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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, 2007 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@@qmul.ac.uk}
61 @author @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/}
62 @c He no longer maintains this manual.
63 @sp 2
64 @author Manual Last Updated @value{UPDATED}
65
66 @comment The following two commands start the copyright page.
67 @page
68 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
69 @insertcopying
70 @end titlepage
71
72 @contents
73
74 @c ===================================================================
75
76 @ifnottex
77 @node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)
78 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
79 @top WoMan: Browse Unix Manual Pages ``W.O. (without) Man''
80
81 @display
82 Software Version @value{VERSION}
83 Manual Last Updated @value{UPDATED}
84
85 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, Francis J. Wright}
86 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/, School of Mathematical Sciences}
87 Queen Mary and Westfield College (University of London)
88 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
89 @end display
90 @end ifnottex
91
92 @menu
93 * Introduction:: Introduction
94 * Background:: Background
95 * Finding:: Finding and Formatting Man Pages
96 * Browsing:: Browsing Man Pages
97 * Customization:: Customization
98 * Log:: The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
99 * Technical:: Technical Details
100 * Bugs:: Reporting Bugs
101 * Acknowledgements:: Acknowledgements
102 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
103 * Command Index:: Command Index
104 * Variable Index:: Variable Index
105 * Keystroke Index:: Keystroke Index
106 * Concept Index:: Concept Index
107 @end menu
108
109 @c ===================================================================
110
111 @node Introduction, Background, Top, Top
112 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
113 @chapter Introduction
114 @cindex introduction
115
116 This version of WoMan should run with GNU Emacs 20.3 or later on any
117 platform. It has not been tested, and may not run, with any other
118 version of Emacs. It was developed primarily on various versions of
119 Microsoft Windows, but has also been tested on MS-DOS, and various
120 versions of UNIX and GNU/Linux.
121
122 WoMan is distributed with GNU Emacs. In addition, the current source
123 code and documentation files are available from
124 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/, the WoMan web
125 server}.
126
127 WoMan implements a subset of the formatting performed by the Emacs
128 @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry}) command to format a Unix-style
129 @dfn{manual page} (usually abbreviated to @dfn{man page}) for display,
130 but without calling any external programs. It is intended to emulate
131 the whole of the @code{roff -man} macro package, plus those @code{roff}
132 requests (@pxref{Background, , Background}) that are most commonly used
133 in man pages. However, the emulation is modified to include the
134 reformatting done by the Emacs @code{man} command. No hyphenation is
135 performed.
136
137 @table @b
138 @item Advantages
139 Much more direct, does not require any external programs. Supports
140 completion on man page names.
141 @item Disadvantages
142 Not a complete emulation. Currently no support for @code{eqn} or
143 @code{tbl}. Slightly slower for large man pages (but usually faster for
144 small- and medium-size pages).
145 @end table
146
147 This browser works quite well on simple well-written man files. It
148 works less well on idiosyncratic files that ``break the rules'' or use
149 the more obscure @code{roff} requests directly. Current test results
150 are available in the file
151 @uref{http://centaur.maths.qmw.ac.uk/Emacs/WoMan/files/woman.status,
152 @file{woman.status}}.
153
154 WoMan supports the use of compressed man files via
155 @code{auto-compression-mode} by turning it on if necessary. But you may
156 need to adjust the user option @code{woman-file-compression-regexp}.
157 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
158
159 Brief help on the WoMan interactive commands and user options, all of
160 which begin with the prefix @code{woman-} (or occasionally
161 @code{WoMan-}), is available most easily by loading WoMan and then
162 either running the command @code{woman-mini-help} or selecting the WoMan
163 menu option @samp{Mini Help}.
164
165 WoMan is (of course) still under development! Please
166 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk, let me know} what doesn't work---I am
167 adding and improving functionality as testing shows that it is
168 necessary. Guidance on reporting bugs is given below. @xref{Bugs, ,
169 Reporting Bugs}.
170
171 @c ===================================================================
172
173 @node Background, Finding, Introduction, Top
174 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
175 @chapter Background
176 @cindex background
177
178 WoMan is a browser for traditional Unix-style manual page documentation.
179 Each such document is conventionally referred to as a @dfn{manual page},
180 or @dfn{man page} for short, even though some are very much longer than
181 one page. A man page is a document written using the Unix ``man''
182 macros, which are themselves written in the nroff/troff text processing
183 markup language. @code{nroff} and @code{troff} are text processors
184 originally written for the UNIX operating system by Joseph F. Ossanna at
185 Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA@. They are closely
186 related, and except in the few cases where the distinction between them
187 is important I will refer to them both ambiguously as @code{roff}.
188
189 @code{roff} markup consists of @dfn{requests} and @dfn{escape
190 sequences}. A request occupies a complete line and begins with either a
191 period or a single forward quote. An escape sequences is embedded
192 within the input text and begins (by default) with a backslash. The
193 original man macro package defines 20 new @code{roff} requests
194 implemented as macros, which were considered to be sufficient for
195 writing man pages. But whilst in principle man pages use only the man
196 macros, in practice a significant number use many other @code{roff}
197 requests.
198
199 The distinction between @code{troff} and @code{nroff} is that
200 @code{troff} was designed to drive a phototypesetter whereas
201 @code{nroff} was designed to produce essentially @acronym{ASCII} output for a
202 character-based device similar to a teletypewriter (usually abbreviated
203 to ``teletype'' or ``tty''). Hence, @code{troff} supports much finer
204 control over output positioning than does @code{nroff} and can be seen
205 as a forerunner of @TeX{}. Traditionally, man pages are either
206 formatted by @code{troff} for typesetting or by @code{nroff} for
207 printing on a character printer or displaying on a screen. Of course,
208 over the last 25 years or so, the distinction between typeset output on
209 paper and characters on a screen has become blurred by the fact that
210 most screens now support bit-mapped displays, so that any information
211 that can be printed can also be rendered on screen, the only difference
212 being the resolution.
213
214 Nevertheless, Unix-style manual page documentation is still normally
215 browsed on screen by running a program called @code{man}. This program
216 looks in a predefined set of directories for the man page matching a
217 specified topic, then either formats the source file by running
218 @code{nroff} or recovers a pre-formatted file, and displays it via a
219 pager such as @code{more}. @code{nroff} normally formats for a printer,
220 so it paginates the output, numbers the pages, etc., most of which is
221 irrelevant when the document is browsed as a continuous scrollable
222 document on screen. The only concession to on-screen browsing normally
223 implemented by the @code{man} program is to squeeze consecutive blank
224 lines into a single blank line.
225
226 For some time, Emacs has offered an improved interface for browsing man
227 pages in the form of the Emacs @code{man} (or @code{manual-entry})
228 command, see @ref{Documentation, man, Documentation Commands, emacs, GNU
229 Emacs Manual}.
230 This command runs @code{man} as described above, perhaps in
231 the background, and then post-processes the output to remove much of the
232 @code{nroff} pagination such as page headers and footers, and places the
233 result into an Emacs buffer. It puts this buffer into a special major
234 mode, which is tailored for man page browsing, and provides a number of
235 useful navigation commands, support for following references, etc. It
236 provides some support for special display faces (fonts), but no special
237 menu or mouse support. The Emacs man package appears to have been
238 developed over about 10 years, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.
