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1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2 @c %**start of header
3 @setfilename ../info/woman
4 @settitle WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
5 @c Manual last updated:
6 @set UPDATED Time-stamp: <2006-03-25 14:59:03 karl>
7 @c Software version:
8 @set VERSION 0.54 (beta)
9 @afourpaper
10 @c With different size paper the printed page breaks will need attention!
11 @c Look for @page and @need commands.
12 @setchapternewpage off
13 @paragraphindent 0
14 @c %**end of header
15
16 @copying
17 This file documents WoMan: A program to browse Unix manual pages `W.O.
18 (without) man'.
19
20 Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
21 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
22
23 @quotation
24 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
25 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
26 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
27 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
28 Manual,'' and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
29 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
30 License'' in the Emacs manual.
31
32 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
33 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
34 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
35
36 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
37 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
38 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
39 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
40 @end quotation
41 @end copying
42
43 @dircategory Emacs
44 @direntry
45 * WoMan: (woman). Browse UN*X Manual Pages "W.O. (without) Man".
46 @end direntry
47
48 @finalout
49
50 @titlepage
51 @title WoMan
52 @subtitle Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
53 @subtitle Software Version @value{VERSION}
54 @author Francis J. Wright
55 @sp 2
56 @author School of Mathematical Sciences
57 @author Queen Mary and Westfield College
58 @author (University of London)
59 @author Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
60 @author @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk}
61 @author @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/}
62 @sp 2
63 @author Manual Last Updated @value{UPDATED}
64
65 @comment The following two commands start the copyright page.
66 @page
67 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
68 @insertcopying
69 @end titlepage
70
71 @contents
72
73 @c ===================================================================
74
75 @ifnottex
76 @node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)
77 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
78 @top WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
79
80 @display
81 Software Version @value{VERSION}
82 Manual Last Updated @value{UPDATED}
83
84 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, Francis J. Wright}
85 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/, School of Mathematical Sciences}
86 Queen Mary and Westfield College (University of London)
87 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
88 @end display
89 @end ifnottex
90
91 @menu
92 * Introduction:: Introduction
93 * Background:: Background
94 * Finding:: Finding and Formatting Man Pages
95 * Browsing:: Browsing Man Pages
96 * Customization:: Customization
97 * Log:: The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
98 * Technical:: Technical Details
99 * Bugs:: Reporting Bugs
100 * Acknowledgements:: Acknowledgements
101 * Command Index:: Command Index
102 * Variable Index:: Variable Index
103 * Keystroke Index:: Keystroke Index
104 * Concept Index:: Concept Index
105 @end menu
106
107 @c ===================================================================
108
109 @node Introduction, Background, Top, Top
110 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
111 @chapter Introduction
112 @cindex introduction
113
114 This version of WoMan should run with GNU Emacs 20.3 or later on any
115 platform. It has not been tested, and may not run, with any other
116 version of Emacs. It was developed primarily on various versions of
117 Microsoft Windows, but has also been tested on MS-DOS, and various
118 versions of UNIX and GNU/Linux.
119
120 WoMan is distributed with GNU Emacs. In addition, the current source
121 code and documentation files are available from
122 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/, the WoMan web
123 server}.
124
125 WoMan implements a subset of the formatting performed by the Emacs
126 @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry}) command to format a Unix-style
127 @dfn{manual page} (usually abbreviated to @dfn{man page}) for display,
128 but without calling any external programs. It is intended to emulate
129 the whole of the @code{roff -man} macro package, plus those @code{roff}
130 requests (@pxref{Background, , Background}) that are most commonly used
131 in man pages. However, the emulation is modified to include the
132 reformatting done by the Emacs @code{man} command. No hyphenation is
133 performed.
134
135 @table @b
136 @item Advantages
137 Much more direct, does not require any external programs. Supports
138 completion on man page names.
139 @item Disadvantages
140 Not a complete emulation. Currently no support for @code{eqn} or
141 @code{tbl}. Slightly slower for large man pages (but usually faster for
142 small- and medium-size pages).
143 @end table
144
145 This browser works quite well on simple well-written man files. It
146 works less well on idiosyncratic files that ``break the rules'' or use
147 the more obscure @code{roff} requests directly. Current test results
148 are available in the file
149 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/files/woman.status,
150 @file{woman.status}}.
151
152 WoMan supports the use of compressed man files via
153 @code{auto-compression-mode} by turning it on if necessary. But you may
154 need to adjust the user option @code{woman-file-compression-regexp}.
155 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
156
157 Brief help on the WoMan interactive commands and user options, all of
158 which begin with the prefix @code{woman-} (or occasionally
159 @code{WoMan-}), is available most easily by loading WoMan and then
160 either running the command @code{woman-mini-help} or selecting the WoMan
161 menu option @samp{Mini Help}.
162
163 WoMan is (of course) still under development! Please
164 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, let me know} what doesn't work---I am
165 adding and improving functionality as testing shows that it is
166 necessary. Guidance on reporting bugs is given below. @xref{Bugs, ,
167 Reporting Bugs}.
168
169 @c ===================================================================
170
171 @node Background, Finding, Introduction, Top
172 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
173 @chapter Background
174 @cindex background
175
176 WoMan is a browser for traditional Unix-style manual page documentation.
177 Each such document is conventionally referred to as a @dfn{manual page},
178 or @dfn{man page} for short, even though some are very much longer than
179 one page. A man page is a document written using the Unix ``man''
180 macros, which are themselves written in the nroff/troff text processing
181 markup language. @code{nroff} and @code{troff} are text processors
182 originally written for the UNIX operating system by Joseph F. Ossanna at
183 Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA@. They are closely
184 related, and except in the few cases where the distinction between them
185 is important I will refer to them both ambiguously as @code{roff}.
186
187 @code{roff} markup consists of @dfn{requests} and @dfn{escape
188 sequences}. A request occupies a complete line and begins with either a
189 period or a single forward quote. An escape sequences is embedded
190 within the input text and begins (by default) with a backslash. The
191 original man macro package defines 20 new @code{roff} requests
192 implemented as macros, which were considered to be sufficient for
193 writing man pages. But whilst in principle man pages use only the man
194 macros, in practice a significant number use many other @code{roff}
195 requests.
196
197 The distinction between @code{troff} and @code{nroff} is that
198 @code{troff} was designed to drive a phototypesetter whereas
199 @code{nroff} was designed to produce essentially @acronym{ASCII} output for a
200 character-based device similar to a teletypewriter (usually abbreviated
201 to ``teletype'' or ``tty''). Hence, @code{troff} supports much finer
202 control over output positioning than does @code{nroff} and can be seen
203 as a forerunner of @TeX{}. Traditionally, man pages are either
204 formatted by @code{troff} for typesetting or by @code{nroff} for
205 printing on a character printer or displaying on a screen. Of course,
206 over the last 25 years or so, the distinction between typeset output on
207 paper and characters on a screen has become blurred by the fact that
208 most screens now support bit-mapped displays, so that any information
209 that can be printed can also be rendered on screen, the only difference
210 being the resolution.
