[bug #68445] [troff] spurious warning when using `.bd TR 500` followed by garbage invalid in a numeric expression

Deri James <[email protected]> Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:06:05 -0400 (EDT)

Newsgroups	gmane.comp.printing.groff.bugs
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Follow-up Comment #6, bug #68445 (group groff):


[comment #5 comment #5:]
> Okay, I may have a fix for this, but I couldn't pull on this thread without
> tugging on bug #68256 as well.
> 
> Here's the new behavior.  The "debug" output will go away.
> 

> $ printf '.bd TR 500\t\\" Comment\n' | ./build/test-groff -ww 2>&1 | grep .
> || echo NO OUTPUT
> troff:<standard input>:1: debug: GBR: emboldening is conditional because
> first argument starts with non-numeral, character 'T'
> troff:<standard input>:1: warning: no font mounted at position 500 [-w font]
> troff:<standard input>:1: error: cannot select font for conditional
> emboldening


> 
> What do you think?  I'll next go to bug #68256 and run this new code through
> your most recent scenarios, and see how it fares.

The first syntax form:-

.bd font [offset]

specifies that "font can be either a non-negative font position or the name of
a font.". So ".bd TR 500" is a perfectly valid form 1 syntax, rather than an
invalid second form. You cannot assume it is the conditional form simply
because arg1 is non-numeric!!

I have written a lot more at bug #68256.


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