Re: groff/-mandoc replacement (OT)

[der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>> [...blank line before but not after .Bl/.El list...]
> I think that's a bug in the mdoc implementation; it should be fixed
> to have blank lines both above and below the list (or perhaps neither
> above nor below, in the case of a list with the -compact option).

I do believe I agree with you.  (I'd still want some kind of blank-line
command, though, for example for the case of a list where -compact is
appropriate for what it does within the list but set-off space is
desired above and below.)

>> If I insert a .Pp, I get a blank line (but that means inserting a
>> paragraph break in the middle of a paragraph).
> I can see other uses for .bL, but in this particular case, I think
> .Pp would be better.  With .Pp, you get correct output at the expense
> of conceptually incorrect input, but the output remains correct even
> if the bug in the .Bl implementation is fixed.

Only if the fix-generated blank line works the same way .Pp does for
purposes of collapsing multiple blank lines.  (Which is not an
unreasonable assumption, especially in view of the cases where there
_is_ a paragraph break after the list and thus a .El/.Pp sequence is
the correct markup, but it is an assumption and I wanted to make sure
it got called out as such.)

> Using .bL here, you get correct output now (also at the expense of
> conceptually incorrect input),

I'm not sure I agree with the parenthesis here.  The input is incorrect
only in that it uses a non-mdoc macro.  I consider this substantially
less incorrect than using an mdoc macro in a way inappropriate for the
markup it defines (which is what I see .Pp as here).

In particular, to someone reading the source, .Pp meaning "I don't want
a new paragraph but I want a blank line" is indistinguishable from .Pp
meaning "I want a new paragraph".  (A comment can cure this for human
readers, but not software.)  .bL, because it's non-mdoc, is something
_obviously_ needing attention.

To pick a simple example, if someone formats the page in a style that
indents paragraphs, the .Pp version will insert incorrect indentation
after the list.

> but if the bug in the .Bl implementation is fixed, then the output
> will become incorrect (it will have two blank lines).

True.  I would prefer to build a .bL that generates a collapsing blank
line more or less the same way .Pp does.  But I'm not competent to do
that.  If someone does (and the result isn't too horribly long), I'd
cheerfully replace my .bL implementations with it.

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