Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sat, 8 Jun 1996 13:34:25 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Chuck Robey <chuckr@Glue.umd.edu>
To:        Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.de>
Cc:        FreeBSD Documenters <doc@FreeBSD.org>
Subject:   Re: How do I write this SGML stuff?
Message-ID:  <Pine.OSF.3.91.960608132901.32620B-100000@ginger.eng.umd.edu>
In-Reply-To: <199606081030.MAA00631@allegro.lemis.de>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sat, 8 Jun 1996, Greg Lehey wrote:

> >
> > It's doing the mapping from a dtd to a document that has me confused.
> > I'm learning LaTeX, but not making much headway with sgml.  Maybe I have
> > to go out and buy Yet Another Book.
> 
> Are we wed to LaTeX?  I find it a very turgid formatter.  I tried
> years ago, and came to the conclusion that I'd rather use plain TeX.
> When I wrote my book for O'Reilly, they wanted me to write it in
> troff, and I wanted to write it in TeX.  In the end, I gave in, and to
> my surprise I found troff a *whole* lot better than TeX or
> derivatives.  I'm not trying to convert people, but I do think we
> should have a choice.

No, we aren't wed to LaTeX, we're discussing sgml tools that convert to 
troff (which I like too) and to html, LaTeX, etc.  We don't write our 
docs in troff, we're doing it in some kinda sgml, and I guess the 
discussion is about the tools we're using to get from sgml to (whatever).

I've been talking to John Fieber about 'instant', and getting an updated 
view of John Clark's sgml tools.  I'm very unhappy with our present 
conversion tools from sgml to whatever, because they are one pass things, 
have limited intelligence and capability, and were chiefly made to 
convert from sgml to LaTeX.

John's working on getting some conversion specs going for instant, and 
I'm awaiting some sample "transpec" files from him, demonstating 'instant'.
I'm also going out to the big local bookstore today, to drop more money 
on an sgml book.  Groan.

----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------
Chuck Robey                 | Interests include any kind of voice or data 
chuckr@eng.umd.edu          | communications topic, C programming, and Unix.
9120 Edmonston Ct #302      |
Greenbelt, MD 20770         | I run Journey2 and n3lxx, both FreeBSD
(301) 220-2114              | version 2.2 current -- and great FUN!
----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.OSF.3.91.960608132901.32620B-100000>