# $Id: README,v 5.1 2007/02/28 20:22:03 ksb Exp $

Sometimes you want to hide a bit of shell code in a file, then later extract
and run that code on that file to produce an output.  A good example of this
is the manual system: it would be terrible to have to name a Makefile for
each manual page in /usr/man/man*, or keep said file(s) in sync with the
pages.

What we do instead is hide the formatting command in the comments of the
manual page, then extract it when we need to format the page.  Thus the
command moves with the page and cannot get lost.  If a page has no command
hidden in it we will fall back to a set formula, much as make(1) does.

The template formulas are written to give max flexibility by using the shell
to expand some hooks.  More about that in mk.5l.

We can also set resource limits and exit codes, as well as passing the
environment around more fully.

Anyway, that is the plan.  We also use this same program in a regression
test driver (valid(1L)) which you can email me about if you care.


kayessbee
--
"This may be a new sense of the word `robust' for you."
KS Braunsdorf, mk@ksb.npcguild.org