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(groff)History

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History
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   `troff' can trace its origins back to a formatting program called
`runoff', written by J. E. Saltzer, which ran on MIT's CTSS operating
system in the mid-sixties.  This name came from the common phrase of
the time "I'll run off a document."  Bob Morris ported it to the 635
architecture and called the program `roff' (an abbreviation of
`runoff').  It was rewritten as `rf' for the PDP-7 (before having
UNIX), and at the same time (1969), Doug McIllroy rewrote an extended
and simplified version of `roff' in the BCPL programming language.

   The first version of UNIX was developed on a PDP-7 which was sitting
around Bell Labs.  In 1971 the developers wanted to get a PDP-11 for
further work on the operating system.  In order to justify the cost for
this system, they proposed that they would implement a document
formatting system for the AT&T patents division.  This first formatting
program was a reimplementation of McIllroy's `roff', written by
J. F. Ossanna.

   When they needed a more flexible language, a new version of `roff'
called `nroff' ("Newer `roff'") was written.  It had a much more
complicated syntax, but provided the basis for all future versions.
When they got a Graphic Systems CAT Phototypesetter, Ossanna wrote a
version of `nroff' that would drive it.  It was dubbed `troff', for
"typesetter `roff'", although many people have speculated that it
actually means "Times `roff'" because of the use of the Times font
family in `troff' by default.  As such, the name `troff' is pronounced
`t-roff' rather than `trough'.

   With `troff' came `nroff' (they were actually the same program
except for some `#ifdef's), which was for producing output for line
printers and character terminals.  It understood everything `troff'
did, and ignored the commands which were not applicable (e.g. font
changes).

   Since there are several things which cannot be done easily in
`troff', work on several preprocessors began.  These programs would
transform certain parts of a document into `troff', which made a very
natural use of pipes in UNIX.

   The `eqn' preprocessor allowed mathematical formulae to be specified
in a much simpler and more intuitive manner.  `tbl' is a preprocessor
for formatting tables.  The `refer' preprocessor (and the similar
program, `bib') processes citations in a document according to a
bibliographic database.

   Unfortunately, Ossanna's `troff' was written in PDP-11 assembly
language and produced output specifically for the CAT phototypesetter.
He rewrote it in C, although it was now 7000 lines of uncommented code
and still dependent on the CAT.  As the CAT became less common, and was
no longer supported by the manufacturer, the need to make it support
other devices became a priority.  However, before this could be done,
Ossanna was killed in an auto accident.

   So, Brian Kernighan took on the task of rewriting `troff'.  The
newly rewritten version produced a device independent code which was
very easy for postprocessors to read and translate to the appropriate
printer codes.  Also, this new version of `troff' (called `ditroff' for
"device independent `troff'") had several extensions, which included
drawing functions.

   Due to the additional abilities of the new version of `troff',
several new preprocessors appeared.  The `pic' preprocessor provides a
wide range of drawing functions.  Likewise the `ideal' preprocessor did
the same, although via a much different paradigm.  The `grap'
preprocessor took specifications for graphs, but, unlike other
preprocessors, produced `pic' code.

   James Clark began work on a GNU implementation of `ditroff' in
early 1989.  The first version, `groff' 0.3.1, was released June 1990.
`groff' included:

   * A replacement for `ditroff' with many extensions.

   * The `soelim', `pic', `tbl', and `eqn' preprocessors.

   * Postprocessors for character devices, POSTSCRIPT, TeX DVI, and
     X windows.  GNU `troff' also eliminated the need for a separate
     `nroff' program with a postprocessor which would produce ASCII
     output.

   * A version of the `me' macros and an implementation of the `man'
     macros.

   Also, a front-end was included which could construct the, sometimes
painfully long, pipelines required for all the post- and preprocessors.

   Development of GNU `troff' progressed rapidly, and saw the additions
of a replacement for `refer', an implementation of the `ms' and `mm'
macros, and a program to deduce how to format a document (`grog').

   It was declared a stable (i.e. non-beta) package with the release of
version 1.04 around November 1991.

   Beginning in 1999, `groff' has new maintainers (the package was an
orphan for a few years).  As a result, new features and programs like
`grn', a preprocessor for gremlin images, and an output device to
produce HTML output have been added.