At 2025-12-23T16:49:05-0600, Dave Kemper wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM G. Branden Robinson
> I don't object to this particular change -- I agree that it being a
> debugging rather than production request gives its back compatibility
> less weight -- but to the idea that groff innovations are absolved
> from compatibility responsibilities.  That ignores how much of troff
> history *is* now groff history.

Point taken.  I'll soften my rationale to a claim that the groff request
name `ptr` is _less_ sacrosanct than the AT&T `pm` request name.

We can retain the "compatibility wrapper macro" for as long as seems
necessary.  I'll be curious to see how much feedback we get from
groff 1.24.0 users on the `hpfcode` "rug pull".

NEWS:

*  The `hpfcode` request now emits an error when used, advising of its
   planned withdrawal, but then proceeds with normal behavior.  The
   documented replacement mechanism, the `hcode` request, has existed
   since groff 1.02 (June 1991) at the latest.

Regards,
Branden

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