239
240 There is considerable inefficiency in having @code{nroff} paginate a
241 document and then removing most of the pagination!
242
243 WoMan is an Emacs Lisp library that provides an emulation of the
244 functionality of the Emacs @code{man} command, the main difference being
245 that WoMan does not use any external programs. The only situation in
246 which WoMan might use an external program is when the source file is
247 compressed, when WoMan will use the standard Emacs automatic
248 decompression facility, which does call an external program.
249
250 I began developing WoMan in the Spring of 1997 and the first version was
251 released in May 1997. The original motivation for WoMan was the fact
252 that many GNU and Unix programs are ported to other platforms and come
253 with Unix-style manual page documentation. This may be difficult to
254 read because ports of the Unix-style @code{man} program can be a little
255 awkward to set up. I decided that it should not be too hard to emulate
256 the 20 @code{man} macros directly, without treating them as macros and
257 largely ignoring the underlying @code{roff} requests, given the text
258 processing capabilities of Emacs. This proved to be essentially true,
259 and it did not take a great deal of work to be able to format simple man
260 pages acceptably.
261
262 One problem arose with the significant number of man pages that use
263 @code{roff} requests in addition to the @code{man} macros, and since
264 releasing the first version of WoMan I have been continually extending
265 it to support more @code{roff} requests. WoMan can now format a
266 significant proportion of the man pages that I have tested, either well
267 or at least readably. However, I have added capabilities partly by
268 making additional passes through the document, a design that is
269 fundamentally flawed. This can only be solved by a major re-design of
270 WoMan to handle the major formatting within a single recursive pass,
271 rather than the present multiple passes without any significant
272 recursion. There are some @code{roff} requests that cannot be handled
273 satisfactorily within the present design. Some of these are currently
274 handled by kludges that ``usually more or less work.''
275
276 The principle advantage of WoMan is that it does not require @code{man},
277 and indeed the name WoMan is a contraction of ``without man.'' But it
278 has other advantages. It does not paginate the document, so it does not
279 need to un-paginate it again, thereby saving time. It could take full
280 advantage of the display capabilities available to it, and I hope to
281 develop WoMan to take advantage of developments in Emacs itself. At
282 present, WoMan uses several display faces to support bold and italic
283 text, to indicate other fonts, etc. The default faces are also
284 colored, but the choice of faces is customizable. WoMan provides menu
285 support for navigation and mouse support for following references, in
286 addition to the navigation facilities provided by @code{man} mode.
287 WoMan has (this) texinfo documentation!
288
289 WoMan @emph{does not} replace @code{man}, although it does use a number
290 of the facilities implemented in the Emacs @code{man} library. WoMan
291 and man can happily co-exist, which is very useful for comparison and
292 debugging purposes.
293
294 @code{nroff} simulates non-@acronym{ASCII} characters by using one or more
295 @acronym{ASCII} characters. WoMan should be able to do much better than
296 this. I have recently begun to add support for WoMan to use more of the
297 characters in its default font and to use a symbol font, and it is an
298 aspect that I intend to develop further in the near future. It should
299 be possible to move WoMan from an emulation of @code{nroff} to an
300 emulation of @code{troff} as GNU Emacs moves to providing bit-mapped
301 display facilities.
302
303 @node Finding, Browsing, Background, Top
304 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
305 @chapter Finding and Formatting Man Pages
306 @cindex using, finding man pages
307 @cindex using, formatting man pages
308 @cindex finding man pages
309 @cindex formatting man pages
310 @cindex man pages, finding
311 @cindex man pages, formatting
312
313 WoMan provides three user interfaces for finding and formatting man pages:
314
315 @itemize @bullet
316 @item
317 a topic interface similar to that provided by the standard Emacs
318 @code{man} command;
319
320 @item
321 a family of filename interfaces analogous to the standard Emacs
322 @code{view-file} command;
323
324 @item
325 an automatic interface that detects the file type from its contents.
326 (This is currently neither well tested, well supported nor recommended!)
327 @end itemize
328
329 The topic and filename interfaces support completion in the usual way.
330
331 The topic interface is generally the most convenient for regular use,
332 although it may require some special setup, especially if your machine
333 does not already have a conventional @code{man} installation (which
334 WoMan tries to detect).
335
336 The simplest filename interface command @code{woman-find-file} can
337 always be used with no setup at all (provided WoMan is installed and
338 loaded or set up to autoload).
339
340 The automatic interface always requires special setup.
341
342
343 @heading Case-Dependence of Filenames
344
345 @cindex case-sensitivity
346 @vindex w32-downcase-file-names
347 By default, WoMan ignores case in file pathnames only when it seems
348 appropriate. Microsoft Windows users who want complete case
349 independence should set the special NTEmacs variable
350 @code{w32-downcase-file-names} to @code{t} and use all lower case when
351 setting WoMan file paths.
352
353
354 @menu
355 * Topic:: Topic Interface
356 * Filename:: Filename Interface
357 * Automatic:: Automatic Interface
358 @end menu
359
360 @node Topic, Filename, Finding, Finding
361 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
362 @section Topic Interface
363 @cindex topic interface
364
365 The topic interface is accessed principally via the command
366 @code{woman}. The same command can be accessed via the menu item
367 @samp{Help->Manuals->Read Man Page (WoMan)...} once WoMan has been
368 loaded. The command reads a manual topic in the minibuffer, which can
369 be the @dfn{basename} of a man file anywhere in the man file
370 structure. The ``basename'' in this context means the filename
371 without any directory component and without any extension or suffix
372 components that relate to the file type. So, for example, if there is
373 a compressed source file in Chapter 5 of the UNIX Programmer's Manual
374 with the full pathname @file{/usr/local/man/man5/man.conf.5.gz} then
375 the topic is @code{man.conf}. Provided WoMan is configured correctly,
376 this topic will appear among the completions offered by @code{woman}.
377 If more than one file has the same topic name then WoMan will prompt
378 for which file to format. Completion of topics is case insensitive.
379
380 Clearly, @code{woman} has to know where to look for man files and there
381 are two customizable user options that store this information:
382 @code{woman-manpath} and @code{woman-path}. @xref{Interface Options, ,
383 Interface Options}. If @code{woman-manpath} is not set explicitly then
384 WoMan tries to pick up the information that would be used by the
385 @code{man} command, as follows. If the environment variable
386 @code{MANPATH} is set, which seems to be the standard mechanism under
387 UNIX, then WoMan parses that. Otherwise, if WoMan can find a
388 configuration file named (by default) @file{man.conf} (or something very
389 similar), which seems to be the standard mechanism under GNU/Linux, then
390 it parses that. To be precise, ``something very similar'' means
391 starting with @samp{man} and ending with @samp{.conf} and possibly more
392 lowercase letters, e.g.@: @file{manual.configuration}.
