# rtomayko/ronn

the opposite of roff

Repository: https://github.com/rtomayko/ronn
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ronn
Homepage: http://rtomayko.github.com/ronn/
Language: Ruby
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2022-01-29T05:32:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 6148, "days_push": 1677, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1409, forks 84 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:38.616890+00:00)

## What it is
Ronn is a Ruby command-line tool that converts simple Markdown-like text files into roff manpages and HTML. It defines the ronn format, a structured Markdown variant with extensions for common manpage features.

## Use cases
- write man pages in markdown instead of roff
- convert markdown documentation to unix manpage format
- generate html versions of manual pages
- preview a ronn file as a manpage without building files
- document cli tools with manpages

## When to choose
- you want to author manpages in a readable markdown-like format
- you need both roff and html output from one source
- you prefer manpage structure for documenting cli tools

## When to avoid
- you need pandoc's broader format conversion support
- you need a tool under active development with frequent releases
- you need rich formatting beyond manpage conventions

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: documentation, markdown, cli
- domain: documentation, developer-tools
- platform: cli, cross-platform, ruby
- tags: man-pages, roff, markdown-to-roff, unix-manuals, command-line

## Member repositories
- rtomayko/ronn (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:38.616890+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:38:33.543129+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/rtomayko/ronn (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:38.616890+00:00, sha 565548cd0866)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.