[TUHS] [groff] Creating a numbered list without macros

[arnold at skeeve.com]

I wasn't aware of the history / distinction, thanks.

Arnold

Doug McIlroy <doug at cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:

> An arguable distinction:
>
> I thought hard about claiming priority for -ms. Joe Ossanna intended
> option -m to foster macro packages from the outset. -man was an early use,
> hidden in the man command.  But -man was not packaged (in the sense of
> being an announced feature that can be used from its external description)
> until v7. -ms appeared in v6.
>
> Doug
>
> Arnold Robbins <arnold at skeeve.com> wrote:
>
> > Doug McIlroy <doug at cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> > 
> >>> Why create ms when you have mm?
> >>
> >> Well, the real reason is that ms was the very first macro package.
> >> It has held up spectactularly well, evolving much less than the
> >> underlying [ntg]roff.
> >>
> >> Doug
> > 
> > Or say, rather, the first *general purpose* macro package. The man
> > macros predate it. :-)