393 The search path and/or precise full path name for this file are set by
394 the value of the customizable user option @code{woman-man.conf-path}.
395 If all else fails, WoMan uses a plausible default man search path.
396
397 If the above default configuration does not work correctly for any
398 reason then simply customize the value of @code{woman-manpath}. To
399 access man files that are not in a conventional man file hierarchy,
400 customize the value of @code{woman-path} to include the directories
401 containing the files. In this way, @code{woman} can access manual files
402 @emph{anywhere} in the entire file system.
403
404 There are two differences between @code{woman-manpath} and
405 @code{woman-path}. Firstly, the elements of @code{woman-manpath} must
406 be directories that contain @emph{directories of} man files, whereas the
407 elements of @code{woman-path} must be directories that contain man files
408 @emph{directly}. Secondly, the last directory component of each element
409 of @code{woman-path} is treated as a regular (Emacs) match expression
410 rather than a fixed name, which allows collections of related
411 directories to be specified succinctly. Also, elements of
412 @code{woman-manpath} can be conses, indicating a mapping from
413 @samp{PATH} environment variable components to man directory
414 hierarchies.
415
416 For topic completion to work, WoMan must build a list of all the manual
417 files that it can access, which can be very slow, especially if a
418 network is involved. For this reason, it caches various amounts of
419 information, after which retrieving it from the cache is very fast. If
420 the cache ever gets out of synchronism with reality, running the
421 @code{woman} command with a prefix argument (e.g.@: @kbd{C-u M-x woman})
422 will force it to rebuild its cache. This is necessary only if the names
423 or locations of any man files change; it is not necessary if only their
424 contents change. It would always be necessary if such a change occurred
425 whilst Emacs were running and after WoMan has been loaded. It may be
426 necessary if such a change occurs between Emacs sessions and persistent
427 caching is used, although WoMan can detect some changes that invalidate
428 its cache and rebuild it automatically.
429
430 Customize the variable @code{woman-cache-filename} to save the cache
431 between Emacs sessions. This is recommended only if the @code{woman}
432 command is too slow the first time it is run in an Emacs session, while
433 it builds its cache in main memory, which @emph{may} be @emph{very}
434 slow. @xref{Cache, , The WoMan Topic Cache}, for further details.
435
436
437 @menu
438 * Cache:: The WoMan Topic Cache
439 * Word at point:: Using the ``Word at Point'' as a Topic Suggestion
440 @end menu
441
442 @node Cache, Word at point, Topic, Topic
443 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
444 @subsection The WoMan Topic Cache
445 @cindex topic cache
446 @cindex cache, topic
447
448 The amount of information that WoMan caches (in main memory and,
449 optionally, saved to disc) is controlled by the user option
450 @code{woman-cache-level}. There is a trade-off between the speed with
451 which WoMan can find a file and the size of the cache, and the default
452 setting gives a reasonable compromise.
453
454 The @code{woman} command always performs a certain amount of caching in
455 main memory, but it can also write its cache to the filestore as a
456 persistent cache under control of the user option
457 @code{woman-cache-filename}. If persistent caching is turned on then
458 WoMan re-loads its internal cache from the cache file almost
459 instantaneously, so that there is never any perceptible start-up delay
460 @emph{except} when WoMan rebuilds its cache. Persistent caching is
461 currently turned off by default. This is because users with persistent
462 caching turned on may overlook the need to force WoMan to rebuild its
463 cache the first time they run it after they have installed new man
464 files; with persistent caching turned off, WoMan automatically rebuilds
465 its cache every time it is run in a new Emacs session.
466
467 A prefix argument always causes the @code{woman} command (only) to
468 rebuild its topic cache, and to re-save it to
469 @code{woman-cache-filename} if this variable has a non-@code{nil} value. This
470 is necessary if the @emph{names} of any of the directories or files in
471 the paths specified by @code{woman-manpath} or @code{woman-path} change.
472 If WoMan user options that affect the cache are changed then WoMan will
473 automatically update its cache file on disc (if one is in use) the next
474 time it is run in a new Emacs session.
475
476
477 @node Word at point, , Cache, Topic
478 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
479 @subsection Using the ``Word at Point'' as a Topic Suggestion
480 @cindex word at point
481 @cindex point, word at
482
483 By default, the @code{woman} command uses the word nearest to point in
484 the current buffer as a suggestion for the topic to look up, if it
485 exists as a valid topic. The topic can be confirmed or edited in the
486 minibuffer.
487
488 You can also bind the variable @code{woman-use-topic-at-point} locally
489 to a non-@code{nil} value (using @code{let}), in which case
490 @code{woman} will can use the suggested topic without confirmation if
491 possible. This may be useful to provide special private key bindings,
492 e.g.@: this key binding for @kbd{C-c w} runs WoMan on the topic at
493 point without seeking confirmation:
494
495 @lisp
496 (global-set-key "\C-cw"
497 (lambda ()
498 (interactive)
499 (let ((woman-use-topic-at-point t))
500 (woman))))
501 @end lisp
502
503
504 @node Filename, Automatic, Topic, Finding
505 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
506 @section Filename Interface
507 @cindex filename interface
508
509 The commands in this family are completely independent of the topic
510 interface, caching mechanism, etc.
511
512 @findex woman-find-file
513 The filename interface is accessed principally via the extended command
514 @code{woman-find-file}, which is available without any configuration at
515 all (provided WoMan is installed and loaded or set up to autoload).
516 This command can be used to browse any accessible man file, regardless
517 of its filename or location. If the file is compressed then automatic
518 file decompression must already be turned on (e.g.@: see the
519 @samp{Help->Options} submenu)---it is turned on automatically only by
520 the @code{woman} topic interface.
521
522 @findex woman-dired-find-file
523 Once WoMan is loaded (or if specially set up), various additional
524 commands in this family are available. In a dired buffer, the command
525 @code{woman-dired-find-file} allows the file on the same line as point
526 to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It is bound to the key @kbd{W} in
527 the dired mode map and added to the dired major mode menu. It may also
528 be bound to @kbd{w}, unless this key is bound by another library, which
529 it is by @code{dired-x}, for example. Because it is quite likely that
530 other libraries will extend the capabilities of such a commonly used
531 mode as dired, the precise key bindings added by WoMan to the dired mode
532 map are controlled by the user option @code{woman-dired-keys}.
533
534 @findex woman-tar-extract-file
535 When a tar (Tape ARchive) file is visited in Emacs, it is opened in tar
536 mode, which parses the tar file and shows a dired-like view of its
537 contents. The WoMan command @code{woman-tar-extract-file} allows the
538 file on the same line as point to be formatted and browsed by WoMan. It
539 is bound to the key @kbd{w} in the tar mode map and added to the tar
540 major mode menu.
