🚀 go-pugleaf

I use extensively automatic reference processing
in troff/Eroff. However, the standard implementation
allows one to use only a two-character string to name the
reference (I think that's the way troff was set up to
recognize the \*( sequence, right?). 

It's OK when there are 10-20 references in your
document, but the method becomes inefficient
when I have to handle 50-100 at a time, with multiple
occurences of the same reference (search for the name,
go back, etc.).

I'd like to use longer, more descriptive strings,
e.g., \*(weber91a, whose length could be either
constant (at least 6 characters) or length. 
Is it possible? 

Another, related question: is there an internal limit
in troff to the number of references a single document
may have (like the number or registers etc.)?

Tony Gozdz
tony2@cc.bellcore.com