[bug #61022] [ms] documention neglects to mention FP macro

[G. Branden Robinson]

Update of bug #61022 (project groff):

                  Status:                    None => Need Info              
             Assigned to:                    None => gbranden               
                 Summary: [ms]: Documention neglects to mention FP macro =>
[ms] documention neglects to mention FP macro

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Follow-up Comment #1:

Hi, Keith!

[comment #0 original submission:]
> Internally, groff's s.tmac defines a macro called "FP", and uses it to
control the printing of footnotes.  At the point of definition, I see:
> 
> 
> .\" This can be redefined. It gets a second argument of 'no' if the
> .\" first argument was supplied by the user, rather than automatically.
> .de FP
> ...
> 
> 
> To me, this suggests that the intention is to provide a hook, (albeit
inconsistent with other ms implementations — e.g. Plan-9's ms manpage
documents an FP macro associated with font positions), whereby the user may
choose to modify the appearance of footnotes, yet the documentation (neither
manpage, nor info) has absolutely no mention of it.

It certainly does seem like it was intended for a hook.  The implementation
dates back to the dawn of repo time.


^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1582)
.de FP
^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1583)
.br
^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1584)
.if !d par*fp!\\n[FF] \{\
1294c8d22 tmac/s.tmac   (G. Branden Robinson  2017-11-18 17:55:26 -0500 1585)
. @error unknown footnote format '\\n[FF]'
^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1586)
. nr FF 0
^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1587)
.\}
^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1588)
.ie '\\$2'no' .par*fp!\\n[FF]-no "\\$1"
^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1589)
.el .par*fp!\\n[FF] "\\$1"
^351da0dc macros/tmac.s (James Clark          1991-06-02 04:20:34 -0500 1590)
..


...but we've gotten along for 30 years without exposing it in
documentation...do we really need it?  Is it worth the clash with Plan 9? 
(Although I have to say, using any amount of API on the ultra-legacy font
mounting position feature seems like a waste to me.)

You certainly don't need .FP to do paragraphing within a footnote; the normal
ones work fine.

Input:


.LP
We will illustrate why we don't need an
.CW FP
macro.\**
.FS
Two software releases were considered for this report.
.PP
The first is commercial software;
the second is free.
.IP \[bu]
Microsoft Word for Windows,
starting with version 1.0 through the current version
(Word 2000).
.IP \[bu]
GNU Emacs,
from its first appearance as a standalone editor through the
current version (v20).
See [Bloggs 2002] for details.
.QP
Franklin's Law applied to software:
software expands to outgrow both RAM and disk space over time.
.XP
Bloggs, Joseph R.,
.I "Everyone's a Critic" ,
Underground Press, March 2002.
A definitive work that answers all questions and criticisms
about the quality and usability of free software.
.LP
And here's a left-aligned paragraph for fun.
.FE


Output:

$ ./build/test-groff -Tutf8 -ms EXPERIMENTS/FP.ms | cat -s

We will illustrate why we don’t need an FP macro.[1]

───────────
  [1] Two  software  releases  were considered for this
report.
  The first is commercial software; the second is free.
• Microsoft Word for Windows, starting with version 1.0
  through the current version (Word 2000).
• GNU  Emacs, from its first appearance as a standalone
  editor  through  the  current  version  (v20).    See
  [Bloggs 2002] for details.
     Franklin’s  Law applied to software: software
     expands to outgrow both RAM  and  disk  space
     over time.
Bloggs,  Joseph  R.,  Everyone’s  a Critic, Underground
  Press, March 2002.  A definitive  work  that  answers
  all  questions  and  criticisms about the quality and
  usability of free software.
And here’s a left‐aligned paragraph for fun.


Do you agree?  Should the comment be rewritten, maybe?

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