gbranden pushed a commit to branch master
in repository groff.
commit de46ad6e0010a2d64c51abf4a610a95c02e4beec
Author: G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]>
AuthorDate: Thu Jan 1 01:33:06 2026 -0600
[mm]: Tweak footnote rule cosmetics in nroff mode.
* contrib/mm/m.tmac (ft@init-footnote): Draw footnote separator with em
dash `\[em]` in nroff mode, for better cosmetics.
(let*mt-sign): Annotate why we don't do the same here.
---
contrib/mm/ChangeLog | 6 ++++++
contrib/mm/m.tmac | 12 +++++++++++-
2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/contrib/mm/ChangeLog b/contrib/mm/ChangeLog
index 68083911d..925acd894 100644
--- a/contrib/mm/ChangeLog
+++ b/contrib/mm/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2026-01-01 G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]>
+
+ * m.tmac (ft@init-footnote): Draw footnote separator with
+ em dash `\[em]` in nroff mode, for better cosmetics.
+ (let*mt-sign): Annotate why we don't do the same here.
+
2025-12-31 G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]>
* mm.am (EXTRA_DIST): Ship "COPYRIGHT" file in distribution
diff --git a/contrib/mm/m.tmac b/contrib/mm/m.tmac
index 0c43d7695..bbadeb4b9 100644
--- a/contrib/mm/m.tmac
+++ b/contrib/mm/m.tmac
@@ -2060,7 +2060,13 @@ breaking page
.\" init footnote diversion
.de ft@init-footnote
.debug@di ft*div
-\l'20n'
+.\" Use the em dash to draw the rule in nroff mode, since terminal
+.\" devices generally don't have a baseline rule glyph. The "low line"
+.\" descends below the baseline and terminal fonts generally don't have
+.\" it span the character cell completely. (A Unicode font might do so
+.\" for the em dash; we make a best-effort attempt to look pleasant.)
+.ie t .nop \l'20n'
+.el .nop \l'20n\[em]'
.br
.debug@di
.nr ft*note-size \\n[dn]
@@ -3926,6 +3932,10 @@ undefined
.\" Approval signature
.nr let*name-line-length 40n
.nr let*date-line-length 15n
+.\" We _don't_ use em dashes instead of low lines in nroff mode here
+.\" (see ft@init-footnote). The low line better approximates a baseline
+.\" rule to indicate where a human should apply a stylus to paper, and
+.\" a broken rather than a solid rule is not a defect for this purpose.
.ds let*name-line \l'\n[let*name-line-length]u'
.ds let*date-line \l'\n[let*date-line-length]u'
.nr let*approval-gap 5m
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