bugGNU roff - Bugs: bug #55091, [PATCH] stop stripping comments...

 
 

bug #55091: [PATCH] stop stripping comments and spaces from installed macro packages

Submitter:  Dave <barx>
Submitted:  Sun 25 Nov 2018 03:06:30 AM UTC
   
 
Category:  Macro - others/general Severity:  3 - Normal
Item Group:  Build/Installation Status:  Fixed
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  gbranden
Open/Closed:  Closed Planned Release:  1.23.0
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Sun 04 Jul 2021 03:48:42 PM UTC, comment #6: 


commit 266f002e125fc4eeef2c38e40f660827e3064d84
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Date:   Mon Jul 5 01:38:55 2021 +1000

    Remove the stripper script and its vestiges.

    * contrib/hdtbl/hdmisc.tmac:
    * contrib/hdtbl/hdtbl.tmac:
    * contrib/mom/om.tmac:
    * tmac/doc.tmac:
    * tmac/e.tmac:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-common:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-ditroff:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-nroff:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-syms: Remove `%beginstrip` comment.

    * tmac/strip.sed: Delete.

    * tmac/tmac.am (EXTRA_DIST): Stop shipping `strip.sed`.

    Fixes <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?55091>.

commit ee41d36200ffc989eac09e65db7537bf59dd1c62
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Date:   Sun Jul 4 23:56:18 2021 +1000

    Skip the stripper, part 3/3 (mdoc). [part 3c]

    * tmac/doc.tmac:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-common:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-ditroff:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-nroff:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-syms: Bracket macro definitions tightly with `eo` and
      `ec` requests since they were written under this assumption.  The
      files in general were also drafted under the assumption that they'd be
      stripped, so `eo` was in effect for broad swaths of the file including
      portions outside of any macro definition where comments were used.
      But comments are expressed using the escape character!  So we got
      warnings about an undefined '\"' macro, and that was just the
      beginning of a wrecking ball of trouble that smashed through the
      implementation.  Some--but not all--string definitions (and
      appendments) needed to be bracketed with `eo` and `ec` as well, to
      delay interpolation of embedded string names that are not defined
      until macros interpolate them later.  I did what appeared necessary to
      pass our tests and keep -Tutf8 and -Tps renderings of
      tmac/groff_mdoc.7 from changing from their pre-stripped output.
      Subtle bugs might linger, but some won't be the fault of the
      unstripping process.  (For instance, try provoking a usage message on
      the `Hf` macro.)

commit 24602f42e209e0565e778773a9d91c12eb3a921d
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Date:   Sun Jul 4 19:54:23 2021 +1000

    Skip the stripper, part 3/3 (mdoc). [part 3b]

    * tmac/tmac.am (TMACNORMALFILES): Add `doc-old.tmac` and `doc.tmac`.

      (TMACUNSTRIPFILES, TMACSTRIPFILES): Delete variables.

      (dist_tmac_DATA): Drop `$(TMACUNSTRIPFILES)`.

      (nodist_tmac_DATA): Drop `$(TMACSTRIPFILES)`.

      (TMACMDOCSTRIPFILES): Rename...
      (TMACMDOCFILES): ...to this.

      (nodist_mdoc_DATA, MOSTLYCLEANFILES): Reflect above rename.

      (nodist_mdoc_DATA): Rename...
      (dist_mdoc_DATA): ...to this.

      (TMACMDOCUNSTRIPFILES): Delete variable.

      (EXTRA_DIST): Drop `$(TMACMDOCUNSTRIPFILES)`.

      ($(TMACSTRIPFILES), $(TMACMDOCSTRIPFILES)): Drop targets.

    WARNING: This commit fails two mdoc tests.

commit ac6080e394100a8ff441b0cb0101be9eb76331ca
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Date:   Sun Jul 4 19:48:25 2021 +1000

    Skip the stripper, part 3/3 (mdoc). [part 3a]

    * tmac/doc-old.tmac-u:
    * tmac/doc.tmac-u:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-common-u:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-ditroff-u:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-nroff-u:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-syms-u: Rename these...

    * tmac/doc-old.tmac:
    * tmac/doc.tmac:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-common:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-ditroff:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-nroff:
    * tmac/mdoc/doc-syms: ...to these.

