18

Consider the following MWE

\documentclass{beamer}

\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[style=authoryear-comp,backend=biber]{biblatex}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  Foo
\end{frame}
\end{document}

This will give the warning:

Package biblatex Warning: Patching footnotes failed.
(biblatex) Footnote detection will not work.

I read here and in this answer that the warning can be safely ignored. Can I force biblatex to avoid giving the warning altogether?

Community
  • 1
petobens
  • 3,306

2 Answers2

21

This warning is issued during package loading as biblatex attempts to patch certain commands (using etoolbox). So, there's no way of avoiding this message directly without editing a .sty file (biblatex2.sty in this case) or using alternate means... like the silence package.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{silence,lmodern}
\usepackage[style=authoryear-comp,backend=biber]{biblatex}
% Filter warnings issued by package biblatex starting with "Patching footnotes failed"
\WarningFilter{biblatex}{Patching footnotes failed}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  Foo
\end{frame}
\end{document}
Werner
  • 603,163
3

Versions of biblatex starting from 3.10 support patching beamer's footnote commands so that footnote detection works and no warning is issued.

If you still get this warning you should look into updating biblatex (and with it Biber).

See also Beamer and biblatex possible remedy for warning: Patching footnotes failed, https://github.com/plk/biblatex/issues/581 and https://github.com/plk/biblatex/commit/5169d2a64777090aa29d38df7543301f5c8b876b

moewe
  • 175,683
  • 1
    Would you know why this warning appears on a 2021 updated texlive? I'm kniting an Rmd file with latex_engine: xelatex, does that matter? Thanks! Edit: The warning is, to quote "Warning: Package microtype Warning: Unable to apply patch `footnote' on input line 139." – PatrickT Mar 03 '22 at 22:33
  • @PatrickT Sorry, no. If you can come up with a minimal example document, I can of course investigate, but without one there are just too many unknowns. – moewe Mar 04 '22 at 06:19
  • Thanks! @moewe. I'll see how it goes and post a question if it doesn't go away! :-) – PatrickT Mar 04 '22 at 21:31