541
542 The command @code{woman-reformat-last-file}, which is bound to the key
543 @kbd{R} in WoMan mode and available on the major mode menu, reformats
544 the last file formatted by WoMan. This may occasionally be useful if
545 formatting parameters, such as the fill column, are changed, or perhaps
546 if the buffer is somehow corrupted.
547
548 @findex woman-decode-buffer
549 The command @code{woman-decode-buffer} can be used to decode and browse
550 the current buffer if it is visiting a man file, although it is
551 primarily used internally by WoMan.
552
553
554 @node Automatic, , Filename, Finding
555 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
556 @section Automatic Interface
557 @cindex automatic interface
558
559 Emacs provides an interface to detect automatically the format of a file
560 and decode it when it is visited. It is used primarily by the
561 facilities for editing rich (i.e.@: formatted) text, as a way to store
562 formatting information transparently as @acronym{ASCII} markup. WoMan can in
563 principle use this interface, but it must be configured explicitly.
564
565 This use of WoMan does not seem to be particularly advantageous, so it
566 is not really supported. It originated during early experiments on how
567 best to implement WoMan, before I implemented the current topic
568 interface, and I subsequently stopped using it. I might revive it as a
569 mechanism for storing pre-formatted WoMan files, somewhat analogous to
570 the standard Unix @code{catman} facility. In the meantime, it exists
571 for anyone who wants to experiment with it. Once it is set up it is
572 simply a question of visiting the file and there is no WoMan-specific
573 user interface!
574
575 To use it, put something like this in your @file{.emacs} file. [The
576 call to @code{set-visited-file-name} is to avoid font-locking triggered
577 by automatic major mode selection.]
578
579 @lisp
580 (autoload 'woman-decode-region "woman")
581
582 (add-to-list 'format-alist
583 '(man "Unix man-page source format" "\\.\\(TH\\|ig\\) "
584 woman-decode-region nil nil
585 (lambda (arg)
586 set-visited-file-name
587 (file-name-sans-extension buffer-file-name))))
588 @end lisp
589
590 @c ===================================================================
591
592 @node Browsing, Customization, Finding, Top
593 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
594 @chapter Browsing Man Pages
595 @cindex using, browsing man pages
596 @cindex browsing man pages
597 @cindex man pages, browsing
598
599 Once a man page has been found and formatted, WoMan provides a browsing
600 interface that is essentially the same as that provided by the standard
601 Emacs @code{man} command (and much of the code is inherited from the
602 @code{man} library, which WoMan currently requires). Many WoMan
603 facilities can be accessed from the WoMan major mode menu as well as via
604 key bindings, etc.
605
606 WoMan does not produce any page breaks or page numbers, and in fact does
607 not paginate the man page at all, since this is not appropriate for
608 continuous online browsing. It produces a document header line that is
609 constructed from the standard man page header and footer. Apart from
610 that, the appearance of the formatted man page should be almost
611 identical to what would be produced by @code{man}, with consecutive
612 blank lines squeezed to a single blank line.
613
614 @menu
615 * Fonts:: Fonts and Faces
616 * Navigation:: Navigation
617 * References:: Following References
618 * Changing:: Changing the Current Man Page
619 * Convenience:: Convenience Key Bindings
620 * Imenu:: Imenu Support; Contents Menu
621 @end menu
622
623 @node Fonts, Navigation, Browsing, Browsing
624 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
625 @section Fonts and Faces
626 @cindex fonts
627 @cindex faces
628
629 Fonts used by @code{roff} are handled by WoMan as faces, the details of
630 which are customizable. @xref{Faces, , Faces}. WoMan supports both the
631 italic and bold fonts normally used in man pages, together with a single
632 face to represent all unknown fonts (which are occasionally used in
633 ``non-standard'' man pages, usually to represent a ``typewriter'' font)
634 and a face to indicate additional symbols introduced by WoMan. This
635 currently means the characters ^ and _ used to indicate super- and
636 sub-scripts, which are not displayed well by WoMan.
637
638
639 @node Navigation, References, Fonts, Browsing
640 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
641 @section Navigation
642 @cindex navigation
643
644 Man (and hence WoMan) mode can be thought of as a superset of view mode.
645 The buffer cannot be edited, so keys that would normally self-insert are
646 used for navigation. The WoMan key bindings are a minor modification of
647 the @code{man} key bindings.
648
649 @table @kbd
650 @item @key{SPC}
651 @kindex SPC
652 @findex scroll-up
653 Scroll the man page up the window (@code{scroll-up}).
654
655 @item @key{DEL}
656 @kindex DEL
657 @findex scroll-down
658 Scroll the man page down the window (@code{scroll-down}).
659
660 @item n
661 @kindex n
662 @findex Man-next-section
663 Move point to the Nth next section---default 1 (@code{Man-next-section}).
664
665 @item p
666 @kindex p
667 @findex Man-previous-section
668 Move point to Nth previous section---default 1
669 (@code{Man-previous-section}).
670
671 @item g
672 @kindex g
673 @findex Man-goto-section
674 Move point to the specified section (@code{Man-goto-section}).
675
676 @item s
677 @kindex s
678 @findex Man-goto-see-also-section
679 Move point to the ``SEE ALSO'' section
680 (@code{Man-goto-see-also-section}). Actually the section moved to is
681 described by @code{Man-see-also-regexp}.
682 @end table
683
684
685 @node References, Changing, Navigation, Browsing
686 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
687 @section Following References
688 @cindex following references
689 @cindex references
690
691 Man pages usually contain a ``SEE ALSO'' section containing references
692 to other man pages. If these man pages are installed then WoMan can
693 easily be directed to follow the reference, i.e.@: to find and format the
694 man page. When the mouse is passed over a correctly formatted reference
695 it is highlighted, in which case clicking the middle button
696 @kbd{Mouse-2} will cause WoMan to follow the reference. Alternatively,
697 when point is over such a reference the key @key{RET} will follow the
698 reference.
699
700 Any word in the buffer can be used as a reference by clicking
701 @kbd{Mouse-2} over it provided the Meta key is also used (although in
702 general such a ``reference'' will not lead to a man page).
703 Alternatively, the key @kbd{r} allows completion to be used to select a
704 reference to follow, based on the word at point as default.
705
706 @table @kbd
707 @item @kbd{Mouse-2}
708 @kindex Mouse-2
709 @findex woman-mouse-2
710 Run WoMan with word under mouse as topic (@code{woman-mouse-2}). The
711 word must be mouse-highlighted unless @code{woman-mouse-2} is used with
712 the Meta key.
713
714 @item @key{RET}
715 @kindex RET
716 @findex man-follow
717 Get the man page for the topic under (or nearest to) point
718 (@code{man-follow}).
719
720 @item r
721 @kindex r
722 @findex Man-follow-manual-reference
723 Get one of the man pages referred to in the ``SEE ALSO'' section
724 (@code{Man-follow-manual-reference}). Specify which reference to use;
725 default is based on word at point.
