Hi folks, I've come to think that a set of "best practice" for *roff document composition is to:
A. Load your desired full-service macro package (if any) on the command
line with `-m`.
B. Load any auxiliary macro packages that your document _requires_
either on the command line with `-m` or at the very beginning of
your document with `mso`. Examples of this might include
localization packages, where formatting can go frustratingly astray
if the hyphenation patterns, exceptions, and mode have not been
correctly set up.
C. Load any auxiliary macro packages that your document can muddle
through without early in your document with `msoquiet`.
D. Make your document robust to missing auxiliary packages you don't
absolutely require by gating document logic behind conditional
tests, likely predicated on the presence of register or string/macro
definitions that the auxiliary package provides.
For more on "full-service" and "auxiliary" macro packages, see
groff_tmac(5) in groff 1.23.0 or Git.
$ info '(groff)Major Macro Packages'
...will also get you there (if groff 1.23.0 is installed).
If people agree that the foregoing is sound, I'll probably stick it into
our Texinfo manual and one of the man pages at some point.
Thoughts?
Regards,
Branden
signature.asc
Description: PGP signature
