[bug #68345] [troff] stop throwing font deprecation warnings on font names the user remaps to valid names

Follow-up Comment #1, bug #68345 (group groff):

On Wednesday, 13 May 2026 09:05:44 BST you wrote:
> URL:
> <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?68345>
>
> Summary: [troff] stop throwing font deprecation warnings on
> font names the user handles by remapping to valid names
> Group: GNU roff
> Submitter: gbranden
> Submitted: Wed 13 May 2026 08:05:39 AM UTC
> Category: Core
> Severity: 4 - Important
> Item Group: Warning/Suspicious behaviour
> Status: Confirmed
> Privacy: Public
> Assigned to: gbranden
> Open/Closed: Open
> Discussion Lock: Unlocked
> Planned Release: None
>
>
> _______________________________________________________
>
> Follow-up Comments:
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Wed 13 May 2026 08:05:39 AM UTC By: G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
> Spawned off of bug #68261.
>
> There, in comment 9, Deri wrote, in reply to me:
>> Whilst it
>> [https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git/commit/?id=5011cd1d5a
>> commit 5011cd1d5a]
>> is only a deprecation and works (by switching to CR as it always
>> has), I'm not too bothered, it is educating the users away from using a
>> pseudo
>> font (and the actual warning can be suppressed as you explained). My
>> concern was if, at the end of the deprecation, you intended to convert
>> the warning to
>> an error, since it would mean that users who decide to tell troff which
>> font to use instead of the pseudo (i.e. have heeded the warning by
>> adding:-
> .if t .if \n(.g .ftr C CR
>
>> To a startup file to point troff to a real font) will be miffed.
>
> I had no plans to "convert" the warning to an error, but instead to drop the
> specialized deprecation code introduced by that commit.  Which, however,
> would probably amount to the same thing.  If a user tried to select font
> `C` or `Hx`, and didn't have font description files set up for fonts of
> those names for the selected output device, then yeah, they'd get errors,
> just as in the following case.
>

I thought this would be your action, better to check.  :-)

> $ echo '.ft BOGUS' | ./build/test-groff -T ps
> troff:<standard input>:1: error: cannot open font description file 'BOGUS':
> No such file or directory
> troff:<standard input>:1: warning: cannot select font 'BOGUS' [-w font]
>
>
> In fact, what you propose would make GNU _troff_ **more** self-consistent:
>
>
> $ printf '.ftr BOGUS TR\n.ft BOGUS\n' | ./build/test-groff -T ps 2>&1 \
>
> | grep . || echo cool beans -- no diagnostics
>
> cool beans -- no diagnostics
>
>
> Contrast:
>
>
> $ printf '.ftr Hx TR\n.ft Hx\n' | ./build/test-groff -T ps 2>&1 | grep . ||
> echo cool beans -- no diagnostics
> troff:<standard input>:2: warning: font name 'Hx' is deprecated [-w font]
>
>
> So, yeah, I think I had better change this.
>
> Setting Severity to Important because I did not intend for GNU _troff_ to
> screech at the user when they take reasonable steps to make their document
> not select nonexistent fonts...but since we're screeching _before_ applying
> font translations instead of after, that is the outcome.
>
> That means moving the deprecation warning higher in the call stack.  I'm a
> little nervous that this will mean having to change function signatures to
> add an argument, or making `is_device_ps_or_pdf` global, but we'll see.
>

>


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