[metapost] Does MetaPost catch on?

[Nicola]

Sorry, I have no constructive contribution to this discussion, but since 
troff was mentioned, I have one curiosity: I have troff installed, but I 
have never been able to use it with MetaPost. When I try to compile a 
btex..etex label with mpost -troff, I get

fatal: Cannot find DESCmakempx fatal: ./test_troff.mp: Cannot find DESC

>> test_troff.mp
>> test_troff.mpx
! Unable to make mpx file.
l.12 label.bot(btex
                    abc etex, origin);

How do I fix that? Is some preamble needed?

Nicola