CVSROOT: /cvs
Module name: src
Changes by: [email protected] 2026/08/09 10:22:40
Modified files:
share/man/man7 : man.7
Log message:
Some corrections and updates in the introductory paragraph:
* From 1979 to 1989, not only AT&T UNIX used man(7), but so did all other
Unix-like systems including BSD, SunOS, and all the others.
* While the statement that man(7) was "purely presentational" was
mostly (though not entirely) true when written, it is no longer
accurate. A number of semantic macros have since been added, even
though far less systematically than in mdoc(7).
* Mention the situation in Linux and GNU roff. Knowing about that is
relevant for all, including our users, because it means people will
continue to find many man(7) pages in the wild, including some that
will fail badly with old versions of groff(1).
* Point to GNU roff documentation for the unlikely case that someone
sees themselves forced to write new man(7) code.
About half of the the ideas and a few wordings were suggested to me
by G. Branden Robinson.
