Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!mailrus!bbn!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!jaap+ From: jaap+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jaap Akkerhuis) Newsgroups: comp.text Subject: Re: pic preprocessor for troff Message-ID: Date: 14 Jan 89 19:55:06 GMT References: <1000@cmx.npac.syr.edu>, <1596@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> Organization: Carnegie Mellon Lines: 29 In-Reply-To: <1596@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> > *Excerpts from ext.nn.comp.text: 14-Jan-89 Re: pic preprocessor for troff* > *Pegasystems@daedalus (1396)* > In article <1000@cmx.npac.syr.edu> crockett@top.cis.syr.edu (Peter Crockett) > writes: > >A professor came here with some troff source which uses a troff > >preprocessor called pic. He had the code for pic sent here, but it > >generates a troff directive D which is not understood by any troff on > >campus. Anyone know anything about pic and/or the nature of this > >mysterious directive? > > > the \D troff command belongs to ditroff and will not work with > nroff or troff if the troff is the old troff often distributed with systems. > however there is a command line argument to pic to use the old \L and \l > commands but this has only limited useability. Close, but not true. Early version of pic used \L etc. for short vertical & horizontal lines only and there was a flag which forced it always to use \D'...' However, the early sources of pic made it possible to generate old drawing characters by using a different module voor the pic to troff code generator (some like pltroff, my memory is fuzzy about this). I've used this quite happily with old fashioned troff for a while, just to prove that it was possible. It is also terribly slow...). Something else, the AT&T lawyers might frown upon the fact that somebody gives you the source from pic. Why don't you just get the latest version of DWB 2.0 (directly from at&t or from support offering companies like ELAN, SQUAD etc.). That will solve your problem and keep the lawyers away. jaap