726 @end table
727
728
729 @node Changing, Convenience, References, Browsing
730 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
731 @section Changing the Current Man Page
732 @cindex changing current man page
733 @cindex current man page, changing
734
735 The man page currently being browsed by WoMan can be changed in several
736 ways. The command @code{woman} can be invoked to format another man
737 page, or the current WoMan buffer can be buried or killed. WoMan
738 maintains a ring of formatted man pages, and it is possible to move
739 forwards and backwards in this ring by moving to the next or previous
740 man page. It is sometimes useful to reformat the current page, for
741 example after the right margin (the wrap column) or some other
742 formatting parameter has been changed.
743
744 Buffers formatted by Man and WoMan are completely unrelated, even though
745 some of the commands to manipulate them are superficially the same (and
746 share code).
747
748 @table @kbd
749 @item m
750 @kindex m
751 @findex man
752 Run the command @code{man} to get a Un*x manual page and put it in a
753 buffer. This command is the top-level command in the man package. It
754 runs a Un*x command to retrieve and clean a man page in the background
755 and places the results in a Man mode (man page browsing) buffer. If a
756 man buffer already exists for this man page, it will display
757 immediately. This works exactly the same if WoMan is loaded, except
758 that the formatting time is displayed in the mini-buffer.
759
760 @item w
761 @kindex w
762 @findex woman
763 Run the command @code{woman} exactly as if the extended command or menu
764 item had been used.
765
766 @item q
767 @kindex q
768 @findex Man-quit
769 Bury the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-quit}),
770 i.e.@: move it to the bottom of the buffer stack.
771
772 @item k
773 @kindex k
774 @findex Man-kill
775 Kill the buffer containing the current man page (@code{Man-kill}),
776 i.e.@: delete it completely so that it can be retrieved only by formatting
777 the page again.
778
779 @item M-p
780 @kindex M-p
781 @findex WoMan-previous-manpage
782 Find the previous WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-previous-manpage}).
783
784 @item M-n
785 @kindex M-n
786 @findex WoMan-next-manpage
787 Find the next WoMan buffer (@code{WoMan-next-manpage}).
788
789 @item R
790 @kindex R
791 @findex woman-reformat-last-file
792 Call WoMan to reformat the last man page formatted by WoMan
793 (@code{woman-reformat-last-file}), e.g.@: after changing the fill column.
794 @end table
795
796
797 @node Convenience, Imenu, Changing, Browsing
798 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
799 @section Convenience Key Bindings
800 @cindex convenience key bindings
801 @cindex key bindings, convenience
802
803 @table @kbd
804 @item -
805 @kindex -
806 @findex negative-argument
807 Begin a negative numeric argument for the next command
808 (@code{negative-argument}).
809
810 @item 0 .. 9
811 @kindex 0 .. 9
812 @findex digit-argument
813 Part of the numeric argument for the next command
814 (@code{digit-argument}).
815
816 @item <
817 @kindex <
818 @itemx .
819 @kindex .
820 @findex beginning-of-buffer
821 Move point to the beginning of the buffer; leave mark at previous
822 position (@code{beginning-of-buffer}).
823
824 @item >
825 @kindex >
826 @findex end-of-buffer
827 Move point to the end of the buffer; leave mark at previous position
828 (@code{end-of-buffer}).
829
830 @item ?
831 @kindex ?
832 @findex describe-mode
833 Display documentation of current major mode and minor modes
834 (@code{describe-mode}). The major mode description comes first,
835 followed by the minor modes, each on a separate page.
836 @end table
837
838
839 @node Imenu, , Convenience, Browsing
840 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
841 @section Imenu Support; Contents Menu
842 @cindex imenu support
843 @cindex contents menu
844
845 The WoMan menu provides an option to make a contents menu for the
846 current man page (using @code{imenu}). Alternatively, if you customize
847 the option @code{woman-imenu} to @code{t} then WoMan will do it
848 automatically for every man page. The menu title is set by the option
849 @code{woman-imenu-title}, which is ``CONTENTS'' by default. The menu
850 shows manual sections and subsections by default, but you can change
851 this by customizing @code{woman-imenu-generic-expression}.
852
853 WoMan is configured not to replace spaces in an imenu
854 @code{*Completion*} buffer. For further documentation on the use of
855 imenu, such as menu sorting, see the source file @file{imenu.el}, which
856 is distributed with GNU Emacs.
857
858 @c ===================================================================
859
860 @node Customization, Log, Browsing, Top
861 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
862 @chapter Customization
863 @cindex customization
864
865 All WoMan user options are customizable, and it is recommended to
866 change them only via the standard Emacs customization facilities.
867 WoMan defines a top-level customization group called @code{WoMan}
868 under the parent group @code{Help}. It can be accessed either via the
869 standard Emacs facilities, e.g.@: via the @samp{Help->Customize}
870 submenu, or via the WoMan major mode menu.
871
872 The top-level WoMan group contains only a few general options and three
873 subgroups. The hooks are provided only for special purposes that, for
874 example, require code to be executed, and should be changed only via
875 @code{Customization} or the function @code{add-hook}. Most
876 customization should be possible via existing user options.
877
878 @vtable @code
879 @item woman-show-log
880 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then show the
881 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer if appropriate, i.e.@: if any warning messages
882 are written to it. @xref{Log, , The *WoMan-Log* Buffer}.
883
884 @item woman-pre-format-hook
885 A hook run immediately before formatting a buffer. It might, for
886 example, be used for face customization. @xref{Faces, , Faces},
887 however.
888
889 @item woman-post-format-hook
890 A hook run immediately after formatting a buffer. It might, for
891 example, be used for installing a dynamic menu using @code{imenu}.
892 (However. in this case it is better to use the built-in WoMan
893 @code{imenu} support. @xref{Imenu, , Imenu Support; Contents Menu}.)
894 @end vtable
895
896 @heading Customization Subgroups
897
898 @table @code
899 @item WoMan Interface
900 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
901 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
902
903 @item WoMan Formatting
904 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
905
906 @item WoMan Faces
907 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
908 man page.
909 @end table
910
911 @menu
912 * Interface Options::
913 * Formatting Options::
914 * Faces::
915 * Special symbols::
916 @end menu
917
918 @node Interface Options, Formatting Options, Customization, Customization
919 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
920 @section Interface Options
921 @cindex interface options
922
923 These options control the process of locating the appropriate file to
924 browse, and the appearance of the browsing interface.
925
926 @vtable @code
927 @item woman-man.conf-path
928 A list of strings representing directories to search and/or files to try
929 for a man configuration file. The default is
930
931 @lisp
932 ("/etc" "/usr/local/lib")
933 @end lisp
934
935 @noindent
936 [for GNU/Linux and Cygwin respectively.] A trailing separator (@file{/}
937 for UNIX etc.) on directories is optional and the filename matched if a
938 directory is specified is the first to match the regexp
939 @code{man.*\.conf}. If the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is not
940 set but a configuration file is found then it is parsed instead (or as
941 well) to provide a default value for @code{woman-manpath}.
