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+\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
+\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
+\usepackage{miscdoc}
+\usepackage[scaled=0.85]{luximono}
+\begin{document}
+\title{The \textsf{tabls} package}
+\author{Donald Arseneau\thanks{Documentation derived from the package
+ file by Robin Fairbairns}}
+\maketitle
+\begin{quote}
+ The package modifies \LaTeX{}'s \texttt{array} and \texttt{tabular}
+ environments to keep text from touching other text or hlines above
+ or below.
+\end{quote}
+\section{New parameters, etc.}
+
+The behaviour of the package is controlled by a small set of
+parameters, which are all \TeX{} \cs{dimen} registers (and so may be
+adjusted using \LaTeX{} \cs{setlength} commands.
+
+\paragraph{\cs{tablinesep} (or \cs{tablelineskip}):} the minimum space
+between text on successive lines in a tabular environment. Negative
+distances are treated as zero. The default value is \texttt{1pt}. A
+value of \texttt{0pt} turns off checking for touching text. Text
+given in an \verb|@{ }| specification (cf. the \textsf{array} package)
+is never checked for overlap.
+
+\paragraph{\cs{arraylinesep} (or \cs{arraylineskip})}: like
+\cs{tablinesep}, but for arrays.
+
+\paragraph{\cs{extrarulesep}:} extra space to add above and below each
+\cs{hline} and \cs{cline}. There will be at least
+\texttt{\cs{extrarulesep} + 0.5\cs{tablinesep}} between an \cs{hline}
+and a line of text. Negative values can be used, but only until some
+text touches the line. The default value is \texttt{3pt}.
+
+\noindent To ensure interline separations in tables but not arrays,
+declare
+\begin{quote}
+ \cs{setlength}\cmdinvoke{arraylinesep}{0pt}
+\end{quote}
+\noindent The appearance of normal \LaTeX{} tables can be had with
+\begin{quote}
+ \cs{setlength}\cmdinvoke{tablinesep}{0pt}\\
+ \cs{setlength}\cmdinvoke{arraylinesep}{0pt}\\
+ \cs{setlength}\cmdinvoke{extrarulesep}{0pt}
+\end{quote}
+\noindent but it would be better to not use \textsf{tabls} in this
+situation.
+
+The command \cmdinvoke{hline}[extra] has gained an optional length
+argument (just like \bsbs), which gives the space to insert below the
+line. This space is in addition to the \cs{extrarulesep} and
+linesep. A negative value will reduce the space until the line
+touches some text below, and will then have no further effect. For
+example, \cmdinvoke{hline}[-9cm] draws a horizontal line while
+suppressing all the extra spacing.
+
+(This \cs{hline} also fixes the notches that used to appear at the
+junction between horizontal and vertical lines.)
+
+\section{How it works}
+
+There are no struts in the preamble entries\footnote{The comments in
+ the package say this is a lie\dots}, rather, there are tests to
+measure the maximum height and depth of all entries on a line. The
+maximum values start at the size of LaTeX's \cs{@arstrut} minus the
+appropriate linesep. At the \bsbs, a strut is inserted (in its own
+column) which is that maximum size plus the linesep plus any
+additional space for separation from \cs{hline}s.
+
+\section{The Downside}
+
+Building a table will be slower than before because the entries have
+to be boxed twice (by the package's \cs{@seesize} and by \cs{halign}
+itself) instead of just once.
+\cs{setlength}\cmdinvoke{tablinesep}{0pt} will recover most of this
+speed, with \cs{extrarulesep} still partially in effect\,---\,extra
+space will still be added around \cs{hline}s, but it may be taken up
+by very tall or very deep table entries; thus text may still touch the
+lines. Because of the speed penalty, if your computer is slow, it is
+probably best to omit \textsf{tabls} until producing a final copy.
+\end{document}