General ⇒ Combine class compatibility with packages

[tempguy]

Using the combine class is an easy way to combine multiple independent latex documents into one large document. It works nicely when no frills are added. However, I have run into a problem specifically with \usepackage{harvard} and \usepackage{caption}. Including either of them breaks the combine class and correct compilation of the document is not possible.

The question is: does anyone have a hack to fix the compatibility issues with the two packages to get combine to compile correctly?

Here's an almost minimal example that illustrates the problem:

main_combine.tex

Code: Select all

\documentclass[12pt]{combine}

% The harvard package does not play nice with combine, can be commented out to
% get compilation to work
\usepackage{harvard}

% Neither does the caption package, can be commented out to
% get compilation to work
\usepackage{caption}

\title{The combined document}
\author{The editor}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
	\pagestyle{combine}
	\begin{papers}
		\coltoctitle{Paper 1}
		\coltocauthor{Author A}
		\import{art1}

		\coltoctitle{Paper 2}
		\coltocauthor{Author B}
		\import{art2}
	\end{papers}
\end{document}

art1.tex and art2.tex

Code: Select all

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\title{Article the first}
\author{A. Author}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
	Text goes here.
\end{document}

[sommerfee]

Thanks for the bug report; will fix the issue with the caption package and release a new version within the next days.

Axel

[tempguy]

Thanks in advance for the future update Axel!

Followup question: Does anyone know who maintains the harvard package (http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/ ... b/harvard/) nowadays?

I could then email them about the problem and maybe get a fix that way. Alternatively, has anyone hacked the bibliography packages before and could point in the direction of a solution for the above mentioned problem?

[phi]

Followup question: Does anyone know who maintains the harvard package (http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/ ... b/harvard/) nowadays?

The maintainers are listed in the catalog entry, and their addresses are given in the readme.

[tempguy]

The maintainers are listed in the catalog entry, and their addresses are given in the readme.

I guess they must be the people as stated. I was second guessing myself since the last update was actually done by a different person (Clea F. Rees) from the two active developers. Oh well.

Edit: I actually sent emails to Peter Williams and Thorsten Schnier, and Thorsten's email address doesn't exist anymore. I also couldn't find the right Thorsten or his updated address with Google...

Edit 2: An email exchange with Peter indicated that he is not an active developer of the package anymore. Does anyone have enough skills to take a look at the harvard package and try and at least point to a possible solution to the problem?

[tempguy]

Since there does not seem to be anybody who can help with fixing the problem correctly, I decided to take a stab at it my self.

It turns out that the problem within the harvard package is caused by the inclusion of html.sty at the very beginning of the file. So by commenting out the following five lines:

Code: Select all

\RequirePackage{ifthen}
% \IfFileExists{html.sty}{\RequirePackage{html}
% \newcommand{\harvardurl}[1]{\htmladdnormallink*{\textbf{URL:} \textit{##1}}{##1}}
% }{
% \newcommand{\harvardurl}[1]{\textbf{URL:} \textit{##1}}
% }
\DeclareOption{full}{\citationmode{full}}

The package does not give the previous errors anymore. I think this disables something relevant for some people. But at least the combine class does not seem to mind too much.

Again, if anyone is able to divine a true fix for the problem, it would be great.

[phi]

Edit: I actually sent emails to Peter Williams and Thorsten Schnier, and Thorsten's email address doesn't exist anymore. I also couldn't find the right Thorsten or his updated address with Google...

Edit 2: An email exchange with Peter indicated that he is not an active developer of the package anymore. Does anyone have enough skills to take a look at the harvard package and try and at least point to a possible solution to the problem?

Too bad. I'm out of luck here, sorry. Try asking the experts on comp.text.tex.

[sommerfee]

Thanks for the bug report; will fix the issue with the caption package and release a new version within the next days.

Update: I just uploaded the new version 3.1l of the caption package to CTAN, so it should be available on CTAN within the very next days.