    WARNING: This commit will not build.


G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Thu 01 Jul 2021 05:06:51 PM UTC, comment #5: 

The easy parts are done.  As noted in comment #4, mdoc makes everything difficult, it seems.


commit f2f52b9afffb236a26e1d848192c2f2145cc4f56
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Date:   Thu Jul 1 22:23:46 2021 +1000

    Skip the stripper, part 2 ("hdtbl").

    * contrib/hdtbl/hdmisc.tmac-u: Rename to...
    * contrib/hdtbl/hdmisc.tmac: ...this.

    * contrib/hdtbl/hdtbl.tmac-u: Rename to...
    * contrib/hdtbl/hdtbl.tmac: ...this.

    * contrib/hdtbl/hdtbl.am (HDSTRIPFILES): Rename to...
      (HDTBLTMACFILES): ...this.
      (hdtbltmac_DATA): Rename to...
      (dist_hdtbltmac_DATA): ...this.
      (MOSTLYCLEANFILES): Drop $(HDTBLSTRIPFILES).
      ($(HDTBLSTRIPFILES)): Drop target.

commit 40cb44c083ebd9005ac4ddf94249ffb60497df26
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Date:   Thu Jul 1 22:19:32 2021 +1000

    Skip the stripper, part 1/3 ("me").

    * tmac/e.tmac-u: Rename to...
    * tmac/e.tmac: ...this.

    * tmac/tmac.am (TMACNORMALFILES): Add tmac/e.tmac.
      (TMACUNSTRIPFILES): Remove tmac/e.tmac-u.
      (TMACSTRIPFILES): Add tmac/e.tmac.

    Fixes one third of <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?55091>.


G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Wed 30 Jun 2021 12:32:42 PM UTC, comment #4: 

Unhappy news: groff's mdoc(7) was not written in anticipation that it would not be stripped.

.eo/.ec request pairs are used liberally to shut off the escape mechanism.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Wed 21 Oct 2020 07:19:13 AM UTC, comment #3: 

I second "skipping the stripper" as an early item of business after 1.23 final.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Tue 13 Oct 2020 09:18:17 PM UTC, comment #2: 

I think this should be done, but most definitely not shortly before release because there is a risk that it might cause unintended side effects.  To have ample time to find and fix any such side effects, it should be done shortly after release.

Ingo Schwarze <schwarze>
Group Member
Tue 19 Mar 2019 05:00:05 PM UTC, comment #1: 

A proposed patch to stop stripping the mdoc macro set was posted to the groff email list:

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2019-03/msg00015.html

In ensuing discussion (which thread continues at http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2019-03/msg00020.html), most people favor installing only the unstripped file, and one person argues for installing both stripped and unstripped.  No one has advocated for the current practice, that of installing only the stripped file.

Dave <barx>
Group Member
Sun 25 Nov 2018 03:06:30 AM UTC, original submission:  

This has historically been a contentious issue on the email list, but the discussion is hard to find in the archive, so I'm opening this bug report to consolidate it in one place.

And truthfully, the last couple of times it came up, no one stepped forward to defend the practice of stripping.  See threads starting at:


The trade-off under consideration is between execution speed (stripped files) and readability of the files (unstripped files).  The performance argument becomes less relevant the more time passes, while the legibility argument remains unchanged.  This suggests that eventually there will be a tipping point, where the gains in performance will no longer justify the loss of legibility.

Is 2018 that point?

Are there any holdouts who want to argue in favor of continuing to strip?

Dave <barx>
Group Member

 

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    Follow 9 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2021-07-04 gbranden StatusIn Progress Fixed
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
        Planned ReleaseNone 1.23.0
    2021-07-01 gbranden StatusPostponed In Progress
        Assigned toNone gbranden
    2020-10-22 gbranden StatusNone Postponed
    2020-10-13 schwarze Planned Release1.23.0 None
    2020-10-13 barx Summarystop stripping comments and spaces from installed macro packages [PATCH] stop stripping comments and spaces from installed macro packages
    2018-11-25 bgarrigues Planned ReleaseNone 1.23.0

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