Add README.

1 files changed, 132 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/README b/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c3b9f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+             Xroff, an alternative troff syntax
+
+
+                      John Ankarström
+
+
+Introduction
+
+Xroff  is an alternative syntax for troff, visually inspired
+by SGML/XML. It differs from troff's default syntax  in  the
+following ways:
+
+1. Xroff requests begin with a less-than sign and end with a
+   greater-than sign, e.g., <SH 1>. These symbols may be es-
+   caped with a backslash.*
+
+2. Xroff requests may be used inline. The following works as
+   expected: (<ft B>bold<ft R>).**
+
+3. Xroff ignores empty lines.
+
+4. Default troff syntax may be used between <![ and ]>.
+
+The similarities with XML end at the  visual  level.  Unlike
+XML,  xroff is unstructured and imperative. There is no con-
+cept of closing tags.
+
+Example
+
+   <de b>\\fB\\$*\\fR<.>
+
+   <TL>Example document
+   <AU>John Doe
+
+   <AB>Pellentesque dapibus suscipit ligula. Donec posuere augue in quam.
+   Etiam vel tortor sodales tellus ultricies commodo. Suspendisse
+   potenti. Aenean in sem ac leo mollis blandit. Donec neque quam,
+   dignissim in, mollis nec, sagittis eu, wisi.<AE>
+
+   <SH 1>Introduction
+   <LP><b Nullam eu ante> vel est convallis dignissim. Fusce suscipit,
+   wisi nec facilisis facilisis, est dui fermentum leo, quis tempor
+   ligula erat quis odio. Nunc porta vulputate tellus.
+
+-----------
+  * For comparison, default troff  requests  begin
+with  a newline and a control character, usually a
+period or an apostrophe, and end with another new-
+line.
+  ** Before an inline request, xroff automatically
+inserts a \c escape when appropriate.
+
+
+
+                        10 June 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+                             -2-
+
+
+Xroff
+
+The program xroff translates xroff source to troff source.
+
+Xroff-mode
+
+For Emacs users, there is a major mode named xroff-mode that
+provides  syntax  highlighting  for xroff source. To further
+improve the writing experience, I also  recommend  olivetti-
+mode.
+
+Caveats
+
+Xroff  does not treat indented lines specially. As such, in-
+dentation cannot be used to convey structure.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        10 June 2022
+
+