
> 
> 
> APPROVED:
> 
> ____________________     _______________
> Date


This isn't a bad idea at all.  I can see adding an `Avlen` register to
officially parameterize this value.

...in _groff_ 1.25.  While I haven't pronounced a total code freeze, the hour
is getting late for feature changes to _groff_, even in macro packages, now
that we're on our fourth release candidate for 1.24 (and still finding
regressions relative to past releases).

At some point I have to crack the release manager whip--on myself most of
all.

So Severity => Wish,
Item Group => Feature change,
Status => Postponed.


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