211
212 Nevertheless, Unix-style manual page documentation is still normally
213 browsed on screen by running a program called @code{man}. This program
214 looks in a predefined set of directories for the man page matching a
215 specified topic, then either formats the source file by running
216 @code{nroff} or recovers a pre-formatted file, and displays it via a
217 pager such as @code{more}. @code{nroff} normally formats for a printer,
218 so it paginates the output, numbers the pages, etc., most of which is
219 irrelevant when the document is browsed as a continuous scrollable
220 document on screen. The only concession to on-screen browsing normally
221 implemented by the @code{man} program is to squeeze consecutive blank
222 lines into a single blank line.
223
224 For some time, Emacs has offered an improved interface for browsing man
225 pages in the form of the Emacs @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry})
226 command, see @ref{Documentation, man, Documentation Commands, emacs, GNU
227 Emacs Manual}.
228 This command runs @code{man} as described above, perhaps in
229 the background, and then post-processes the output to remove much of the
230 @code{nroff} pagination such as page headers and footers, and places the
231 result into an Emacs buffer. It puts this buffer into a special major
232 mode, which is tailored for man page browsing, and provides a number of
233 useful navigation commands, support for following references, etc. It
234 provides some support for special display faces (fonts), but no special
235 menu or mouse support. The Emacs man package appears to have been
236 developed over about 10 years, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.
237
238 There is considerable inefficiency in having @code{nroff} paginate a
239 document and then removing most of the pagination!
240
241 WoMan is an Emacs Lisp library that provides an emulation of the
242 functionality of the Emacs @code{man} command, the main difference being
243 that WoMan does not use any external programs. The only situation in
244 which WoMan might use an external program is when the source file is
245 compressed, when WoMan will use the standard Emacs automatic
246 decompression facility, which does call an external program.
247
248 I began developing WoMan in the Spring of 1997 and the first version was
249 released in May 1997. The original motivation for WoMan was the fact
250 that many GNU and Unix programs are ported to other platforms and come
251 with Unix-style manual page documentation. This may be difficult to
252 read because ports of the Unix-style @code{man} program can be a little
253 awkward to set up. I decided that it should not be too hard to emulate
254 the 20 @code{man} macros directly, without treating them as macros and
255 largely ignoring the underlying @code{roff} requests, given the text
256 processing capabilities of Emacs. This proved to be essentially true,
257 and it did not take a great deal of work to be able to format simple man
258 pages acceptably.
259
260 One problem arose with the significant number of man pages that use
261 @code{roff} requests in addition to the @code{man} macros, and since
262 releasing the first version of WoMan I have been continually extending
263 it to support more @code{roff} requests. WoMan can now format a
264 significant proportion of the man pages that I have tested, either well
265 or at least readably. However, I have added capabilities partly by
266 making additional passes through the document, a design that is
267 fundamentally flawed. This can only be solved by a major re-design of
268 WoMan to handle the major formatting within a single recursive pass,
269 rather than the present multiple passes without any significant
270 recursion. There are some @code{roff} requests that cannot be handled
271 satisfactorily within the present design. Some of these are currently
272 handled by kludges that ``usually more or less work.''
273
274 The principle advantage of WoMan is that it does not require @code{man},
275 and indeed the name WoMan is a contraction of ``without man.'' But it
276 has other advantages. It does not paginate the document, so it does not
277 need to un-paginate it again, thereby saving time. It could take full
278 advantage of the display capabilities available to it, and I hope to
279 develop WoMan to take advantage of developments in Emacs itself. At
280 present, WoMan uses several display faces to support bold and italic
281 text, to indicate other fonts, etc. The default faces are also
282 colored, but the choice of faces is customizable. WoMan provides menu
283 support for navigation and mouse support for following references, in
284 addition to the navigation facilities provided by @code{man} mode.
285 WoMan has (this) texinfo documentation!
286
287 WoMan @emph{does not} replace @code{man}, although it does use a number
288 of the facilities implemented in the Emacs @code{man} library. WoMan
289 and man can happily co-exist, which is very useful for comparison and
290 debugging purposes.
291
292 @code{nroff} simulates non-@acronym{ASCII} characters by using one or more
293 @acronym{ASCII} characters. WoMan should be able to do much better than
294 this. I have recently begun to add support for WoMan to use more of the
295 characters in its default font and to use a symbol font, and it is an
296 aspect that I intend to develop further in the near future. It should
297 be possible to move WoMan from an emulation of @code{nroff} to an
298 emulation of @code{troff} as GNU Emacs moves to providing bit-mapped
299 display facilities.
300
301 @node Finding, Browsing, Background, Top
302 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
303 @chapter Finding and Formatting Man Pages
304 @cindex using, finding man pages
305 @cindex using, formatting man pages
306 @cindex finding man pages
307 @cindex formatting man pages
308 @cindex man pages, finding
309 @cindex man pages, formatting
310
311 WoMan provides three user interfaces for finding and formatting man pages:
312
313 @itemize @bullet
314 @item
315 a topic interface similar to that provided by the standard Emacs
316 @code{man} command;
317
318 @item
319 a family of filename interfaces analogous to the standard Emacs
320 @code{view-file} command;
321
322 @item
323 an automatic interface that detects the file type from its contents.
324 (This is currently neither well tested, well supported nor recommended!)
325 @end itemize
326
327 The topic and filename interfaces support completion in the usual way.
328
329 The topic interface is generally the most convenient for regular use,
330 although it may require some special setup, especially if your machine
331 does not already have a conventional @code{man} installation (which
332 WoMan tries to detect).
333
334 The simplest filename interface command @code{woman-find-file} can
335 always be used with no setup at all (provided WoMan is installed and
336 loaded or set up to autoload).
337
338 The automatic interface always requires special setup.
339
340
341 @heading Case-Dependence of Filenames
342
343 @cindex case-sensitivity
344 @vindex w32-downcase-file-names
345 By default, WoMan ignores case in file pathnames only when it seems
346 appropriate. Microsoft Windows users who want complete case
347 independence should set the special NTEmacs variable
348 @code{w32-downcase-file-names} to @code{t} and use all lower case when
349 setting WoMan file paths.
350
351
352 @menu
353 * Topic:: Topic Interface
354 * Filename:: Filename Interface
355 * Automatic:: Automatic Interface
356 @end menu
357
358 @node Topic, Filename, Finding, Finding
359 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
360 @section Topic Interface
361 @cindex topic interface
362
363 The topic interface is accessed principally via the command
364 @code{woman}. The same command can be accessed via the menu item
365 @samp{Help->Manuals->Read Man Page (WoMan)...} once WoMan has been
366 loaded. The command reads a manual topic in the minibuffer, which can
367 be the @dfn{basename} of a man file anywhere in the man file
368 structure. The ``basename'' in this context means the filename
369 without any directory component and without any extension or suffix
370 components that relate to the file type. So, for example, if there is
371 a compressed source file in Chapter 5 of the UNIX Programmer's Manual
372 with the full pathname @file{/usr/local/man/man5/man.conf.5.gz} then
373 the topic is @code{man.conf}. Provided WoMan is configured correctly,
374 this topic will appear among the completions offered by @code{woman}.
