Unimation Inc.
1202 Charleston Road
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415) 965-0557
(8:30-10:00 Pacific time)
April 30, 1982
Here is yet another version of RUNOFF! This version is the result of an
effort to achieve the ability to produce an extensive customer system
manual without having to do any manual editing of the RUNOFF output.
Toward that end, several new commands have been added, several existing
commands have been enhanced, and many bugs have been fixed.
This version is derived from the current "official" DECUS version, M02.
There are still several features I plan to include. I also intend to
review as many other versions as I can, to see what features should be
extracted from them. The ultimate intention is to submit a new version
to the DECUS library. (I am open to suggestions as to how to best
proceed with the whole issue of RUNOFF support.)
There are undoubtedly bugs in this version. I would appreciate it if
bugs were reported. There may also be differences of opinion about how
certain features should behave. Please report any characteristics which
seem undesirable. The preferred method of reporting these things is to
send annotated copies of the input and output.
Almost all changes to the code have been made with assembly-switch
control so that undesired changes can be easily removed. It should be
noted, however, that there is a good chance that bugs will appear if
current features are disabled. There are many interactions, and they
may not be handled correctly in all combinations.
Readme-2
One final caveat: this version has been used only under RSX-11M. I
have no idea whether it will still run correctly under RSTS or IAS --
presumably it will.
The user's manual has been edited extensively to correct errors, add
clarity (hopefully), and document changes to the program. (Option
"switches" within the RNO file select inclusion or exclusion of
directions for working under RSX or RSTS.)
The following sections very briefly describe some of the changes made.
An annotated list of the files in this submittal is included at the end
of this document.
Significant feature enhancements in this version include:
1. The task now expands itself when the index/footnote buffer
fills. Thus, RNO now does not occupy any more memory than it
actually needs.
2. An assortment of functions have been added for making the
output alternate left/right for reproduction on both sides of
the page.
3. Multiple input files can be specified.
4. Points at which a word can be hyphenated can be explicitly
specified (to overrule RUNOFF's error-prone algorithm).
5. The index can include subentries, as well as entries without
page references (for headings above subentries).
6. A base left margin can be set from which the text margins are
measured.
7. Command syntax is now the same for all commands with similar
argument combinations.
8. Sections of the input can be set off with command-line control
over whether or not they are to be included in the output.
The following list summarizes the new commands which have been added:
ALTERNATE - control left/right alternation of the
NO ALTERNATE page header, with optional additional
offset of odd-numbered pages
ALTERNATING TITLE - control mode which places subtitle on
NO ALTERNATING TITLE the top line of odd-numbered pages in
place of the title
Readme-3
AUTOSUBTITLE - controls setting of subtitle by HEADER
LEVEL commands
ENTRY - records an index entry without a page
reference
EVEN - used to force output to an even-numbered
ODD or odd-numbered page, respectively
FLAGS SUBINDEX - control special character (">") for
NO FLAGS SUBINDEX indicating index subentries
FOOTNOTE LINE - specifies characteristcs of line
automatically output above footnote(s)
INCLUDE - control processing of optional sections
EXCLUDE of the input file
OPTION
ELSE
END OPTION
LAYOUT - sets layout of the output on the page,
including top margin and base left margin
PAGE NAME - sets text string to be used as prefix
for page numbers
QUOTE CHARACTER - assigns character to be used for the
quote character (normally "_")
RIGHT JUSTIFY - pushes line of text against right margin
The following switches can now be specified on the command line:
/AP - append the output to an existing file
/BL:n - output n blank lines in chapter header
/CH:m:n - limit output to chapters m through n
/DO:n - set top margin to n lines
/EX:m,n,... - set options to "exclude"
/HL:n - set length of page header to n lines
/IN:m,n,... - set options to "include"
/LE:n - set base left margin to n spaces
Readme-4
/LO:n - set page length to n lines
/WI:n - set default right margin to n
Several of these switches override corresponding commands within the
input file.
If you have existing RNO files which you would like to use with this new
version of RUNOFF, the following changes should yield essentially the
same output as from version M02.
At the start of the input, add: .LAYOUT 1
.HEADER UPPER,4
.FOOTNOTE LINE
.NO FLAGS SUBINDEX
Replace ".NUMBER 0" with: .NUMBER 1
After every NUMBER command except
NUMBER 0, add: .NUMBER +1
After every END LIST command, add: .BLANK
No commands can occur between an INDENT command and the text to be
indented.
On the command line, use: /BL:11
Files included in this submittal:
README.1ST This document
CHANGES. Complete list of changes made to RUNOFF
FILES. Lists of source files affected by each change
RUNOFF.DOC Updated user's manual for RUNOFF
RUNOFF.RNO RUNOFF input file for user's manual
*.MAC Source code
RNO.OLB Object library for configuration documented in
RUNOFF.DOC
RNOASM.CMD Command file for assembling all modules
NEW.CMD Command file for replacing a module in RNO.OLB
Readme-5
RNOBLD.CMD Command file for task building RUNOFF
RNOBLD.ODL Overlay description for task building RUNOFF
Unfortunately I have not been able to prepare a document detailing the
steps for task building the program. Presumably recipients of the
symposium tape won't need help with that.