942
943 @item woman-manpath
944 A list of strings representing @emph{directory trees} to search for Unix
945 manual files. Each element should be the name of a directory that
946 contains subdirectories of the form @file{man?}, or more precisely
947 subdirectories selected by the value of @code{woman-manpath-man-regexp}.
948 Non-directory and unreadable files are ignored. This can also contain
949 conses, with the car indicating a @code{PATH} variable component mapped
950 to the directory tree given in the cdr.
951
952 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, environment variable
953 If not set then the environment variable @code{MANPATH} is used. If no
954 such environment variable is found, the default list is determined by
955 consulting the man configuration file if found. By default this is
956 expected to be either @file{/etc/man.config} or
957 @file{/usr/local/lib/man.conf}, which is controlled by the user option
958 @code{woman-man.conf-path}. An empty substring of @code{MANPATH}
959 denotes the default list. Otherwise, the default value of this variable
960 is
961
962 @lisp
963 ("/usr/man" "/usr/local/man")
964 @end lisp
965
966 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
967 @code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
968 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
969 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name. Trailing @file{/}s are
970 ignored. (Specific directories in @code{woman-path} are also searched.)
971
972 On Microsoft platforms I recommend including drive letters explicitly,
973 e.g.
974
975 @lisp
976 ("C:/Cygwin/usr/man" "C:/usr/man" "C:/usr/local/man")
977 @end lisp
978
979 @cindex directory separator character
980 @cindex @code{MANPATH}, directory separator
981 The @code{MANPATH} environment variable may be set using DOS
982 semi-colon-separated or Unix-style colon-separated syntax (but not
983 mixed).
984
985 @item woman-manpath-man-regexp
986 A regular expression to match man directories @emph{under} the
987 @code{woman-manpath} directories. These normally have names of the form
988 @file{man?}. Its default value is @code{"[Mm][Aa][Nn]"}, which is
989 case-insensitive mainly for the benefit of Microsoft platforms. Its
990 purpose is to avoid directories such as @file{cat?}, @file{.},
991 @file{..}, etc.
992
993 @item woman-path
994 A list of strings representing @emph{specific directories} to search for
995 Unix manual files. For example
996
997 @lisp
998 ("/emacs/etc")
999 @end lisp
1000
1001 These directories are searched in addition to the directory trees
1002 specified in @code{woman-manpath}. Each element should be a directory
1003 string or @code{nil}, which represents the current directory when the
1004 path is expanded and cached. However, the last component (only) of each
1005 directory string is treated as a regexp (Emacs, not shell) and the
1006 string is expanded into a list of matching directories. Non-directory
1007 and unreadable files are ignored. The default value on MS-DOS is
1008
1009 @lisp
1010 ("$DJDIR/info" "$DJDIR/man/cat[1-9onlp]")
1011 @end lisp
1012
1013 @noindent
1014 and on other platforms is @code{nil}.
1015
1016 Any environment variables (names of which must have the Unix-style form
1017 @code{$NAME}, e.g.@: @code{$HOME}, @code{$EMACSDATA}, @code{$EMACS_DIR},
1018 regardless of platform) are evaluated first but each element must
1019 evaluate to a @emph{single} directory name (regexp, see above). For
1020 example
1021
1022 @lisp
1023 ("$EMACSDATA")
1024 @end lisp
1025
1026 @noindent
1027 or equivalently
1028
1029 @lisp
1030 ("$EMACS_DIR/etc")
1031 @end lisp
1032
1033 @noindent
1034 Trailing @file{/}s are discarded. (The directory trees in
1035 @code{woman-manpath} are also searched.) On Microsoft platforms I
1036 recommend including drive letters explicitly.
1037
1038 @item woman-cache-level
1039 A positive integer representing the level of topic caching:
1040
1041 @enumerate
1042 @item
1043 cache only the topic and directory lists (uses minimal memory, but not
1044 recommended);
1045 @item
1046 cache also the directories for each topic (faster, without using much
1047 more memory);
1048 @item
1049 cache also the actual filenames for each topic (fastest, but uses twice
1050 as much memory).
1051 @end enumerate
1052
1053 The default value is currently 2, a good general compromise. If the
1054 @code{woman} command is slow to find files then try 3, which may be
1055 particularly beneficial with large remote-mounted man directories. Run
1056 the @code{woman} command with a prefix argument or delete the cache file
1057 @code{woman-cache-filename} for a change to take effect. (Values < 1
1058 behave like 1; values > 3 behave like 3.)
1059
1060 @item woman-cache-filename
1061 Either a string representing the full pathname of the WoMan directory
1062 and topic cache file, or @code{nil}. It is used to save and restore the
1063 cache between Emacs sessions. This is especially useful with
1064 remote-mounted man page files! The default value of @code{nil}
1065 suppresses this action. The ``standard'' non-@code{nil} filename is
1066 @file{~/.wmncach.el}. Remember that a prefix argument forces the
1067 @code{woman} command to update and re-write the cache.
1068
1069 @item woman-dired-keys
1070 A list of @code{dired} mode keys to be defined to run WoMan on the
1071 current file, e.g.@: @code{("w" "W")} or any non-@code{nil} atom to
1072 automatically define @kbd{w} and @kbd{W} if they are unbound, or
1073 @code{nil} to do nothing. Default is @code{t}.
1074
1075 @item woman-imenu-generic-expression
1076 Imenu support for Sections and Subsections: an alist with elements of
1077 the form @code{(MENU-TITLE REGEXP INDEX)}---see the documentation for
1078 @code{imenu-generic-expression}. Default value is
1079
1080 @lisp
1081 ((nil "\n\\([A-Z].*\\)" 1) ; SECTION, but not TITLE
1082 ("*Subsections*" "^ \\([A-Z].*\\)" 1))
1083 @end lisp
1084
1085 @item woman-imenu
1086 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan adds
1087 a Contents menu to the menubar by calling @code{imenu-add-to-menubar}.
1088
1089 @item woman-imenu-title
1090 A string representing the title to use if WoMan adds a Contents menu to
1091 the menubar. Default is @code{"CONTENTS"}.
1092
1093 @item woman-use-topic-at-point
1094 A boolean value that defaults to @code{nil}. If non-@code{nil} then
1095 the @code{woman} command uses the word at point as the topic,
1096 @emph{without interactive confirmation}, if it exists as a topic.
1097
1098 @item woman-use-topic-at-point-default
1099 A boolean value representing the default value for
1100 @code{woman-use-topic-at-point}. The default value is @code{nil}.
1101 [The variable @code{woman-use-topic-at-point} may be @code{let}-bound
1102 when @code{woman} is loaded, in which case its global value does not
1103 get defined. The function @code{woman-file-name} sets it to this
1104 value if it is unbound.]