375 If more than one file has the same topic name then WoMan will prompt
376 for which file to format. Completion of topics is case insensitive.
377
378 Clearly, @code{woman} has to know where to look for man files and there
379 are two customizable user options that store this information:
380 @code{woman-manpath} and @code{woman-path}. @xref{Interface Options, ,
381 Interface Options}. If @code{woman-manpath} is not set explicitly then
382 WoMan tries to pick up the information that would be used by the
383 @code{man} command, as follows. If the environment variable
384 @code{MANPATH} is set, which seems to be the standard mechanism under
385 UNIX, then WoMan parses that. Otherwise, if WoMan can find a
386 configuration file named (by default) @file{man.conf} (or something very
387 similar), which seems to be the standard mechanism under GNU/Linux, then
388 it parses that. To be precise, ``something very similar'' means having
389 two name components separated by a dot and respectively containing
390 @samp{man} and beginning with @samp{conf}, e.g.@: @file{manual.configuration}.
391 The search path and/or precise full path name for this file are set by
392 the value of the customizable user option @code{woman-man.conf-path}.
393 If all else fails, WoMan uses a plausible default man search path.
394
395 If the above default configuration does not work correctly for any
396 reason then simply customize the value of @code{woman-manpath}. To
397 access man files that are not in a conventional man file hierarchy,
398 customize the value of @code{woman-path} to include the directories
399 containing the files. In this way, @code{woman} can access manual files
400 @emph{anywhere} in the entire file system.
401
402 There are two differences between @code{woman-manpath} and
403 @code{woman-path}. Firstly, the elements of @code{woman-manpath} must
404 be directories that contain @emph{directories of} man files, whereas the
405 elements of @code{woman-path} must be directories that contain man files
406 @emph{directly}. Secondly, the last directory component of each element
407 of @code{woman-path} is treated as a regular (Emacs) match expression
408 rather than a fixed name, which allows collections of related
409 directories to be specified succinctly.
410
411 For topic completion to work, WoMan must build a list of all the manual
412 files that it can access, which can be very slow, especially if a
413 network is involved. For this reason, it caches various amounts of
414 information, after which retrieving it from the cache is very fast. If
415 the cache ever gets out of synchronism with reality, running the
416 @code{woman} command with a prefix argument (e.g.@: @kbd{C-u M-x woman})
417 will force it to rebuild its cache. This is necessary only if the names
418 or locations of any man files change; it is not necessary if only their
419 contents change. It would always be necessary if such a change occurred
420 whilst Emacs were running and after WoMan has been loaded. It may be
421 necessary if such a change occurs between Emacs sessions and persistent
422 caching is used, although WoMan can detect some changes that invalidate
423 its cache and rebuild it automatically.
424
425 Customize the variable @code{woman-cache-filename} to save the cache
426 between Emacs sessions. This is recommended only if the @code{woman}
427 command is too slow the first time it is run in an Emacs session, while
428 it builds its cache in main memory, which @emph{may} be @emph{very}
429 slow. @xref{Cache, , The WoMan Topic Cache}, for further details.
430
431
432 @menu
433 * Cache:: The WoMan Topic Cache
434 * Word at point:: Using the ``Word at Point'' as a Topic Suggestion
435 @end menu
436
437 @node Cache, Word at point, Topic, Topic
438 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
439 @subsection The WoMan Topic Cache
440 @cindex topic cache
441 @cindex cache, topic
442
443 The amount of information that WoMan caches (in main memory and,
444 optionally, saved to disc) is controlled by the user option
445 @code{woman-cache-level}. There is a trade-off between the speed with
446 which WoMan can find a file and the size of the cache, and the default
447 setting gives a reasonable compromise.
448
449 The @code{woman} command always performs a certain amount of caching in
450 main memory, but it can also write its cache to the filestore as a
451 persistent cache under control of the user option
452 @code{woman-cache-filename}. If persistent caching is turned on then
453 WoMan re-loads its internal cache from the cache file almost
454 instantaneously, so that there is never any perceptible start-up delay
455 @emph{except} when WoMan rebuilds its cache. Persistent caching is
456 currently turned off by default. This is because users with persistent
457 caching turned on may overlook the need to force WoMan to rebuild its
458 cache the first time they run it after they have installed new man
459 files; with persistent caching turned off, WoMan automatically rebuilds
460 its cache every time it is run in a new Emacs session.
461
462 A prefix argument always causes the @code{woman} command (only) to
463 rebuild its topic cache, and to re-save it to
464 @code{woman-cache-filename} if this variable has a non-@code{nil} value. This
465 is necessary if the @emph{names} of any of the directories or files in
466 the paths specified by @code{woman-manpath} or @code{woman-path} change.
467 If WoMan user options that affect the cache are changed then WoMan will
468 automatically update its cache file on disc (if one is in use) the next
469 time it is run in a new Emacs session.
470
471
472 @node Word at point, , Cache, Topic
473 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
474 @subsection Using the ``Word at Point'' as a Topic Suggestion
475 @cindex word at point
476 @cindex point, word at
477
478 By default, the @code{woman} command uses the word nearest to point in
479 the current buffer as a suggestion for the topic to look up. The topic
480 must be confirmed or edited in the minibuffer. This suggestion can be
481 turned off, or @code{woman} can use the suggested topic without
482 confirmation if possible, which is controlled by customizing the user
483 option @code{woman-topic-at-point} to @code{nil} or @code{t}
484 respectively. (Its default value is neither @code{nil} nor @code{t},
485 meaning ask for confirmation.)
486
487 The variable @code{woman-topic-at-point} can also be rebound locally
488 (using @code{let}), which may be useful to provide special private key
489 bindings, e.g.@: this key binding for @kbd{C-c w} runs WoMan on the topic
490 at point without seeking confirmation:
491
492 @lisp
493 (global-set-key "\C-cw"
494 (lambda ()
495 (interactive)
496 (let ((woman-topic-at-point t))
497 (woman))))
498 @end lisp
499
500
501 @node Filename, Automatic, Topic, Finding
502 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
503 @section Filename Interface
504 @cindex filename interface
505
506 The commands in this family are completely independent of the topic
507 interface, caching mechanism, etc.
508
509 @findex woman-find-file
510 The filename interface is accessed principally via the extended command
511 @code{woman-find-file}, which is available without any configuration at
512 all (provided WoMan is installed and loaded or set up to autoload).
513 This command can be used to browse any accessible man file, regardless
514 of its filename or location. If the file is compressed then automatic
515 file decompression must already be turned on (e.g.@: see the
516 @samp{Help->Options} submenu)---it is turned on automatically only by
517 the @code{woman} topic interface.
