Re: error by compiling

On Saturday, 21 February 2026 02:54:23 GMT G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> Hi Bjarni,
> 
> At 2026-02-20T21:28:08+0000, Bjarni Ingi Gislason wrote:
> > After cloning groff
> > Error message:
> >   GROFF    doc/webpage.html
> > 
> > pre-grohtml: fatal error: 'pre-grohtml' exited with status 4; re-run with
> > a
> > different output driver to see diagnostic messages

Hi Branden,

This is a strange one!! The error occurs if you don't have the file doc/
gnu.eps (because PSPIC can't find it). doc.am makes it (from doc/gnu.xpm) but 
in "out-of-tree" builds it ends up in build/doc/gnu.eps, and not found.

The regression was introduced by commit e9da162af80 (Feb 7, 2026), reverting 
fixes it.

The groff "dist" version has no such problem since doc.am has:-

# Provide a copy of the image in the distribution archive to accommodate
# systems without a tool to generate it from an X pixmap.
dist-hook: dist-gnueps

Here's some proof of the above:-

[derij@pip build (master)]$ make
make  all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'
make[2]: Entering directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'
  GROFF    doc/webpage.html
pre-grohtml: fatal error: 'pre-grohtml' exited with status 4; re-run with a 
different output driver to see diagnostic messages
make[2]: *** [Makefile:19441: doc/webpage.html] Error 4
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:13310: all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'
make: *** [Makefile:7570: all] Error 2

Now fix it.

[derij@pip build (master)]$ cp doc/gnu.eps ../doc

[derij@pip build (master)]$ make
make  all-recursive
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'
make[2]: Entering directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'
  GROFF    doc/webpage.html
pnmcrop: The image is entirely background; there is nothing to crop.
pnmcrop: The image is entirely background; there is nothing to crop.
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/derij/groff-git/groff/build'

If you are not seeing the error please check you have not got a rogue doc/
gnu.eps in the source doc/ directory.

Cheers

Deri