Re: [Groff] tbl problems in man

[Michael(tm) Smith]

Werner LEMBERG <address@hidden>, 2007-02-06 12:35 +0100:

> I still think that tables with T{...T} don't work well within man
> pages.

I see the specific problem in the example man page you attached,
and I've also seen the especially bad results produced when tables
have more than two columns. So I'd really like to have a better
way of handling those cases.

But is there a backward compatible way to avoid T{...T} ? I ask
because I currently have the DocBook manpages stylesheets
generating T{...T} for all tables it outputs. Because DocBook
tables can contain "block" content such as itemized/ordered lists,
not just simple text.

> Instead, .TP and TQ should be used, as demonstrated in the
> attached file.

But on my system, with groff 1.8.1.1 installed from the current
package in Debian "testing", when I view the part of that file
that's marked up with TQ, I just get this:

  Arg    Placement  0  Abstract  is  printed  on page 1 and on the
         cover sheet if used in the released-paper style  (MT  4),
         otherwise  it is printed on page 1 without a cover sheet.
         1 Abstract is only printed  on  the  cover  sheet  (MT  4
         only).   2  Abstract  is  printed only on the cover sheet
         (other than MT 4 only).  The cover sheet is printed with‐
         out a need for CS.

And looking in the Macro Index of the groff info page, I see no
mention of TQ. Where is TQ documented?

  --Mike