🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <460@rna.UUCP> kc@rna.UUCP (Kaare Christian) writes:
>On a completely different subject.  What does the me of the -me macros stand
>for? 

In the old days (Sixth Edition), one could specify a "macro package"
(actually just another file to be interpolated) with -mC where C was
any single character.  It referenced a file named /usr/lib/tmac.C.  In
the Seventh Edition, the scheme was generalized to allow strings:
-mSTRING referenced /usr/lib/tmac/tmac.STRING.  At that time, three
packages were distributed: -ms, -mm, and -man.

When Eric Allman wanted to write another package, in a fit of
cooperation uncommon at the University in those days, he asked us at
the computer center what the package should be called.  We suggested
"-meric" as the right place for Eric's macros.  (There were several
good reasons for putting them in a public place, rather than just
letting Eric develop them in his own directory.)  For brevity and
desired but largely unachieved anonymity, Eric decided that -me was
more appropriate.  We also tried to get him to come up with a clever
title for the documentation (something like "Troff and Me"), but Eric
was too serious then for such levity.

-- 
Ed Gould                    mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed   +1 415 644 0146

"A man of quality is not threatened by a woman of equality."