Greetings, The provided patch adds the configure option --with-compatibility-wrappers, which allows the builder of groff on systems with non-GNU *roff macro sets (such as Solaris 10) to control the installation of groff compatibility wrappers for the OS provided macro sets. The name compatibility wrappers was chosen (over the originally mentioned compatibility mode) as it better reflects the intent of the option, the option itself is not about groff's compatibility mode (.cp), but the installation of compatibility wrappers for OS provided macro sets. The default value of this new option is "check" which preserves groff's existing behavior on systems with OS provided macro sets, and I would assume, but have not tested, the default behavior on systems without such macro sets. The patch has not been tested on systems without vendor provided macros, but as most developers and maintainers will have such systems, it should be tested quite quickly. As noted in the comments, the value "yes" on systems without such vendor provided macros, will cause configure to abort. Test System: Solaris 10 X86_64 with gnu tool chain, including gcc-4.1.2, autoconf-2.69 and automake-1.14.1. As discussed in the initial write-up, this default behavior is probably not desirable in 2015 as the UNIX/POSIX?Linux world is dominated by FLOSS implementations of tools, rather than the traditional vendor implementations. I would support changing the default to "manual", but that is not my call. This patch does not address the issue that groff manual pages do not rendering correctly via man(1) on Solaris 10 systems, which uses a vendor provided *roff implementation and macro sets. The submission is more comments than code, but hopefully that will mean that all who wonder that way in the future will have a guide ;-) Regards, Peter Bray Sydney, Australia PS: This patch is submitted in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. I hereby donate it to the groff project, to do with as the maintainer(s) see fit, including distribution under any license or licenses they deem fit, now or in the future. Copyright may be assigned as the maintainer(s) see fit. It yours! PPS: The following shows the "Only in ..." output of a GNU diff comparison of the installation of groff (Git 2015/04/10) plus the provided patch for different values of the --with-compatibility-wrappers, where the value "default" implies the argument was not provided, and thus defaults to "check", which on this Solaris 10 system, will result in an effective value of "yes". % cd /pkgs/64-bit/release % gdiff -rq groff-git_2015_04_10-{default,yes} | grep -v differ | sort Commentary: Expected as default and yes are equivalent on this system> % gdiff -rq groff-git_2015_04_10-{yes,no} | grep -v differ | sort Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: an.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: m.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: mm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: mmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: mse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: s.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/current/tmac: an.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/current/tmac: m.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/current/tmac: mm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/current/tmac: mmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/current/tmac: mse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-no/share/groff/current/tmac: s.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: an.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: ansun.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: bib.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: m.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: s.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: v.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: vgrind.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gan.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gmm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gmmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gs.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gan.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gmm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gmmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gs.tmac Commentary: - "no" shows that no prefix was used on the groff macro implementations - "yes" shows that "g" prefix was used on the groff macro implementations and the installation of the compatibility wrappers in .../site-tmac % gdiff -rq groff-git_2015_04_10-{yes,manual} | grep -v differ | sort Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: an-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: ansun-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: bib-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: m-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: s-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: v-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: vgrind-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: an.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: m.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: mm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: mmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: mse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: s.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/current/tmac: an.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/current/tmac: m.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/current/tmac: mm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/current/tmac: mmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/current/tmac: mse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/share/groff/current/tmac: s.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: an.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: ansun.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: bib.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: m.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: s.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: v.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/lib/groff/site-tmac: vgrind.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gan.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gmm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gmmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac: gs.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gan.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gmm.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gmmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gmse.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-yes/share/groff/current/tmac: gs.tmac Commentary: - "manual" shows that no prefix was used on the groff macro implementations and that the compatibility wrappers in .../site-tmac have an "-os" suffix - "yes" shows that "g" prefix was used on the groff macro implementations and the installation of the compatibility wrappers in .../site-tmac % gdiff -rq groff-git_2015_04_10-{no,manual} | grep -v differ | sort Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: an-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: ansun-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: bib-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: m-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: s-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: v-os.tmac Only in groff-git_2015_04_10-manual/lib/groff/site-tmac: vgrind-os.tmac Commentary: - "manual" shows that the compatibility wrappers in .../site-tmac have an "-os" suffix, and that otherwise the installation does not differ from "no"