28 May
2025
28 May
'25
1:16 a.m.
Hello,
troff.org <http://troff.org/> maintains a nice list of UNIX/networking books typed
in troff:
https://troff.org/pubs.html#advctt
https://troff.org/books.html#strong
There’s one book that’s been released out of the publisher’s copyright, transcribed, and
the source is available:
https://github.com/larrykollar/Unix-Text-Processing
Are there any other other long text/books that have the source code available?
The only thing that I can think or are the manuals present in source trees of the current
BSD systems.
Thanks,
Adam
28 May
28 May
1:55 a.m.
The ones you want are the Stevens books. That guy made troff sing, he walked
me through his process years (decades?) ago. He really knew troff and those
books have held up to this day.
No idea if the source is anywhere, but if it is, that should be archived
because that is some great work.
I have bwk's source to the awk book but am not sure if I can publish that.
And I have to go turn a server where it lives.
On Tue, May 27, 2025 at 06:16:48PM -0700, Adam Koszek wrote:
Hello,
troff.org <http://troff.org/> maintains a nice list of UNIX/networking books typed
in troff:
https://troff.org/pubs.html#advctt
https://troff.org/books.html#strong
There???s one book that???s been released out of the publisher???s copyright,
transcribed, and the source is available:
https://github.com/larrykollar/Unix-Text-Processing
Are there any other other long text/books that have the source code available?
The only thing that I can think or are the manuals present in source trees of the current
BSD systems.
Thanks,
Adam
--
---
Larry McVoy Retired to fishing http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat
5:52 a.m.
Larry McVoy <lm(a)mcvoy.com> wrote:
I have bwk's source to the awk book but am not
sure if I can publish that.
I am sure that you cannot.
Not to mention that he published a second edition towards the end
of 2023. (That is well worth the trouble of reading, even if you
have the first edition.)
Arnold
11:17 p.m.
Multiple authors attributed good looks of their books to his macros. I wonder if anyone
has a backup...
Adam
On May 27, 2025, at 6:55 PM, Larry McVoy
<lm(a)mcvoy.com> wrote:
The ones you want are the Stevens books. That guy made troff sing, he walked
me through his process years (decades?) ago. He really knew troff and those
books have held up to this day.
No idea if the source is anywhere, but if it is, that should be archived
because that is some great work.
I have bwk's source to the awk book but am not sure if I can publish that.
And I have to go turn a server where it lives.
On Tue, May 27, 2025 at 06:16:48PM -0700, Adam Koszek wrote:
Hello,
troff.org <http://troff.org/> <http://troff.org/> maintains a nice list of
UNIX/networking books typed in troff:
https://troff.org/pubs.html#advctt
https://troff.org/books.html#strong
There???s one book that???s been released out of the publisher???s copyright,
transcribed, and the source is available:
https://github.com/larrykollar/Unix-Text-Processing
Are there any other other long text/books that have the source code available?
The only thing that I can think or are the manuals present in source trees of the current
BSD systems.
Thanks,
Adam
--
---
Larry McVoy Retired to fishing http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat 
29 May
29 May
1:52 a.m.
[looping in groff list]
Hi Larry and Adam,
> On May 27, 2025, at 6:55 PM, Larry McVoy
<lm(a)mcvoy.com> wrote:
> The [troff macros] you want are [those used to compose] the Stevens
> books. That guy made troff sing, he walked me through his process
> years (decades?) ago. He really knew troff and those books have
> held up to this day.
>
> No idea if the source is anywhere, but if it is, that should be
> archived because that is some great work.
I too am a fan of W. Richard Stevens's work. I am disappointed that he
passed long before I became involved in groff development and therefore
had an excuse to frequently engage with him--I am certain I would have
learned much about *roff and other things.
At 2025-05-28T16:17:04-0700, Adam Koszek wrote:
Multiple authors attributed good looks of their books
to his macros. I
wonder if anyone has a backup...
Alternatively or additionally, if someone has a thorough English-
language description of those macros at the level of detail of a
specification, then I can see them becoming part of the GNU roff
distribution, either as a "contributed" component or as part of the
"official" system, depending on who did the work and what copyright they
were comfortable applying to it.[1]
I emphasize that, for groff, "contrib" is not a wastebasket directory on
a website; everything in the "contrib" directory of groff's Git
repository gets built and shipped, and distributors generally provide
the materials therein. Some of it gets automated testing and/or has
seen recent bug fixes and development too, as with the groff version of
the mm macros, and Peter Schaffter's popular (and sophisticated) "mom"
package.
Regards,
Branden
[1] groff's "LICENSES" file attempts to illuminate these matters.
30 May
30 May
12:05 a.m.
Branden, the only resources in English from him that I know of are from his website.
Working links:
http://www.kohala.com/start/pagelayout.html
http://www.kohala.com/start/indexing.html
http://www.kohala.com/start/chartjunk.html
but it may not be enough.
Adam
On May 28, 2025, at 6:52 PM, G. Branden Robinson
<g.branden.robinson(a)gmail.com> wrote:
[looping in groff list]
Hi Larry and Adam,
> On May 27, 2025, at 6:55 PM, Larry McVoy
<lm(a)mcvoy.com> wrote:
> The [troff macros] you want are [those used to compose] the Stevens
> books. That guy made troff sing, he walked me through his process
> years (decades?) ago. He really knew troff and those books have
> held up to this day.
>
> No idea if the source is anywhere, but if it is, that should be
> archived because that is some great work.
I too am a fan of W. Richard Stevens's work. I am disappointed that he
passed long before I became involved in groff development and therefore
had an excuse to frequently engage with him--I am certain I would have
learned much about *roff and other things.
At 2025-05-28T16:17:04-0700, Adam Koszek wrote:
Multiple authors attributed good looks of their
books to his macros. I
wonder if anyone has a backup...
Alternatively or additionally, if someone has a thorough English-
language description of those macros at the level of detail of a
specification, then I can see them becoming part of the GNU roff
distribution, either as a "contributed" component or as part of the
"official" system, depending on who did the work and what copyright they
were comfortable applying to it.[1]
I emphasize that, for groff, "contrib" is not a wastebasket directory on
a website; everything in the "contrib" directory of groff's Git
repository gets built and shipped, and distributors generally provide
the materials therein. Some of it gets automated testing and/or has
seen recent bug fixes and development too, as with the groff version of
the mm macros, and Peter Schaffter's popular (and sophisticated) "mom"
package.
Regards,
Branden
[1] groff's "LICENSES" file attempts to illuminate these matters. 
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