# what is used on freebsd? roff, nroff, troff, groff



## rdindir (Aug 11, 2022)

Hello All,

On FreeBSD 13.1, I only have roff installed. This does not have pic, tbl, or whatsoever, or maybe I am mistaken.

What is used for typesetting on FreeBSD from the roff/nroff/troff/groff family? Which one should we use?

Regards,
Riza


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## zirias@ (Aug 11, 2022)

I think nothing "on FreeBSD" uses any of that, although man(1) can still deal with it, but the default format for manual pages is mdoc(7) (which is IIRC nowadays processed independently of roff(7)).

But I'm not sure what you really mean with that question?


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## Holger (Aug 11, 2022)

rdindir said:


> Hello All,
> 
> On FreeBSD 13.1, I only have roff installed. This does not have pic, tbl, or whatsoever, or maybe I am mistaken.
> 
> ...


I don't think the FreeBSD base system supports typesetting out of the box. You need to install something from the ports tree. For example `groff` or TeX/LaTeX.


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## rdindir (Aug 11, 2022)

zirias@ said:


> I think nothing "on FreeBSD" uses any of that, although man(1) can still deal with it, but the default format for manual pages is mdoc(7) (which is IIRC nowadays processed independently of roff(7)).
> 
> But I'm not sure what you really mean with that question?


I wanted to use troff/roff. In the past I have used groff I guess. I thought that I could use roff, that comes with the base system. But there are also other filters like eqn, pic, tbl. But these seem not be be installed with the base install.

I was wondering what I would have to do to use troff with eqn, pic, tbl, and the other filters to create documents with the roff package?


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## rdindir (Aug 11, 2022)

Holger said:


> I don't think the FreeBSD base system supports typesetting out of the box. You need to install something from the ports tree. For example `groff` or TeX/LaTeX.


Did not want to use latex/tex, but roff.

The system comes with roff. I can see the manual page. When I try to run roff, it can not be found.

In the manual page of roff, it mentions eqn. But when I try to execute it, there seem to be no eqn exceutable. Saying "sh: eqn: not found".

Either I am missing something, something that I might not have done when installing (choosing one of the packages maybe), or the system has the documentation (manual pages), but the system is missing the typesetting packages.


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## Jose (Aug 11, 2022)

rdindir said:


> In the manual page of roff, it mentions eqn. But when I try to execute it, there seem to be no eqn exceutable. Saying "sh: eqn: not found".


The manual page for roff(7) clearly states "roff language reference for mandoc". It documents a language, not an executable. There is no `roff` utility documented therein. The fact that it's in man section number 7 indicates that it's likely not a command. Those are usually in sections 1 or 8.

The situation is similar for eqn(7). That page also documents a language reference.


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## rdindir (Aug 11, 2022)

Is anybody using troff for typesetting? And do you prefer heirloom troff or groff?


Jose said:


> The manual page for roff(7) clearly states "roff language reference for mandoc". It documents a language, not an executable. There is no `roff` utility documented therein. The fact that it's in man section number 7 indicates that it's likely not a command. Those are usually in sections 1 or 8.
> 
> The situation is similar for eqn(7). That page also documents a language reference.


Oh I did not look carefully then. Very sorry for the missunderstanding.


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## T-Daemon (Aug 11, 2022)

rdindir, if you insist on roff, nroff, troff, groff, pic, tbl, eqn, those can be found in textproc/groff.


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## rdindir (Aug 11, 2022)

Is anybody using a troff like system for typesetting?

Since there are two of them, which one do you prefer *groff-1.22.4_4* or *heirloom-doctools-160308_1*?


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## rdindir (Aug 11, 2022)

T-Daemon said:


> rdindir, if you insist on roff, nroff, troff, groff, pic, tbl, eqn, those can be found in textproc/groff.


I am looking for a simple and lightweight typesetting system, and used groff in the past. Just was wondering also about the difference between the heirloom troff and groff.

Altough groff does not have grap as far as i can tell.


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## T-Daemon (Aug 11, 2022)

rdindir said:


> Just was wondering also about the difference between the heirloom troff and groff.


I can't answer that question. Honestly, never used them.



rdindir said:


> Altough groff does not have grap as far as i can tell.


grap has its own port: textproc/grap


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## drhowarddrfine (Aug 11, 2022)

rdindir said:


> What is used for typesetting on FreeBSD from the roff/nroff/troff/groff family?


troff/nroff is in base. What is used by the Foundation, I don't know, if any.



rdindir said:


> Which one should we use?


You have experience with this so use the one you wish. groff is available as a package.


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## gpw928 (Aug 11, 2022)

I am a long-time troff(1) user.  I even once had the use of an Autologic APS5 phototypesetter (which is what they used inside Bell Labs).

I didn't even know that the textproc/heirloom-doctools existed.  Their description says that they are portable and enhanced versions of the utilities released by Sun as part of OpenSolaris, and, for pic, grap, mpm, and some minor parts, by Lucent as part of Plan 9.  Their installation conflicts with the textproc/grap, textproc/groff, japanese/ja-groff, and devel/util-linux packages.  You would want to have a well understood reason to use them.

I just install the textproc/groff package.  Add textproc/grap if you need it.


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## rdindir (Aug 12, 2022)

drhowarddrfine said:


> troff/nroff is in base. What is used by the Foundation, I don't know, if any.
> 
> 
> You have experience with this so use the one you wish. groff is available as a package.


I was only wondering if heirloom was better, based on experience if anybody used it.


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## rdindir (Aug 12, 2022)

gpw928 said:


> I am a long-time troff(1) user.  I even once had the use of an Autologic APS5 phototypesetter (which is what they used inside Bell Labs).
> 
> I didn't even know that the textproc/heirloom-doctools existed.  Their description says that they are portable and enhanced versions of the utilities released by Sun as part of OpenSolaris, and, for pic, grap, mpm, and some minor parts, by Lucent as part of Plan 9.  Their installation conflicts with the textproc/grap, textproc/groff, japanese/ja-groff, and devel/util-linux packages.  You would want to have a well understood reason to use them.
> 
> I just install the textproc/groff package.  Add textproc/grap if you need it.


That's what I am going to use.


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