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I was trying to use the etextools package with LuaLaTeX and ran into the following error

! String contains an invalid utf-8 sequence.
l.233    \csdef{ettl@ifdef#2}##1#1##2/End
                                   �Meaning/{\ettl@nbk##2//\rmn@firstoft...

The error can be reproduced by running the following simple document in LuaLaTeX:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etextools}
\begin{document}
Some text
\end{document}

Is there a workaround for using etextools together with LuaLaTeX or am I simply missing something here?

Arno Mittelbach
  • 599
  • Which version of LuaLaTeX, and which version of etextools, do you have on your system? FWIW, I experience no problems when running your code under MacTeX2014, fully updated. – Mico Apr 14 '15 at 15:20
  • etextools packaged on 2011-03-03. LuaLaTeX: This is LuaTeX, Version beta-0.79.1 (MiKTeX 2.9 64-bit) (rev 4971). As far as I can see, I should have a fully updated MiKTeX 2.9 here. – Arno Mittelbach Apr 14 '15 at 15:25

1 Answers1

7

The definition of \ettl@ifd@f contains two instances of ^^a7 that is an invalid UTF-8 sequence. That character is made active in the documentation part, but it should be irrelevant.

I guess the intention was to provide a “non standard” delimiter for the purpose of the macro, but of course it's a wrong decision.

\def\ettl@ifd@f#1#2{%
   \csdef{ettl@ifdef#2}##1#1##2/End^^a7Meaning/{\ettl@nbk##2//\rmn@firstoftwo\rmn@secondoftwo//}
   \csedef{ifdef#2}##1{\noexpand\romannumeral\noexpandafter%
      \noexpandcs{ettl@ifdef#2}\noexpand\meaning##1#1/End^^a7Meaning/}%//{##2}{##3}//}
}

A better programming style should be assigning a non standard category code to, say Q and Z and use such safer characters as delimiters, say

\begingroup\catcode`Q=3 \catcode`Z=3
\gdef\ettl@ifd@f#1#2{%
   \csdef{ettl@ifdef#2}##1#1##2/EndQZMeaning/{\ettl@nbk##2//\rmn@firstoftwo\rmn@secondoftwo//}
   \csedef{ifdef#2}##1{\noexpand\romannumeral\noexpandafter%
      \noexpandcs{ettl@ifdef#2}\noexpand\meaning##1#1/EndQZMeaning/}%//{##2}{##3}//}
}
\endgroup

However, I can't reproduce the bug with TeX Live:

This is LuaTeX, Version beta-0.79.1 (TeX Live 2014) (rev 4971) 
 restricted \write18 enabled.
(./arnobug.tex
LaTeX2e <2014/05/01>
Babel <3.9l> and hyphenation patterns for 79 languages loaded.
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo))
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etextools/etextools.sty
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etex-pkg/etex.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etoolbox/etoolbox.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/oberdiek/letltxmacro.sty)

Package etextools Warning: \pdfstrcmp primitive not found
(etextools)                Macro \xifempty has been replaced by \xifstrempty 
(etextools)                It is not purely expandable on input line 381.


Package etextools Warning: \pdfstrcmp primitive not found
(etextools)                Macro \ifstrcmp has been replaced by \ifstrequal 
(etextools)                It is not purely expandable on input line 403.


Package etextools Warning: \pdfstrcmp primitive not found
(etextools)                Macro \xifstrcmp has been replaced by \xifstrequal 
(etextools)                It is not purely expandable on input line 409.

) (./arnobug.aux) [1{/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/p
dftex.map}] (./arnobug.aux))
 264 words of node memory still in use:
   2 hlist, 1 vlist, 1 rule, 2 glue, 40 glue_spec, 1 write nodes
   avail lists: 1:4,2:13,3:2,4:23,6:15,7:1,9:6
<</usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr10.pfb>
Output written on arnobug.pdf (1 page, 11626 bytes).
Transcript written on arnobug.log.

Final note: avoid etextools. It is buggy and its author has abandoned it, as far as I remember.

Anyway, the version of etextools provided by TeX Live is

Package: etextools 2010/12/07 v3.1415926 e-TeX more useful tools for LaTeX package writers

I'm not aware of newer versions.

egreg
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