1 .TH DITROFF @MAN7EXT@ "@MDATE@" "groff @VERSION@"
3 ditroff \- classical device-independent roff
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30 refers to a historical development stage of the
32 text processing system.
36 systems extant today, the name
45 by Joe Ossanna generated two programs from the same sources,
46 using conditional compilation to distinguish them.
49 produced text-oriented TTY output, while
51 generated graphical output for exactly one output device, the
52 Wang Graphic Systems CAT phototypesetter.
56 In 1979, Brian Kernighan rewrote
58 to support more devices by creating an intermediate output format for
60 that could be fed into postprocessor programs which actually do the
61 printout on the device.
63 Kernighan's version marks what is known as \(lqclassical troff\(rq
66 In order to distinguish it from Ossanna's original version, it was
69 .RI ( d "evice " i "ndependent " t roff)
70 on some systems, though this naming isn't mentioned in the classical
77 systems are based on Kernighan's multi-device
80 The distinction between
84 is no longer necessary; each modern
86 provides the complete functionality of
91 The easiest way to use
100 program is a wrapper around
102 that automatically handles device postprocessing.
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109 This document was written by
110 .MT groff\-bernd.warken\-72@\:web.de
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121 refers to the 1992 revision of the
122 .I Nroff/Troff User's Manual
123 by J.\& F.\& Ossanna and Brian Kernighan.
129 .IR "A Typesetter-independent TROFF" ,
130 by Brian Kernighan and is the original documentation of the first
138 provides a history and conceptual overview of
144 .IR @g@troff (@MAN1EXT@)
145 describes the GNU implementation of
150 .IR groff (@MAN1EXT@)
153 program and includes pointers to further documentation about
158 .IR groff_out (@MAN5EXT@)
161 version of the intermediate output language, the basis for
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