-.\" $Id: man.7,v 1.14 2009/06/18 10:32:00 kristaps Exp $
+.\" $Id: man.7,v 1.19 2009/07/14 15:56:44 kristaps Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
.\"
.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
.\"
-.Dd $Mdocdate: June 18 2009 $
+.Dd $Mdocdate: July 14 2009 $
.Dt MAN 7
.Os
.\" SECTION
.Nm man
language was historically used to format
.Ux
-manuals. This reference document describes the syntax and structure of
-this language.
+manuals. This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and
+usage.
.Pp
-.Em \&Do not
-use
+.Bf Em
+Do not use
.Nm
-to write your manuals. Use the
+to write your manuals.
+.Ef
+Use the
.Xr mdoc 7
language, instead.
.\" PARAGRAPH
.Sh INPUT ENCODING
.Nm
documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the
-space character
-.Sq \ ,
-and tabs
-.Sq \et .
-All manuals must have
+space character, and the tabs character. All manuals must have
.Ux
-.Sq \en
line termination.
.Pp
Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
.Pp
Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,
.Sq \e* ,
-with the same combinations as described above. This form is deprecated.
+with the same combinations as described above.
+.Pp
+Terms may also be text-decorated using the
+.Sq \ef
+escape followed by a text-decoration letter: B (bold), I, (italic), or P
+and R (Roman, or reset).
+.\" SUB-SECTION
+.Ss Whitespace
+Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned
+from input. These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end
+utility such as
+.Xr mandoc 1 .
.\" SECTION
.Sh STRUCTURE
+Each
+.Nm
+document must contain contains at least the
+.Sq \&.TH
+macro describing the document's section and title. It may occur
+anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
+first macro.
+.Pp
+Beyond the
+.Sq \&.TH ,
+at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.
+.\" SECTION
+.Sh SYNTAX
Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
control character ,
.Sq \&. ,
.Sq \&.TP
macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger
the behaviour.
-.\" PARAGRAPH
+.\" SECTION
.Sh MACROS
This section contains a complete list of all
.Nm
.Nm
macros.
.\" SECTION
+.Sh COMPATIBILITY
+See
+.Xr mdoc 7
+for groff compatibility notes.
+.\" SECTION
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr mandoc 1 ,
.Xr mandoc_char 7