[groff] 01/17: NEWS: Clarify recent device control changes.

[G. Branden Robinson]

gbranden pushed a commit to branch master
in repository groff.

commit 636937b1d20c5129d623b6485e5732691f23a9e3
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
AuthorDate: Tue Jan 16 09:26:03 2024 -0600

    NEWS: Clarify recent device control changes.
---
 NEWS | 20 ++++++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index dfda18c9a..94b8aa060 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -43,12 +43,20 @@ o The read-only registers `.m` and `.M` now interpolate 
"default" when
 
 o The `device` request no longer reads its arguments in copy mode; this
   change makes it more consistent with the `\X` device control command
-  escape sequence.  This request also no longer emits a self-quoted
-  *roff escape character as itself, but instead as a backslash.
-  (troff's input and output languges are not the same thing.)  These
-  changes are to enable postprocessors to reliably interpret device
-  control commands that wish to express arbitrary byte sequences.  For
-  example, PDF bookmarks need to be expressed in UTF-16LE.
+  escape sequence.
+
+o The `device` request and `\X` escape sequence no longer emit a
+  self-quoted *roff escape character as itself, but instead as a
+  backslash, because troff's input and output languges are not the same
+  thing, and to avoid the need to extend the *roff output language to
+  support a configurable escape character.
+
+  This and the previous change are to enable postprocessors to reliably
+  interpret device control commands that wish to express arbitrary
+  character sequences (using whatever escaping convention they prefer)
+  without requiring different syntax for the arguments to the `device`
+  request and `\X` escape sequences.  For example, PDF bookmarks need to
+  be expressed in UTF-16LE.
 
 eqn
 ---