518
519 @findex woman-dired-find-file
520 Once WoMan is loaded (or if specially set up), various additional
521 commands in this family are available. In a dired buffer, the command
522 @code{woman-dired-find-file} allows the file on the same line as point
523 to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It is bound to the key @kbd{W} in
524 the dired mode map and added to the dired major mode menu. It may also
525 be bound to @kbd{w}, unless this key is bound by another library, which
526 it is by @code{dired-x}, for example. Because it is quite likely that
527 other libraries will extend the capabilities of such a commonly used
528 mode as dired, the precise key bindings added by WoMan to the dired mode
529 map are controlled by the user option @code{woman-dired-keys}.
530
531 @findex woman-tar-extract-file
532 When a tar (Tape ARchive) file is visited in Emacs, it is opened in tar
533 mode, which parses the tar file and shows a dired-like view of its
534 contents. The WoMan command @code{woman-tar-extract-file} allows the
535 file on the same line as point to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It
536 is bound to the key @kbd{w} in the tar mode map and added to the tar
537 major mode menu.
538
539 The command @code{woman-reformat-last-file}, which is bound to the key
540 @kbd{R} in WoMan mode and available on the major mode menu, reformats
541 the last file formatted by WoMan. This may occasionally be useful if
542 formatting parameters, such as the fill column, are changed, or perhaps
543 if the buffer is somehow corrupted.
544
545 @findex woman-decode-buffer
546 The command @code{woman-decode-buffer} can be used to decode and browse
547 the current buffer if it is visiting a man file, although it is
548 primarily used internally by WoMan.
549
550
551 @node Automatic, , Filename, Finding
552 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
553 @section Automatic Interface
554 @cindex automatic interface
555
556 Emacs provides an interface to detect automatically the format of a file
557 and decode it when it is visited. It is used primarily by the
558 facilities for editing rich (i.e.@: formatted) text, as a way to store
559 formatting information transparently as @acronym{ASCII} markup. WoMan can in
560 principle use this interface, but it must be configured explicitly.
561
562 This use of WoMan does not seem to be particularly advantageous, so it
563 is not really supported. It originated during early experiments on how
564 best to implement WoMan, before I implemented the current topic
565 interface, and I subsequently stopped using it. I might revive it as a
566 mechanism for storing pre-formatted WoMan files, somewhat analogous to
567 the standard Unix @code{catman} facility. In the meantime, it exists
568 for anyone who wants to experiment with it. Once it is set up it is
569 simply a question of visiting the file and there is no WoMan-specific
570 user interface!
571
572 To use it, put something like this in your @file{.emacs} file. [The
573 call to @code{set-visited-file-name} is to avoid font-locking triggered
574 by automatic major mode selection.]
575
576 @lisp
577 (autoload 'woman-decode-region "woman")
578
579 (add-to-list 'format-alist
580 '(man "Unix man-page source format" "\\.\\(TH\\|ig\\) "
581 woman-decode-region nil nil
582 (lambda (arg)
583 set-visited-file-name
584 (file-name-sans-extension buffer-file-name))))
585 @end lisp
586
587 @c ===================================================================
588
589 @node Browsing, Customization, Finding, Top
590 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
591 @chapter Browsing Man Pages
592 @cindex using, browsing man pages
593 @cindex browsing man pages
594 @cindex man pages, browsing
595
596 Once a man page has been found and formatted, WoMan provides a browsing
597 interface that is essentially the same as that provided by the standard
598 Emacs @code{man} command (and much of the code is inherited from the
599 @code{man} library, which WoMan currently requires). Many WoMan
600 facilities can be accessed from the WoMan major mode menu as well as via
601 key bindings, etc.
602
603 WoMan does not produce any page breaks or page numbers, and in fact does
604 not paginate the man page at all, since this is not appropriate for
605 continuous online browsing. It produces a document header line that is
606 constructed from the standard man page header and footer. Apart from
607 that, the appearance of the formatted man page should be almost
608 identical to what would be produced by @code{man}, with consecutive
609 blank lines squeezed to a single blank line.
610
611 @menu
612 * Fonts:: Fonts and Faces
613 * Navigation:: Navigation
614 * References:: Following References
615 * Changing:: Changing the Current Man Page
616 * Convenience:: Convenience Key Bindings
617 * Imenu:: Imenu Support; Contents Menu
618 @end menu
619
620 @node Fonts, Navigation, Browsing, Browsing
621 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
622 @section Fonts and Faces
623 @cindex fonts
624 @cindex faces
625
626 Fonts used by @code{roff} are handled by WoMan as faces, the details of
627 which are customizable. @xref{Faces, , Faces}. WoMan supports both the
628 italic and bold fonts normally used in man pages, together with a single
629 face to represent all unknown fonts (which are occasionally used in
630 ``non-standard'' man pages, usually to represent a ``typewriter'' font)
631 and a face to indicate additional symbols introduced by WoMan. This
632 currently means the characters ^ and _ used to indicate super- and
633 sub-scripts, which are not displayed well by WoMan.
634
635
636 @node Navigation, References, Fonts, Browsing
637 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
638 @section Navigation
639 @cindex navigation
640
641 Man (and hence WoMan) mode can be thought of as a superset of view mode.
642 The buffer cannot be edited, so keys that would normally self-insert are
643 used for navigation. The WoMan key bindings are a minor modification of
644 the @code{man} key bindings.
645
646 @table @kbd
647 @item @key{SPC}
648 @kindex SPC
649 @findex scroll-up
650 Scroll the man page up the window (@code{scroll-up}).
651
652 @item @key{DEL}
653 @kindex DEL
654 @findex scroll-down
655 Scroll the man page down the window (@code{scroll-down}).
656
657 @item n
658 @kindex n
659 @findex Man-next-section
660 Move point to the Nth next section---default 1 (@code{Man-next-section}).
661
662 @item p
663 @kindex p
664 @findex Man-previous-section
665 Move point to Nth previous section---default 1
666 (@code{Man-previous-section}).
667
668 @item g
669 @kindex g
670 @findex Man-goto-section
671 Move point to the specified section (@code{Man-goto-section}).
672
673 @item s
674 @kindex s
675 @findex Man-goto-see-also-section
676 Move point to the ``SEE ALSO'' section
677 (@code{Man-goto-see-also-section}). Actually the section moved to is
678 described by @code{Man-see-also-regexp}.
679 @end table
680
681
682 @node References, Changing, Navigation, Browsing
683 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
684 @section Following References
685 @cindex following references
686 @cindex references
687
688 Man pages usually contain a ``SEE ALSO'' section containing references
689 to other man pages. If these man pages are installed then WoMan can
690 easily be directed to follow the reference, i.e.@: to find and format the
691 man page. When the mouse is passed over a correctly formatted reference
692 it is highlighted, in which case clicking the middle button
693 @kbd{Mouse-2} will cause WoMan to follow the reference. Alternatively,
694 when point is over such a reference the key @key{RET} will follow the
695 reference.
696
697 Any word in the buffer can be used as a reference by clicking
698 @kbd{Mouse-2} over it provided the Meta key is also used (although in
699 general such a ``reference'' will not lead to a man page).
