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