Subject: Re: UNIX manpage history: groff
From: James Clark
Date: 28/10/2011 16:15
To: Kristaps Dzonsons

> >
> >  (1) What specific source did you use for re-writing dittroff as
> >  groff?  In other words, was there a particular installation of
> >  ditroff you used?

It was the troff that came with SunOS 4.1.4.  IIRC, I did most of the
development on a Sun 4/110.  At the time, Tiemann started on g++ using a
Sun 4, so g++ worked best on a Sparc.

The main documentation I used was the V7 troff manual.

> > What was the original motivation?

I wanted to donate something to GNU and I was also interested in
typography (mostly as a result of having read the TeXBook). Troff was
one of the few major classic Unix programs that had yet to be
implemented at that point.

> >
> >  (2) Was the initial relase under the GPL, or did this happen later?
> >  In other words, were you writing this for the GNU project, or was
> >  it a side-project whose GNU-ification only occured later?

The former. It was written in order to be contributed to GNU.

> >
> >  (3) Do you have any copies of the original groff releases?  I can't
> >  seem to find any of the original releases on the Internet, and
> >  would like to mirror a copy for the record.

I can't find anything on my disk.  Maybe they are on a backup tape
somewhere.  There might be something on a tape somewhere.  I have
something that I think are the original RCS files I used for
development.  I can send those to you if you want.

> > I appreciate any time you can divulge.  Thusfar this "side-track"
> > has pulled in Kernighan, Thompson, McIlroy, Canaday, Saltzer, and a
> > few others in reconstructing both the pre-UNIX, UNIX, and post-UNIX
> > evolution of the manpage.  It's quite an exciting history!
> >
> > Lastly, do you consent to the inclusion of any emails between us in
> > the record?  I'll remove any non-relevant e-mail headers, of course.


Sure. Thanks for your interest.

James

> > Thank you,
> >
> > Kristaps
> >