1105
1106 @item woman-uncompressed-file-regexp
1107 A regular match expression used to select man source files (ignoring any
1108 compression extension). The default value is
1109 @code{"\\.\\([0-9lmnt]\\w*\\)"} [which means a filename extension is
1110 required].
1111
1112 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1113
1114 The SysV standard man pages use two character suffixes, and this is
1115 becoming more common in the GNU world. For example, the man pages in
1116 the @code{ncurses} package include @file{toe.1m}, @file{form.3x}, etc.
1117
1118 @strong{Please note:} an optional compression regexp will be appended,
1119 so this regexp @emph{must not} end with any kind of string terminator
1120 such as @code{$} or @code{\\'}.
1121
1122 @item woman-file-compression-regexp
1123 A regular match expression used to match compressed man file extensions
1124 for which decompressors are available and handled by auto-compression
1125 mode. It should begin with @code{\\.} and end with @code{\\'} and
1126 @emph{must not} be optional. The default value is
1127 @code{"\\.\\(g?z\\|bz2\\)\\'"}, which matches the @code{gzip} and
1128 @code{bzip2} compression extensions.
1129
1130 @emph{Do not change this unless you are sure you know what you are doing!}
1131
1132 [It should be compatible with the @code{car} of
1133 @code{jka-compr-file-name-handler-entry}, but that is unduly
1134 complicated, includes an inappropriate extension (@file{.tgz}) and is
1135 not loaded by default!]
1136
1137 @item woman-use-own-frame
1138 If non-@code{nil} then use a dedicated frame for displaying WoMan windows.
1139 This is useful only when WoMan is run under a window system such as X or
1140 Microsoft Windows that supports real multiple frames, in which case the
1141 default value is non-@code{nil}.
1142 @end vtable
1143
1144
1145 @node Formatting Options, Faces, Interface Options, Customization
1146 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1147 @section Formatting Options
1148 @cindex formatting options
1149
1150 These options control the layout that WoMan uses to format the man page.
1151
1152 @vtable @code
1153 @item woman-fill-column
1154 An integer specifying the right margin for formatted text. Default is
1155 65.
1156
1157 @item woman-fill-frame
1158 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then most of the frame width is used,
1159 overriding the value of @code{woman-fill-column}. Default is @code{nil}.
1160
1161 @item woman-default-indent
1162 An integer specifying the default prevailing indent for the @code{-man}
1163 macros. Default is 5. Set this variable to 7 to emulate GNU/Linux man
1164 formatting.
1165
1166 @item woman-bold-headings
1167 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then embolden section and subsection
1168 headings. Default is @code{t}. [Heading emboldening is @emph{not} standard
1169 @code{man} behavior.]
1170
1171 @item woman-ignore
1172 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then unrecognised requests etc. are
1173 ignored. Default is @code{t}. This gives the standard @code{roff} behavior.
1174 If @code{nil} then they are left in the buffer, which may aid debugging.
1175
1176 @item woman-preserve-ascii
1177 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then preserve @acronym{ASCII} characters in the
1178 WoMan buffer. Otherwise, non-@acronym{ASCII} characters (that display as
1179 @acronym{ASCII}) may remain, which is irrelevant unless the buffer is to be
1180 saved to a file. Default is @code{nil}.
1181
1182 @item woman-emulation
1183 WoMan emulation, currently either @code{nroff} or @code{troff}. Default
1184 is @code{nroff}. @code{troff} emulation is experimental and largely
1185 untested.
1186 @end vtable
1187
1188
1189 @node Faces, Special symbols, Formatting Options, Customization
1190 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1191 @section Faces
1192 @cindex faces
1193
1194 These options control the display faces that WoMan uses to format the
1195 man page.
1196
1197 @vtable @code
1198 @item woman-fontify
1199 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan assumes that face support is
1200 available. It defaults to a non-@code{nil} value if the display supports
1201 either colors or different fonts.
1202
1203 @item woman-italic-face
1204 Face for italic font in man pages. Default: italic, underlined,
1205 foreground red. This is overkill! @code{troff} uses just italic;
1206 @code{nroff} uses just underline. You should probably select either
1207 italic or underline as you prefer, but not both, although italic and
1208 underline work together perfectly well!
1209
1210 @item woman-bold-face
1211 Face for bold font in man pages. Default: bold, foreground blue.
1212
1213 @item woman-unknown-face
1214 Face for all unknown fonts in man pages. Default: foreground brown.
1215 Brown is a good compromise: it is distinguishable from the default but
1216 not enough so as to make font errors look terrible. (Files that use
1217 non-standard fonts seem to do so badly or in idiosyncratic ways!)
1218
1219 @item woman-addition-face
1220 Face for all additions made by WoMan to man pages.
1221 Default: foreground orange.
1222 @end vtable
1223
1224
1225 @node Special symbols, , Faces, Customization
1226 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1227 @section Special symbols
1228 @cindex special symbols
1229
1230 This section currently applies @emph{only} to Microsoft Windows.
1231
1232 WoMan provides partial experimental support for special symbols,
1233 initially only for MS-Windows and only for MS-Windows fonts. This
1234 includes both non-@acronym{ASCII} characters from the main text font and use
1235 of a separate symbol font. Later, support will be added for other font
1236 types (e.g.@: @code{bdf} fonts) and for the X Window System. In Emacs
1237 20.7, the current support works partially under Windows 9x but may not
1238 work on any other platform.
1239
1240 @vtable @code
1241 @item woman-use-extended-font
1242 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use non-@acronym{ASCII} characters
1243 from the default font. Default is @code{t}.
1244
1245 @item woman-use-symbol-font
1246 A boolean value. If non-@code{nil} then WoMan may use the symbol font.
1247 Default is @code{nil}, mainly because it may change the line spacing (at
1248 least in NTEmacs 20).
1249
1250 @item woman-symbol-font
1251 A string describing the symbol font to use for special characters.
1252 It should be compatible with, and the same size as, the default text font.
1253 Under MS-Windows, the default is
1254
1255 @lisp
1256 "-*-Symbol-normal-r-*-*-*-*-96-96-p-*-ms-symbol"
1257 @end lisp
1258 @end vtable
1259
1260
1261 @c ===================================================================
1262
1263 @node Log, Technical, Customization, Top
1264 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1265 @chapter The *WoMan-Log* Buffer
1266 @cindex log buffer
1267 @cindex buffer, log
1268
1269 This is modeled on the Emacs byte-compiler. It logs all files
1270 formatted by WoMan and the time taken. If WoMan finds anything that it
1271 cannot handle then it writes a warning to this buffer. If the variable
1272 @code{woman-show-log} is non-@code{nil} (by default it is @code{nil}) then
1273 WoMan automatically displays this buffer. @xref{Interface Options, ,
1274 Interface Options}. Many WoMan warnings can be completely ignored,
1275 because they are reporting the fact that WoMan has ignored requests that
1276 it is correct for WoMan to ignore. In some future version this level of
1277 paranoia may be reduced, but not until WoMan is deemed more reliable.
