Re: [Groff] Does groff match my needs?

[Damian McGuckin]

On Wed, 11 Nov 2015, Clarke Echols wrote:

> I started using troff in 1985.  I've been using groff since 2009.

Myself since 1978. There are others on this list which go back longer.

> I used troff to produce the HP-UX Reference (Unix man pages manual for 
> HP for most of five years (3000 pages in 3 volumes at HP-UX 9.0). I also 
> used it (with my own macros to lay out and create the artwork for 
> printed circuits for use in a commercial electronic controller. I've 
> used it for everything from business cards to single-page letters to 
> 23-page white papers to 300 page novels and non-fiction books.

Impressive.

> I've used it to produce white papers for clients and user manuals for 
> power supplies used in NATO installations and US Army equipment.

While I do not work for someone as large as HP, we have used it for 90% of 
corporate reports over the last 30+ years. 50% of our published technical 
papers, and all corporate invoices and purchase orders. We have also used 
it as the output language of programs which write auto-generated reports 
and letters from (generally) databases.

> I write my own macros for everything I do.  It's an incredible tool
> if you take the time and trouble to get good at it.

I have used the 'MM' macros since 1978. I wrote and published a 50-page 
tutorial on MM in the late 1970s. I occassionally write my own macro.

I am writing a 100 page book currently on parallel programming using it.

> > >  These are:
> > >  -support for ?,?,?,?...
> > >  -supporting word division for german (possible compound) words
> > >  -supports A4 paper format
> > >  -export as pdf
> > > 
> > >  Are these features supported?

I can confirm all except word-division of german words. Others need to 
confirm that.

Regards - Damian

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