700 Alternatively, the key @kbd{r} allows completion to be used to select a
701 reference to follow, based on the word at point as default.
702
703 @table @kbd
704 @item @kbd{Mouse-2}
705 @kindex Mouse-2
706 @findex woman-mouse-2
707 Run WoMan with word under mouse as topic (@code{woman-mouse-2}). The
708 word must be mouse-highlighted unless @code{woman-mouse-2} is used with
709 the Meta key.
710
711 @item @key{RET}
712 @kindex RET
713 @findex man-follow
714 Get the man page for the topic under (or nearest to) point
715 (@code{man-follow}).
716
717 @item r
718 @kindex r
719 @findex Man-follow-manual-reference
720 Get one of the man pages referred to in the ``SEE ALSO'' section
721 (@code{Man-follow-manual-reference}). Specify which reference to use;
722 default is based on word at point.
723 @end table
724
725
726 @node Changing, Convenience, References, Browsing
727 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
728 @section Changing the Current Man Page
729 @cindex changing current man page
730 @cindex current man page, changing
731
732 The man page currently being browsed by WoMan can be changed in several
733 ways. The command @code{woman} can be invoked to format another man
734 page, or the current WoMan buffer can be buried or killed. WoMan
735 maintains a ring of formatted man pages, and it is possible to move
736 forwards and backwards in this ring by moving to the next or previous
737 man page. It is sometimes useful to reformat the current page, for
738 example after the right margin (the wrap column) or some other
739 formatting parameter has been changed.
740
741 Buffers formatted by Man and WoMan are completely unrelated, even though
742 some of the commands to manipulate them are superficially the same (and
743 share code).
744
745 @table @kbd
746 @item m
747 @kindex m
748 @findex man
749 Run the command @code{man} to get a Un*x manual page and put it in a
750 buffer. This command is the top-level command in the man package. It
751 runs a Un*x command to retrieve and clean a man page in the background
752 and places the results in a Man mode (man page browsing) buffer. If a
753 man buffer already exists for this man page, it will display
754 immediately. This works exactly the same if WoMan is loaded, except
755 that the formatting time is displayed in the mini-buffer.
756
757 @item w
758 @kindex w
759 @findex woman
760 Run the command @code{woman} exactly as if the extended command or menu
761 item had been used.
762
763 @item q
764 @kindex q
765 @findex Man-quit
766 Bury the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-quit}),
767 i.e.@: move it to the bottom of the buffer stack.
768
769 @item k
770 @kindex k
771 @findex Man-kill
772 Kill the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-kill}),
773 i.e.@: delete it completely so that it can be retrieved only by formatting
774 the page again.
775
776 @item M-p
777 @kindex M-p
778 @findex WoMan-previous-manpage
779 Find the previous WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-previous-manpage}).
780
781 @item M-n
782 @kindex M-n
783 @findex WoMan-next-manpage
784 Find the next WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-next-manpage}).
785
786 @item R
787 @kindex R
788 @findex woman-reformat-last-file
789 Call WoMan to reformat the last man page formatted by WoMan
790 (@code{woman-reformat-last-file}), e.g.@: after changing the fill column.
791 @end table
792
793
794 @node Convenience, Imenu, Changing, Browsing
795 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
796 @section Convenience Key Bindings
797 @cindex convenience key bindings
798 @cindex key bindings, convenience
799
800 @table @kbd
801 @item -
802 @kindex -
803 @findex negative-argument
804 Begin a negative numeric argument for the next command
805 (@code{negative-argument}).
806
807 @item 0 .. 9
808 @kindex 0 .. 9
809 @findex digit-argument
810 Part of the numeric argument for the next command
811 (@code{digit-argument}).
812
813 @item <
814 @kindex <
815 @itemx .
816 @kindex .
817 @findex beginning-of-buffer
818 Move point to the beginning of the buffer; leave mark at previous
819 position (@code{beginning-of-buffer}).
820
821 @item >
822 @kindex >
823 @findex end-of-buffer
824 Move point to the end of the buffer; leave mark at previous position
825 (@code{end-of-buffer}).
826
827 @item ?
828 @kindex ?
829 @findex describe-mode
830 Display documentation of current major mode and minor modes
831 (@code{describe-mode}). The major mode description comes first,
832 followed by the minor modes, each on a separate page.
833 @end table
834
835
836 @node Imenu, , Convenience, Browsing
837 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
838 @section Imenu Support; Contents Menu
839 @cindex imenu support
840 @cindex contents menu
841
842 The WoMan menu provides an option to make a contents menu for the
843 current man page (using @code{imenu}). Alternatively, if you customize
844 the option @code{woman-imenu} to @code{t} then WoMan will do it
845 automatically for every man page. The menu title is set by the option
846 @code{woman-imenu-title}, which is ``CONTENTS'' by default. The menu
847 shows manual sections and subsections by default, but you can change
848 this by customizing @code{woman-imenu-generic-expression}.
849
850 WoMan is configured not to replace spaces in an imenu
851 @code{*Completion*} buffer. For further documentation on the use of
852 imenu, such as menu sorting, see the source file @file{imenu.el}, which
853 is distributed with GNU Emacs.
854
855 @c ===================================================================
856
857 @node Customization, Log, Browsing, Top
858 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
859 @chapter Customization
860 @cindex customization
861
862 All WoMan user options are customizable, and it is recommended to
863 change them only via the standard Emacs customization facilities.
864 WoMan defines a top-level customization group called @code{WoMan}
865 under the parent group @code{Help}. It can be accessed either via the
866 standard Emacs facilities, e.g.@: via the @samp{Help->Customize}
867 submenu, or via the WoMan major mode menu.
868
869 The top-level WoMan group contains only a few general options and three
870 subgroups. The hooks are provided only for special purposes that, for
871 example, require code to be executed, and should be changed only via
872 @code{Customization} or the function @code{add-hook}. Most
873 customization should be possible via existing user options.
874
875 @vtable @code
876 @item woman-show-log
877 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then show the
878 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer if appropriate, i.e.@: if any warning messages
879 are written to it. @xref{Log, , The *WoMan-Log* Buffer}.
880
881 @item woman-pre-format-hook
882 A hook run immediately before formatting a buffer. It might, for
883 example, be used for face customization. @xref{Faces, , Faces},
884 however.
885
886 @item woman-post-format-hook
887 A hook run immediately after formatting a buffer. It might, for
888 example, be used for installing a dynamic menu using @code{imenu}.
889 (However. in this case it is better to use the built-in WoMan
890 @code{imenu} support. @xref{Imenu, , Imenu Support; Contents Menu}.)
891 @end vtable
892
893 @heading Customization Subgroups
894
895 @table @code
896 @item WoMan Interface
897 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
898 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
899
900 @item WoMan Formatting
901 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
902
903 @item WoMan Faces
904 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
905 man page.
