Re: [Groff] Hey, our headman is in the news!

[Werner LEMBERG]

> > > Vertical shrinkable (or rather, stretchable) space can be
> > > done easily with macros and a diversion.
> > 
> > Well, yes, but using diversion has a lot of side effects...
> 
> What do you mean by "side effects"?

Mainly that data put into a diversion can't be completely
`unformatted'.  I don't feel too well in manipulating already
formatted data...

> I can think of only one real issue (which is, however, quite
> restrictive), and that is that when formatting directly to the page
> you can use an arbitrary number of position traps, while inside a
> diversion you have only one (!) diversion trap.

Yep.  Surprisingly, I'm only aware of a single macro package which
uses a diversion trap: My `underline' macro.

> (Would it make sense to lift this restriction and implement more
> traps in a diversion?)

Definitely.  It's on troff's TODO list since ever.  Do you volunteer?


    Werner