wm: doc

ref: 42bc67bfdd9d9eb2bed8a643bcedd0c8416ad75c
dir: /contributing.ms/

View raw version
.TL
How to write documents

.AU
mkf

.AB
In this document, we explain how to
write troff documents using
.I ms
macro, ensuring they look as they should
and sending it using git.
.AE

.SH
Writing documents
.LP
These documents are written in a markup language called troff.
troff these days is largely used for papers and manual pages.
to see what a troff document looks like, you can see this file's source
.LN https://cloud9p.org/wm/doc/HEAD/contributing.ms/f.html
(contributing.ms)
.LN
We use ms macro for our documents, see ms(6) man page for more info.
.SH
Checking documents
.LP
Now you have written your document. It's time to check if it looks good
and if it has spelling issues. Assuming your document is named
.CW foo.ms ,
You can check spelling issues with:
.P1
; deroff -ms foo.ms | spell
.P2
This is likely to have many false positives, ignore them as you wish.
afterwards, to see how resulting document looks like, run the following:
.SM
.SH
pdf/ps
.P1
; troff -ms foo.ms | page
.P2
.LP
This will run page document viewer to proof read the result, which needs graphics.
.SM
.SH
text
.P1
; nroff -ms foo.ms
.P2
.SH
Sending the documents
.LP
Now, assuming your documents look good and all, you need to upload it.
If you push access, you can send your documents directly,
otherwise, ask someone with commit access and send them a patch.
to send a patch in UNIX like systems:
.P1
WIP
.P2
.LP
And to do so in Plan 9 (assuming you have git9):
.P1
; git/pull
; git/branch -n my_new_branch
; git/add foo.ms # if you have made new files
; git/commit -m 'commit message' foo.ms
; git/export > export.txt
.P2
and send him
.CW export.txt
file.