.TH groff_trace 7 "12 March 2024" "groff 1.23.0"
.SH Name
groff_trace \- macros for debugging GNU
.I roff
documents
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Legal Terms
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.
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.\" ====================================================================
.SH Synopsis
.\" ====================================================================
.
.SY "groff \-m trace"
.RI [ option\~ .\|.\|.\&]
.RI [ file\~ .\|.\|.]
.YS
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Description
.\" ====================================================================
.
.I trace
is a macro package for the
.MR groff 7
document formatting system,
designed as an aid for debugging documents written in its language.
.
It issues a message to the standard error stream upon entry to and exit
from each macro call.
.
This can ease the process of isolating errors in macro definitions.
.
.
.P
Activate the package by specifying the command-line option
.RB \[lq] \-m\~trace \[rq]
to the formatter program
(often
.MR groff 1 ).
.
You can achieve finer control by including the macro file within the
document;
invoke the
.B mso
request,
as in
.RB \[lq] .mso\~trace.tmac \[rq].
.
Only macros that are defined after this invocation are traced.
.
If the
.B trace\-full
register is set to a true value,
as with the command-line option
.RB \[lq] \-r\~trace\-full=1 \[rq],
register and string assignments,
along with some other requests,
are traced also.
.
If another macro package should be traced as well,
specify it after
.RB \[lq] \-m\~trace \[rq]
on the command line.
.
.
.P
The macro file
.I trace.tmac
is unusual because it does not contain any macros to be called by a
user.
.
Instead,
.IR groff 's
macro definition and alteration facilities are wrapped such that they
display diagnostic messages.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Limitations
.\" ====================================================================
.
Because
.I trace.tmac
wraps the
.B de
request
(and its cousins),
macro arguments are expanded one level more.
.
This causes problems if an argument uses four or more backslashes to
delay interpretation of an escape sequence.
.
For example,
the macro call
.
.RS
.EX
\&.foo \[rs]\[rs]\[rs]\[rs]n[bar]
.EE
.RE
.
normally passes \[lq]\[rs]\[rs]n[bar]\[rq] to macro \[lq]foo\[rq],
but with
.B de
redefined,
it passes \[lq]\[rs]n[bar]\[rq] instead.
.
.
.P
The solution to this problem is to use
.IR groff 's
.B \[rs]E
escape sequence,
an escape character that is not interpreted in copy mode.
.
.RS
.EX
\&.foo \[rs]En[bar]
.EE
.RE
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Examples
.\" ====================================================================
.
We will illustrate
.I trace.tmac
using the shell's \[lq]here document\[rq] feature to supply
.I groff
with a document
on the standard input stream.
.
Since we are interested only in diagnostic messages appearing on the
standard error stream,
we discard the formatted output by redirecting the standard output
stream to
.IR /dev/null .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Observing nested macro calls"
.\" ====================================================================
.
Macro calls can be nested,
even with themselves.
.
Tracing recurses along with them;
this feature can help to detangle complex call stacks.
.
.
.RS
.P
.EX
.RB $\~ "cat <<EOF | groff \-m trace > /dev/null
.B .de countdown
.B .  nop \[rs]\[rs]$1
.B .  nr count (\[rs]\[rs]$1 - 1)
.B .  if \[rs]\[rs]n[count] .countdown \[rs]\[rs]n[count]
.B ..
.B .countdown 3
.B blastoff
.B EOF
\~*** .de countdown
\~*** de trace enter: .countdown "3"
\~\~*** de trace enter: .countdown "2"
\~\~\~*** de trace enter: .countdown "1"
\~\~\~*** trace exit: .countdown "1"
\~\~*** trace exit: .countdown "2"
\~*** trace exit: .countdown "3"
.EE
.RE
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Tracing with the mso request"
.\" ====================================================================
.
Now let us activate tracing within the document,
not with a command-line option.
.
We might do this when using a macro package like
.I ms
or
.IR mom ,
where we may not want to be distracted by traces of macros we didn't
write.
.
.
.RS
.P
.EX
.RB $\~ "cat <<EOF | groff -ms > /dev/null"
.B .LP
.B This is my introductory paragraph.
.B .mso trace.tmac
.B .de Mymac
.B ..
.B .Mymac
.B .PP
.B Let us review the existing literature.
.B EOF
\~*** .de Mymac
\~*** de trace enter: .Mymac
\~*** trace exit: .Mymac
.EE
.RE
.
.
.P
As tracing was not yet active when the macros \[lq]LP\[rq] and
\[lq]PP\[rq] were defined
(by
.IR s.tmac ),
their calls were not traced;
contrast with the macro \[lq]Mymac\[rq].
.
.
.br
.ne 3v
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Files
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%tmac/\:trace\:.tmac
implements the package.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Authors
.\" ====================================================================
.
.I trace.tmac
was written by James Clark.
.
This document was written by
.MT groff\-bernd\:.warken\-72@\:web\:.de
Bernd Warken
.ME
and
.MT g.branden\:.robinson@\:gmail\:.com
G.\& Branden Robinson
.ME .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "See also"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.IR "Groff: The GNU Implementation of troff" ,
by Trent A.\& Fisher and Werner Lemberg,
is the primary
.I groff
manual.
.
You can browse it interactively with \[lq]info groff\[rq].
.
.
.TP
.MR groff 1
gives an overview of the
.I groff
document formatting system.
.
.
.TP
.MR troff 1
supplies details of the
.B \-m
command-line option.
.
.
.TP
.MR groff_tmac 5
offers a survey of
.I groff
macro packages.
.
.
.TP
.MR groff 7
is a reference manual for the
.I groff
language.
.
.
.\" Restore compatibility mode (for, e.g., Solaris 10/11).
.cp \n[*groff_groff_trace_7_man_C]
.do rr *groff_groff_trace_7_man_C
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