906 @end table
907
908 @menu
909 * Interface Options::
910 * Formatting Options::
911 * Faces::
912 * Special symbols::
913 @end menu
914
915 @node Interface Options, Formatting Options, Customization, Customization
916 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
917 @section Interface Options
918 @cindex interface options
919
920 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
921 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
922
923 @vtable @code
924 @item woman-man.conf-path
925 A list of strings representing directories to search and/or files to try
926 for a man configuration file. The default is
927
928 @lisp
929 ("/etc" "/usr/local/lib")
930 @end lisp
931
932 @noindent
933 [for GNU/Linux and Cygwin respectively.] A trailing separator (@file{/}
934 for UNIX etc.) on directories is optional and the filename matched if a
935 directory is specified is the first to match the regexp
936 @code{man.*\.conf}. If the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is not
937 set but a configuration file is found then it is parsed instead (or as
938 well) to provide a default value for @code{woman-manpath}.
939
940 @item woman-manpath
941 A list of strings representing @emph{directory trees} to search for Unix
942 manual files. Each element should be the name of a directory that
943 contains subdirectories of the form @file{man?}, or more precisely
944 subdirectories selected by the value of @code{woman-manpath-man-regexp}.
945 Non-directory and unreadable files are ignored.
946
947 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, environment variable
948 If not set then the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is used. If no
949 such environment variable is found, the default list is determined by
950 consulting the man configuration file if found. By default this is
951 expected to be either @file{/etc/man.config} or
952 @file{/usr/local/lib/man.conf}, which is controlled by the user option
953 @code{woman-man.conf-path}. An empty substring of @code{MANPATH}
954 denotes the default list. Otherwise, the default value of this variable
955 is
956
957 @lisp
958 ("/usr/man" "/usr/local/man")
959 @end lisp
960
961 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
962 @code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
963 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
964 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name. Trailing @file{/}s are
965 ignored. (Specific directories in @code{woman-path} are also searched.)
966
967 On Microsoft platforms I recommend including drive letters explicitly,
968 e.g.
969
970 @lisp
971 ("C:/Cygwin/usr/man" "C:/usr/man" "C:/usr/local/man")
972 @end lisp
973
974 @cindex directory separator character
975 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, directory separator
976 The @code{MANPATH} environment variable may be set using DOS
977 semi-colon-separated or Unix-style colon-separated syntax (but not
978 mixed).
979
980 @item woman-manpath-man-regexp
981 A regular expression to match man directories @emph{under} the
982 @code{woman-manpath} directories. These normally have names of the form
983 @file{man?}. Its default value is @code{"[Mm][Aa][Nn]"}, which is
984 case-insensitive mainly for the benefit of Microsoft platforms. Its
985 purpose is to avoid directories such as @file{cat?}, @file{.},
986 @file{..}, etc.
987
988 @item woman-path
989 A list of strings representing @emph{specific directories} to search for
990 Unix manual files. For example
991
992 @lisp
993 ("/emacs/etc")
994 @end lisp
995
996 These directories are searched in addition to the directory trees
997 specified in @code{woman-manpath}. Each element should be a directory
998 string or @code{nil}, which represents the current directory when the
999 path is expanded and cached. However, the last component (only) of each
1000 directory string is treated as a regexp (Emacs, not shell) and the
1001 string is expanded into a list of matching directories. Non-directory
1002 and unreadable files are ignored. The default value on MS-DOS is
1003
1004 @lisp
1005 ("$DJDIR/info" "$DJDIR/man/cat[1-9onlp]")
1006 @end lisp
1007
1008 @noindent
1009 and on other platforms is @code{nil}.
1010
1011 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
1012 @code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
1013 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
1014 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name (regexp, see above). For
1015 example
1016
1017 @lisp
1018 ("$EMACSDATA")
1019 @end lisp
1020
1021 @noindent
1022 or equivalently
1023
1024 @lisp
1025 ("$EMACS_DIR/etc")
1026 @end lisp
1027
1028 @noindent
1029 Trailing @file{/}s are discarded. (The directory trees in
1030 @code{woman-manpath} are also searched.) On Microsoft platforms I
1031 recommend including drive letters explicitly.
1032
1033 @item woman-cache-level
1034 A positive integer representing the level of topic caching:
1035
1036 @enumerate
1037 @item
1038 cache only the topic and directory lists (uses minimal memory, but not
1039 recommended);
1040 @item
1041 cache also the directories for each topic (faster, without using much
1042 more memory);
1043 @item
1044 cache also the actual filenames for each topic (fastest, but uses twice
1045 as much memory).
1046 @end enumerate
1047
1048 The default value is currently 2, a good general compromise. If the
1049 @code{woman} command is slow to find files then try 3, which may be
1050 particularly beneficial with large remote-mounted man directories. Run
1051 the @code{woman} command with a prefix argument or delete the cache file
1052 @code{woman-cache-filename} for a change to take effect. (Values < 1
1053 behave like 1; values > 3 behave like 3.)
1054
1055 @item woman-cache-filename
1056 Either a string representing the full pathname of the WoMan directory
1057 and topic cache file, or @code{nil}. It is used to save and restore the
1058 cache between Emacs sessions. This is especially useful with
1059 remote-mounted man page files! The default value of @code{nil}
1060 suppresses this action. The ``standard'' non-@code{nil} filename is
1061 @file{~/.wmncach.el}. Remember that a prefix argument forces the
1062 @code{woman} command to update and re-write the cache.
1063
1064 @item woman-dired-keys
1065 A list of @code{dired} mode keys to be defined to run WoMan on the
1066 current file, e.g.@: @code{("w" "W")} or any non-@code{nil} atom to
1067 automatically define @kbd{w} and @kbd{W} if they are unbound, or
1068 @code{nil} to do nothing. Default is @code{t}.
1069
1070 @item woman-imenu-generic-expression
1071 Imenu support for Sections and Subsections: an alist with elements of
1072 the form @code{(MENU-TITLE REGEXP INDEX)}---see the documentation for
1073 @code{imenu-generic-expression}. Default value is
1074
1075 @lisp
1076 ((nil "\n\\([A-Z].*\\)" 1) ; SECTION, but not TITLE
1077 ("*Subsections*" "^ \\([A-Z].*\\)" 1))
1078 @end lisp
1079
1080 @item woman-imenu
1081 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan adds
1082 a Contents menu to the menubar by calling @code{imenu-add-to-menubar}.
1083
1084 @item woman-imenu-title
1085 A string representing the title to use if WoMan adds a Contents menu to
1086 the menubar. Default is @code{"CONTENTS"}.
1087
1088 @item woman-topic-at-point
1089 A symbol, which may be either @code{t}, @code{nil} or @code{confirm},
1090 that controls the use by @code{woman} of the ``word at point'' as a
1091 topic suggestion. If it is non-@code{nil} then the @code{woman} command uses
1092 the word at point as an initial topic suggestion when it reads a topic
1093 from the minibuffer; if it is @code{t} then @code{woman} uses the word
1094 at point @emph{without interactive confirmation} if it exists as a
1095 topic. The value @code{confirm} means suggest a topic and ask for
1096 confirmation. The default value is that of
1097 @code{woman-topic-at-point-default}.
