[comp.text.tex] "nroff" equivalent for TeX ?????

heft@husc9.harvard.edu (Thomas W. Heft) (02/23/91)

I hope this isn't a frequently asked question.  I looked at the
monthly FAQ answers, and didn't see this in it.

I would like to find a program that would be the TeX equivalent of
"nroff".  I don't want a DVI previewer, since I want the input to the
program to be the same as the input to the TeX program.

I am looking for this program so that I can write documentation that
can be read online, and also printed out.  If I can't find a suitable
program, I will be forced to use "troff" for my documentation, which
I'd rather not do.

Any helps, tips, or pointer will be greatly appreciated.

		Thanks,
		  Tom Heft
		  heft@husc9.harvard.edu

Dan_Jacobson@ATT.COM (02/23/91)

>>>>> On 22 Feb 91 20:10:52 GMT, heft@husc9.harvard.edu (Thomas W. Heft) said:

Thomas> I would like to find a program that would be the TeX equivalent of
Thomas> "nroff".  I don't want a DVI previewer, since I want the input to the
Thomas> program to be the same as the input to the TeX program.

Thomas> I am looking for this program so that I can write documentation that
Thomas> can be read online, and also printed out.  If I can't find a suitable
Thomas> program, I will be forced to use "troff" for my documentation, which
Thomas> I'd rather not do.

What about GNU's TeXinfo stuff, [and I hear there's LaTeXinfo] ...
from GNU Emacs' info reader:

Overview of Texinfo
*******************

Texinfo is a documentation system that uses a single source file for
both on-line help and a printed manual.  This means that instead of
writing two different documents, one for the on-line help and the
other for the printed manual, only one document needs to be written. 
When the system is revised, only one file has to be revised.

Using Texinfo, you can create a document with the normal features of
a book such as chapters, sections, cross references and indices.  The
chapters and sections of the printed manual can be made to correspond
to the nodes of the on-line help.  The cross references and indices
can be used in both the on-line help and in the printed document. 
Indices are generated semi-automatically.  The ``GNU Emacs Manual''
is a good example of a Texinfo file.

[...]
-- 
Dan_Jacobson@ATT.COM  Naperville IL USA  +1 708-979-6364

bjal_ss@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Ben Alexander) (02/23/91)

heft@husc9.harvard.edu (Thomas W. Heft) writes:

>I would like to find a program that would be the TeX equivalent of
>"nroff".  I don't want a DVI previewer, since I want the input to the
>program to be the same as the input to the TeX program.

>I am looking for this program so that I can write documentation that
>can be read online, and also printed out.  If I can't find a suitable
>program, I will be forced to use "troff" for my documentation, which
>I'd rather not do.

I also would be interested in such a beast.  I'm also interested in any
useful information about texinfo, ie how to write documentation using
it.  As a side note to that, a friend of mine had problems printing out
the gnu emacs manual but I didn't know any more than he did.  I presume
that all you need to do is have an \input{texinfo.tex} in the file and
have texinfo.tex accesible.  We got massive error messages; are there
different versions of texinfo?

I've only spent a small amount of time with TeX and I've only used LaTeX
on documents given to me.  When I've pulled interesting macro packages
written and posted to the net, I've noticed a severe lack of usefull
documentation or comments in the code.  Query: am I not looking hard
enough, or do I not know how to read tex code?  Do other people find the
macros posted documented adequately?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ben Alexander

droms@regulus (Ralph E. Droms) (02/26/91)

I've put together txt.sty that appropriately defines or redefines
(where necessary) LaTeX article style commands to generate reasonable
fixed-width font output.  A slightly modified version of dvi2tty can
then generate readable ASCII output.  Send me mail if you're
interested.

At present, you must change the latex input to include txt.sty.  A
previous poster suggested I put together a new .fmt file called from,
say, ttlatex.  The result would be more like nroff/troff, generating
two types of output from one input file.  I hope to get that finished
"soon".


--
- Ralph Droms                 Computer Science Department
  droms@bucknell.edu          323 Dana Engineering
                              Bucknell University
  (717) 524-1145              Lewisburg, PA 17837