1278 At present, all warnings should be treated with some suspicion.
1279 Uninterpreted escape sequences are also logged (in some cases).
1280
1281 By resetting the variable @code{woman-ignore} to @code{nil} (by default
1282 it is @code{t}), uninterpreted @code{roff} requests can optionally be
1283 left in the formatted buffer to indicate precisely where they occurred.
1284 @xref{Interface Options, , Interface Options}.
1285
1286 @c ===================================================================
1287
1288 @node Technical, Bugs, Log, Top
1289 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1290 @chapter Technical Details
1291 @cindex technical details
1292 @cindex horizontal spacing
1293 @cindex spacing, horizontal and vertical
1294 @cindex vertical spacing
1295 @cindex resolution
1296
1297 @heading Horizontal and vertical spacing and resolution
1298
1299 WoMan currently assumes 10 characters per inch horizontally, hence a
1300 horizontal resolution of 24 basic units, and 5 lines per inch
1301 vertically, hence a vertical resolution of 48 basic units.
1302 (@code{nroff} uses 240 per inch.)
1303
1304 @heading Vertical spacing and blank lines
1305
1306 The number of consecutive blank lines in the formatted buffer should be
1307 either 0 or 1. A blank line should leave a space like .sp 1.
1308 Current policy is to output vertical space only immediately before text
1309 is output.
1310
1311 @c ===================================================================
1312
1313 @node Bugs, Acknowledgements, Technical, Top
1314 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1315 @chapter Reporting Bugs
1316 @cindex reporting bugs
1317 @cindex bugs, reporting
1318
1319 If WoMan fails completely, or formats a file incorrectly (i.e.@:
1320 obviously wrongly or significantly differently from @code{man}) or
1321 inelegantly, then please
1322
1323 @enumerate
1324 @item
1325 try the latest version of @file{woman.el} from the Emacs CVS repository
1326 on @uref{http://savannah.gnu.org/}. If it still fails, please
1327
1328 @item
1329 send a bug report to @email{bug-gnu-emacs@@gnu.org} and to
1330 @email{F.J.Wright@@qmw.ac.uk}. Please include the entry from the
1331 @code{*WoMan-Log*} buffer relating to the problem file, together with
1332 a brief description of the problem. Please indicate where you got the
1333 man source file from, but do not send it unless asked to send it.
1334 @end enumerate
1335
1336 @c ===================================================================
1337
1338 @node Acknowledgements, GNU Free Documentation License, Bugs, Top
1339 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1340 @chapter Acknowledgements
1341 @cindex acknowledgements
1342
1343 For Heather, Kathryn and Madelyn, the women in my life (although they
1344 will probably never use it)!
1345
1346 I also thank the following for helpful suggestions, bug reports, code
1347 fragments, general interest, etc.:
1348
1349 @quotation
1350 Jari Aalto, @email{jari.aalto@@cs.tpu.fi}@*
1351 Dean Andrews, @email{dean@@dra.com}@*
1352 Juanma Barranquero, @email{barranquero@@laley-actualidad.es}@*
1353 Karl Berry, @email{kb@@cs.umb.edu}@*
1354 Jim Chapman, @email{jchapman@@netcomuk.co.uk}@*
1355 Frederic Corne, @email{frederic.corne@@erli.fr}@*
1356 Peter Craft, @email{craft@@alacritech.com}@*
1357 Charles Curley, @email{ccurley@@trib.com}@*
1358 Jim Davidson, @email{jdavidso@@teknowledge.com}@*
1359 Kevin D'Elia, @email{Kevin.DElia@@mci.com}@*
1360 John Fitch, @email{jpff@@maths.bath.ac.uk}@*
1361 Hans Frosch, @email{jwfrosch@@rish.b17c.ingr.com}@*
1362 Guy Gascoigne-Piggford, @email{ggp@@informix.com}@*
1363 Brian Gorka, @email{gorkab@@sanchez.com}@*
1364 Nicolai Henriksen, @email{nhe@@lyngso-industri.dk}@*
1365 Thomas Herchenroeder, @email{the@@software-ag.de}@*
1366 Alexander Hinds, @email{ahinds@@thegrid.net}@*
1367 Stefan Hornburg, @email{sth@@hacon.de}@*
1368 Theodore Jump, @email{tjump@@cais.com}@*
1369 Paul Kinnucan, @email{paulk@@mathworks.com}@*
1370 Jonas Linde, @email{jonas@@init.se}@*
1371 Andrew McRae, @email{andrewm@@optimation.co.nz}@*
1372 Howard Melman, @email{howard@@silverstream.com}@*
1373 Dennis Pixton, @email{dennis@@math.binghamton.edu}@*
1374 T. V. Raman, @email{raman@@Adobe.com}@*
1375 Bruce Ravel, @email{bruce.ravel@@nist.gov}@*
1376 Benjamin Riefenstahl, @email{benny@@crocodial.de}@*
1377 Kevin Ruland, @email{kruland@@seistl.com}@*
1378 Tom Schutter, @email{tom@@platte.com}@*
1379 Wei-Xue Shi, @email{wxshi@@ma.neweb.ne.jp}@*
1380 Fabio Somenzi, @email{fabio@@joplin.colorado.edu}@*
1381 Karel Sprenger, @email{ks@@ic.uva.nl}@*
1382 Chris Szurgot, @email{szurgot@@itribe.net}@*
1383 Paul A. Thompson, @email{pat@@po.cwru.edu}@*
1384 Arrigo Triulzi, @email{arrigo@@maths.qmw.ac.uk}@*
1385 Geoff Voelker, @email{voelker@@cs.washington.edu}@*
1386 Eli Zaretskii, @email{eliz@@is.elta.co.il}
1387 @end quotation
1388
1389 @c ===================================================================
1390
1391 @comment END OF MANUAL TEXT
1392 @page
1393
1394
1395 @node GNU Free Documentation License, Command Index, Acknowledgements, Top
1396 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License
1397 @include doclicense.texi
1398
1399 @node Command Index, Variable Index, GNU Free Documentation License, Top
1400 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1401 @unnumbered Command Index
1402
1403 @printindex fn
1404
1405 @node Variable Index, Keystroke Index, Command Index, Top
1406 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1407 @unnumbered Variable Index
1408
1409 @printindex vr
1410
1411 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1412 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1413 @c This must be a bug!
1414
1415 @page
1416
1417 @node Keystroke Index, Concept Index, Variable Index, Top
1418 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1419 @unnumbered Keystroke Index
1420
1421 @printindex ky
1422
1423 @c Without a page throw here, the page length seems to get reset to the
1424 @c depth of the index that fits on the page after the previous index.
1425 @c This must be a bug!
1426
1427 @page
1428
1429 @node Concept Index, , Keystroke Index, Top
1430 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
1431 @unnumbered Concept Index
1432
1433 @printindex cp
1434
1435 @bye
1436
1437 @ignore
1438 arch-tag: a1a6b715-396f-4378-9b94-0b2ca0aa5028
1439 @end ignore