1098
1099 @item woman-topic-at-point-default
1100 A symbol, which may be either @code{t}, @code{nil} or @code{confirm},
1101 representing the default value for @code{woman-topic-at-point}. The
1102 default value is @code{confirm}. [The variable
1103 @code{woman-topic-at-point} may be @code{let}-bound when @code{woman} is
1104 loaded, in which case its global value does not get defined. The
1105 function @code{woman-file-name} sets it to this value if it is unbound.]
1106
1107 @item woman-uncompressed-file-regexp
1108 A regular match expression used to select man source files (ignoring any
1109 compression extension). The default value is
1110 @code{"\\.\\([0-9lmnt]\\w*\\)"} [which means a filename extension is
1111 required].
1112
1113 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1114
1115 The SysV standard man pages use two character suffixes, and this is
1116 becoming more common in the GNU world. For example, the man pages in
1117 the @code{ncurses} package include @file{toe.1m}, @file{form.3x}, etc.
1118
1119 @strong{Please note:} an optional compression regexp will be appended,
1120 so this regexp @emph{must not} end with any kind of string terminator
1121 such as @code{$} or @code{\\'}.
1122
1123 @item woman-file-compression-regexp
1124 A regular match expression used to match compressed man file extensions
1125 for which decompressors are available and handled by auto-compression
1126 mode. It should begin with @code{\\.} and end with @code{\\'} and
1127 @emph{must not} be optional. The default value is
1128 @code{"\\.\\(g?z\\|bz2\\)\\'"}, which matches the @code{gzip} and
1129 @code{bzip2} compression extensions.
1130
1131 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1132
1133 [It should be compatible with the @code{car} of
1134 @code{jka-compr-file-name-handler-entry}, but that is unduly
1135 complicated, includes an inappropriate extension (@file{.tgz}) and is
1136 not loaded by default!]
1137
1138 @item woman-use-own-frame
1139 If non-@code{nil} then use a dedicated frame for displaying WoMan windows.
1140 This is useful only when WoMan is run under a window system such as X or
1141 Microsoft Windows that supports real multiple frames, in which case the
1142 default value is non-@code{nil}.
1143 @end vtable
1144
1145
1146 @node Formatting Options, Faces, Interface Options, Customization
1147 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1148 @section Formatting Options
1149 @cindex formatting options
1150
1151 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
1152
1153 @vtable @code
1154 @item woman-fill-column
1155 An integer specifying the right margin for formatted text. Default is
1156 65.
1157
1158 @item woman-fill-frame
1159 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then most of the frame width is used,
1160 overriding the value of @code{woman-fill-column}. Default is @code{nil}.
1161
1162 @item woman-default-indent
1163 An integer specifying the default prevailing indent for the @code{-man}
1164 macros. Default is 5. Set this variable to 7 to emulate GNU/Linux man
1165 formatting.
1166
1167 @item woman-bold-headings
1168 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then embolden section and subsection
1169 headings. Default is @code{t}. [Heading emboldening is @emph{not} standard
1170 @code{man} behavior.]
1171
1172 @item woman-ignore
1173 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then unrecognised requests etc. are
1174 ignored. Default is @code{t}. This gives the standard @code{roff} behavior.
1175 If @code{nil} then they are left in the buffer, which may aid debugging.
1176
1177 @item woman-preserve-ascii
1178 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then preserve @acronym{ASCII} characters in the
1179 WoMan buffer. Otherwise, non-@acronym{ASCII} characters (that display as
1180 @acronym{ASCII}) may remain, which is irrelevant unless the buffer is to be
1181 saved to a file. Default is @code{nil}.
1182
1183 @item woman-emulation
1184 WoMan emulation, currently either @code{nroff} or @code{troff}. Default
1185 is @code{nroff}. @code{troff} emulation is experimental and largely
1186 untested.
1187 @end vtable
1188
1189
1190 @node Faces, Special symbols, Formatting Options, Customization
1191 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1192 @section Faces
1193 @cindex faces
1194
1195 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
1196 man page.
1197
1198 @vtable @code
1199 @item woman-fontify
1200 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan assumes that face support is
1201 available. It defaults to a non-@code{nil} value if the display supports
1202 either colors or different fonts.
1203
1204 @item woman-italic-face
1205 Face for italic font in man pages. Default: italic, underlined,
1206 foreground red. This is overkill! @code{troff} uses just italic;
1207 @code{nroff} uses just underline. You should probably select either
1208 italic or underline as you prefer, but not both, although italic and
1209 underline work together perfectly well!
1210
1211 @item woman-bold-face
1212 Face for bold font in man pages. Default: bold, foreground blue.
1213
1214 @item woman-unknown-face
1215 Face for all unknown fonts in man pages. Default: foreground brown.
1216 Brown is a good compromise: it is distinguishable from the default but
1217 not enough so as to make font errors look terrible. (Files that use
1218 non-standard fonts seem to do so badly or in idiosyncratic ways!)
1219
1220 @item woman-addition-face
1221 Face for all additions made by WoMan to man pages.
1222 Default: foreground orange.
1223 @end vtable
1224
1225
1226 @node Special symbols, , Faces, Customization
1227 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1228 @section Special symbols
1229 @cindex special symbols
1230
1231 This section currently applies @emph{only} to Microsoft Windows.
1232
1233 WoMan provides partial experimental support for special symbols,
1234 initially only for MS-Windows and only for MS-Windows fonts. This
1235 includes both non-@acronym{ASCII} characters from the main text font and use
1236 of a separate symbol font. Later, support will be added for other font
1237 types (e.g.@: @code{bdf} fonts) and for the X Window System. In Emacs
1238 20.7, the current support works partially under Windows 9x but may not
1239 work on any other platform.
1240
1241 @vtable @code
1242 @item woman-use-extended-font
1243 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use non-@acronym{ASCII} characters
1244 from the default font. Default is @code{t}.
1245
1246 @item woman-use-symbol-font
1247 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use the symbol font.
1248 Default is @code{nil}, mainly because it may change the line spacing (at
1249 least in NTEmacs 20).
1250
1251 @item woman-symbol-font
1252 A string describing the symbol font to use for special characters.
1253 It should be compatible with, and the same size as, the default text font.
1254 Under MS-Windows, the default is
1255
1256 @lisp
1257 "-*-Symbol-normal-r-*-*-*-*-96-96-p-*-ms-symbol"
1258 @end lisp
1259 @end vtable
1260
1261
1262 @c ===================================================================
1263
1264 @node Log, Technical, Customization, Top
1265 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1266 @chapter The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
1267 @cindex log buffer
1268 @cindex buffer, log
1269
1270 This is modeled on the Emacs byte-compiler. It logs all files
1271 formatted by WoMan and the time taken. If WoMan finds anything that it
1272 cannot handle then it writes a warning to this buffer. If the variable
1273 @code{woman-show-log} is non-@code{nil} (by default it is @code{nil}) then
1274 WoMan automatically displays this buffer. @xref{Interface Options, ,
1275 Interface Options}. Many WoMan warnings can be completely ignored,
1276 because they are reporting the fact that WoMan has ignored requests that
1277 it is correct for WoMan to ignore. In some future version this level of
1278 paranoia may be reduced, but not until WoMan is deemed more reliable.
