More troff bits; if you want them elsewhere, feel free to repo copy them.
diff --git a/bin/tref b/bin/tref
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d06e9a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tref
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+awk '
+BEGIN{
+ print ".nr Rp 1" # supress ... Rx lines
+ first=1
+}
+
+#these come first
+$1=="..." && $2=="Rx"{
+ ref[$4] = $3
+ next
+}
+
+first {
+ printf(".lf %d %s\n", 1, inputfile)
+ lineoffset=NR-1
+ first=0
+}
+
+$1==".Rf"{
+ if($2 in ref)
+ $2=ref[$2]
+ else
+ printf("tref: %s:%d: no ref for %s\n",
+ inputfile, NR-lineoffset, $2) >"/dev/stderr"
+}
+
+{
+ print
+}
+
+' $*
