Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!mauxci!eci386!ecicrl!clewis
From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.3b1
Subject: Re: term files for nroff under 3.5 dev. system
Keywords: nterm term help
Message-ID: <1483@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca>
Date: 11 May 91 04:59:33 GMT
References: <284@wmms.UUCP> <52935@rphroy.UUCP>
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 31

In article <52935@rphroy.UUCP> tkacik@hobbes.cs.gmr.com (Tom Tkacik CS/50) writes:
>In article <284@wmms.UUCP>, david@wmms.UUCP (David R. Mayne) writes:

>|> How, if possible, do I create my own custom term files for
>|> nroff on the 3b1 under os 3.5, develop 3.5? The compiled
>|> tab* files are in /usr/lib/term under 3.5, but there is no mention
>|> in 3.5 docs, or any clue that I can find on making these files.

>It was about 4 or 5 years ago that I did this for my UnixPC.  You are right
>about there being a lack of documentation on the issue.  But at that time
>someone (whose name I do not remember) posted an nroff driver table
>compiler.  It worked very nicely.

I think his name was Townsend, and I believe he was at bnrvpa.  I looked
in the comp.sources.unix index, and a package called "nroff-driver" was
posted in c.s.u volume 13, somewhere around April 1988.  A comp.sources.unix
archive should have it.  It was posted much earlier than that (1984/5 I think),
but I think the 1988 one is the penultimate version.  I tried it at the time
(84-85 timeframe), it worked fine, but I was just getting into translating troff
to HP LJ's, so it wasn't very interesting ;-)

I think it took into account several different nroff table formats.
(Originally, the term's are simply a .c file that contained an initialized
struct of strings, was compiled, and nroff knew how to step over the a.out
header and pick apart the struct.  Some versions of nroff used simpler
formats).
-- 
Chris Lewis, Phone: (613) 832-0541, Domain: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
UUCP: ...!cunews!latour!ecicrl!clewis; Ferret Mailing List:
ferret-request@eci386; Psroff (not Adobe Transcript) enquiries:
psroff-request@eci386 or Canada 416-832-0541.  Psroff 3.0 in c.s.u soon!