URL: <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?68543>
Summary: groff_man_style(7): add notes on use of font escape
sequences
Group: GNU roff
Submitter: None
Submitted: Tue 21 Jul 2026 12:55:00 PM UTC
Category: Macro package man
Severity: 3 - Normal
Item Group: Documentation
Status: None
Privacy: Public
Assigned to: None
Open/Closed: Open
Discussion Lock: Unlocked
Planned Release: None
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Follow-up Comments:
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Date: Tue 21 Jul 2026 12:55:00 PM UTC By: Anonymous
Branden posted the following in
http://lists.gnu.org/r/groff/2026-05/msg00022.html and asked for feedback on
the proposal. None was provided. (The replies in the thread cover different
parts of the message.) This at least indicates no one is opposed, and his
proposal does seem to address a real and recurring issue, thus this ticket to
stick a pin in the idea.
----
I know I'll never get man page authors as a whole to give up their font escape
sequences; the best I can do is try to convince people that using them has
drawbacks, by spelling out what those drawbacks are.
* The formatter can't distinguish typos from intentional but impossible
demands;
* because font escape sequences "punch through the floor" and directly command
the formatter, the macro package can't help you by checking font availability
for itself and then falling back to something "reasonable" in context (and
taking output device capabilities into account);
* the identity of the "previous font", as selected by `\fP`, is inconsistent
among implementations if an un-fulfillable selection is made;[1]
* input like `\fIthis\fP` frustrates many spell checkers; and
* groff man(7), at least, knows to apply italic corrections when the document
sets upright and slanted glyphs adjacently.
Maybe I should stick the foregoing into the "Notes" section...of the
groff_man_style(7) document.
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