improve dformat

[eiro]

hello @sathlan and @hjoertel,

as discussed here https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2021-11/msg00008.html, i want to implement new features (basically more theming, handle parameters, support comments) in dformat. before that, i would like to:

• add some regression tests (t/test1.dformat must produce t/test1.pic, ...) from the papers and any other source i can find
• add a man page and some examples
• add a debian/ dir

also i wonder if autotools makes sense for such a little project: maybe we can reduce the scaffold?
@sathlan is your repo open for such contributions ? @hjoertel do you still consider contribute to dformat ?

regards,
marc

[hjoertel]

Am Freitag, 5. November 2021, 09:35:45 CET schrieb Marc Chantreux:

.... @hjoertel do you still consider contribute to dformat ? ..

Sorry, I missed some cenversation. I can provide my patched version, adding color via "shaded" support. if you like, use it. I made it an executable awk script. So you can use it easily in a pipe like cat doc.roff | dformat | groff .... Regards Heinz

[eiro]

i'm really happy to read from you @hjoertel, thanks for replying.

as suggested on the list, i used mutool to extract your patched version then i started to work on it:

• reformat the code and make it work
• use #! /usr/bin/env -S awk -f as shebang and make it executable
• remove the parm[] and use variables so they can be defined from command line
  (like dformat -vlinedisp=.05 -vrecht=.2 ethernet.dformat | pic | groff )

then i realized i was changing the code without testing regression which is a bad idea. i'll keep the original version as bin test.

it would be nice if i can have:

• your patched script
• the roff of the patched paper you sent on the list years ago
• any dformat files and their .pic results
• any comment on my roadmap, advice or request

regards

[Alhadis]

@hjoertel Please also consider removing these useless boilerplate files (which appear to be completely unused):

• src/Makefile.am
• AUTHORS
• autogen.sh
• ChangeLog
• configure.ac
• INSTALL
• Makefile.am
• NEWS

Moreover, this program was NOT released under the GPL, but the Caldera license (like the rest of Unix). So the GPL COPYING file should be replaced with a copy of the Caldera license, IMHO.

[eiro]

hello,

@hjoertel Please also consider removing these useless boilerplate files (which appear to be completely unused)

+1 to remove the automake thing but those files should remain

[`ChangeLog`](https://github.com/sathlan/dformat/blob/e74ea9a9bf2bdb151be35791d7c58aa842ef284b/ChangeLog) [`INSTALL`](https://github.com/sathlan/dformat/blob/e74ea9a9bf2bdb151be35791d7c58aa842ef284b/INSTALL) [`NEWS`](https://github.com/sathlan/dformat/blob/e74ea9a9bf2bdb151be35791d7c58aa842ef284b/NEWS) Moreover, this program was NOT released under the GPL, but the Caldera license (like the rest of Unix). So the GPL [`COPYING`](https://github.com/sathlan/dformat/blob/e74ea9a9bf2bdb151be35791d7c58aa842ef284b/COPYING) file should be replaced with a copy of the Caldera license, IMHO.

Or i'll rewrite the whole thing from scratch as a clone (i was about to change a lot of things anyway) so we can release it with the licence we want (i would go to a BSD licence). marc

[Alhadis]

+1 to remove the automake thing but those files should remain

Not if they remain empty. 😉 Somebody should start filling them out.

Or i'll rewrite the whole thing from scratch as a clone (i was about to change a lot of things anyway)

That's something I've thought of doing myself, to be honest. What exactly did you have in mind by way of changes?

[eiro]

hello,

i had some ideas to make the code easier to maintain so we could add backends (one of them i have in mind is an english description of the frames so people with visual deficiency can actually ear a description of the content)

i was hoping @hjoertel to reply first (i really think we should start from the content he could provide to us but my very first step should be (as written earlier) to make dformat easy to ship and have a regression test suite.

regards

[hjoertel]

Am Donnerstag, 18. November 2021, 18:57:31 CET schrieb Marc Chantreux:

[....] i was hoping @hjoertel to reply first (i really think we should start from the content he could provide to us but my very first step should be (as written earlier) to make dformat easy to ship and have a regression test suite.

attached is the example I used for testing the result Regards Heinz

[eiro]

@hjoertel no attachment here. please send me directly at mc unistra < punt > fr.

Regards
marc

[sathlan]

Never too late to reply. Thanks for all the points raised here especially the license one. This "project" doesn't really belong to me, but just a copy of it because that was useful to me at the time. Hope you've clone it somewhere or I could give the repo/name to somebody if interested - not sure it's really needed :)

[eiro]

hello sathlan,

Never too late to reply.

indeed :) thanks for your reply

Hope you've clone it somewhere or I could give the repo/name to somebody if interested - not sure it's really needed :)

For the moment, i have multiple patches that could be interesting. If you're fine with that, please give me the repo so I (and @Alhadis, @hjoertel if still interested) will take care. regards. marc

[sathlan]

Hey Marc,

If you're fine with that, please give me the repo so I (and
@Alhadis, @hjoertel if still interested) will take care.

transfert request initiated

chem.

[eiro]

next steps to close this issue: do everything mentioned (including having a test suite so we can change/delete some code).

@sathlan thanks again! under what identity should i credit you on a HISTORY section?

[sathlan]

Hi @eiro, you can add me as Sofer Athlan-Guyot if you need to, but again I really didn't do anything here, so you can skip me safely :)

Enjoy.

[Alhadis]

You can go ahead and add me also. I'm at least semi-active on GitHub these days. 😉