1279 At present, all warnings should be treated with some suspicion.
1280 Uninterpreted escape sequences are also logged (in some cases).
1281
1282 By resetting the variable @code{woman-ignore} to @code{nil} (by default
1283 it is @code{t}), uninterpreted @code{roff} requests can optionally be
1284 left in the formatted buffer to indicate precisely where they occurred.
1285 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
1286
1287 @c ===================================================================
1288
1289 @node Technical, Bugs, Log, Top
1290 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1291 @chapter Technical Details
1292 @cindex technical details
1293 @cindex horizontal spacing
1294 @cindex spacing, horizontal and vertical
1295 @cindex vertical spacing
1296 @cindex resolution
1297
1298 @heading Horizontal and vertical spacing and resolution
1299
1300 WoMan currently assumes 10 characters per inch horizontally, hence a
1301 horizontal resolution of 24 basic units, and 5 lines per inch
1302 vertically, hence a vertical resolution of 48 basic units.
1303 (@code{nroff} uses 240 per inch.)
1304
1305 @heading Vertical spacing and blank lines
1306
1307 The number of consecutive blank lines in the formatted buffer should be
1308 either 0 or 1. A blank line should leave a space like .sp 1.
1309 Current policy is to output vertical space only immediately before text
1310 is output.
1311
1312 @c ===================================================================
1313
1314 @node Bugs, Acknowledgements, Technical, Top
1315 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1316 @chapter Reporting Bugs
1317 @cindex reporting bugs
1318 @cindex bugs, reporting
1319
1320 If WoMan fails completely, or formats a file incorrectly (i.e.@:
1321 obviously wrongly or significantly differently from @code{man}) or
1322 inelegantly, then please
1323
1324 @enumerate
1325 @item
1326 try the latest version of @file{woman.el} from the Emacs CVS repository
1327 on @uref{http://savannah.gnu.org/}. If it still fails, please
1328
1329 @item
1330 send a bug report to @email{bug-gnu-emacs@@gnu.org} and to
1331 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk}. Please include the entry from the
1332 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer relating to the problem file, together with
1333 a brief description of the problem. Please indicate where you got the
1334 man source file from, but do not send it unless asked to send it.
1335 @end enumerate
1336
1337 @c ===================================================================
1338
1339 @node Acknowledgements, Command Index, Bugs, Top
1340 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1341 @chapter Acknowledgements
1342 @cindex acknowledgements
1343
1344 For Heather, Kathryn and Madelyn, the women in my life (although they
1345 will probably never use it)!
1346
1347 I also thank the following for helpful suggestions, bug reports, code
1348 fragments, general interest, etc.:
1349
1350 @quotation
1351 Jari Aalto, @email{jari.aalto@@cs.tpu.fi}@*
1352 Dean Andrews, @email{dean@@dra.com}@*
1353 Juanma Barranquero, @email{barranquero@@laley-actualidad.es}@*
1354 Karl Berry, @email{kb@@cs.umb.edu}@*
1355 Jim Chapman, @email{jchapman@@netcomuk.co.uk}@*
1356 Frederic Corne, @email{frederic.corne@@erli.fr}@*
1357 Peter Craft, @email{craft@@alacritech.com}@*
1358 Charles Curley, @email{ccurley@@trib.com}@*
1359 Jim Davidson, @email{jdavidso@@teknowledge.com}@*
1360 Kevin D'Elia, @email{Kevin.DElia@@mci.com}@*
1361 John Fitch, @email{jpff@@maths.bath.ac.uk}@*
1362 Hans Frosch, @email{jwfrosch@@rish.b17c.ingr.com}@*
1363 Guy Gascoigne-Piggford, @email{ggp@@informix.com}@*
1364 Brian Gorka, @email{gorkab@@sanchez.com}@*
1365 Nicolai Henriksen, @email{nhe@@lyngso-industri.dk}@*
1366 Thomas Herchenroeder, @email{the@@software-ag.de}@*
1367 Alexander Hinds, @email{ahinds@@thegrid.net}@*
1368 Stefan Hornburg, @email{sth@@hacon.de}@*
1369 Theodore Jump, @email{tjump@@cais.com}@*
1370 Paul Kinnucan, @email{paulk@@mathworks.com}@*
1371 Jonas Linde, @email{jonas@@init.se}@*
1372 Andrew McRae, @email{andrewm@@optimation.co.nz}@*
1373 Howard Melman, @email{howard@@silverstream.com}@*
1374 Dennis Pixton, @email{dennis@@math.binghamton.edu}@*
1375 T. V. Raman, @email{raman@@Adobe.com}@*
1376 Bruce Ravel, @email{bruce.ravel@@nist.gov}@*
1377 Benjamin Riefenstahl, @email{benny@@crocodial.de}@*
1378 Kevin Ruland, @email{kruland@@seistl.com}@*
1379 Tom Schutter, @email{tom@@platte.com}@*
1380 Wei-Xue Shi, @email{wxshi@@ma.neweb.ne.jp}@*
1381 Fabio Somenzi, @email{fabio@@joplin.colorado.edu}@*
1382 Karel Sprenger, @email{ks@@ic.uva.nl}@*
1383 Chris Szurgot, @email{szurgot@@itribe.net}@*
1384 Paul A. Thompson, @email{pat@@po.cwru.edu}@*
1385 Arrigo Triulzi, @email{arrigo@@maths.qmw.ac.uk}@*
1386 Geoff Voelker, @email{voelker@@cs.washington.edu}@*
1387 Eli Zaretskii, @email{eliz@@is.elta.co.il}
1388 @end quotation
1389
1390 @c ===================================================================
1391
1392 @comment END OF MANUAL TEXT
1393 @page
1394
1395 @node Command Index, Variable Index, Acknowledgements, Top
1396 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1397 @unnumbered Command Index
1398
1399 @printindex fn
1400
1401 @node Variable Index, Keystroke Index, Command Index, Top
1402 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1403 @unnumbered Variable Index
1404
1405 @printindex vr
1406
1407 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1408 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1409 @c This must be a bug!
1410
1411 @page
1412
1413 @node Keystroke Index, Concept Index, Variable Index, Top
1414 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1415 @unnumbered Keystroke Index
1416
1417 @printindex ky
1418
1419 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1420 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1421 @c This must be a bug!
1422
1423 @page
1424
1425 @node Concept Index, , Keystroke Index, Top
1426 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1427 @unnumbered Concept Index
1428
1429 @printindex cp
1430
1431 @bye
1432
1433 @ignore
1434 arch-tag: a1a6b715-396f-4378-9b94-0b2ca0aa5028
1435 @end ignore