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I'm testing some examples with Beamer, and when I run this example, I have this error message.

> \ProvidesPackageRCS=macro:
->\def \pgfrcs@marshal {\ProvidesPackage {\pgf@rcsfile }}\pgfrcs@parserest .
l.1 \show\ProvidesPackageRCS

I just ignore it, and return to get the pdf file anyway.

This line causes the problem

\usepackage{beamerthemeshadow}

As replacing with this line, I have no error message at all.

\usetheme{Warsaw}
  • What's wrong with this beamerthemeshadow?
  • What's the difference between using \usepackage{} and \usetheme{} in Beamer?

I use MacTeX 2009.

prosseek
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  • You should use beamerthemeshadow.sty either as package or included in local directory. –  Jan 02 '12 at 10:53
  • This is what \usepackage{beamerthemeshadow} does. Also the "either as package or included in local directory" part doesn't make much sense. You mean he should install the package either globally or in the local directory, right? – Martin Scharrer Jan 05 '12 at 11:19

2 Answers2

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Shadow is an old style theme, and the manual suggests using Warsaw instead. The file you're citing is dated 2007, which means maybe the original author was used to the old conventions of \usepackage versus \usetheme.

However, the message you quote is not an error. The first line of whatever file you're actually compiling must have \show\ProvidesPackageRCS in it, and the normal behavior of \show is to interrupt compiling and output the next token's definition. As you note, ignoring the message doesn't cause any further compile problems.

I have MacTeX 2009 installed as well, and my beamerthemeshadow.sty doesn't have that in it, but maybe the one you're reading does.

Anyway, long story short, don't worry about a non-error when using an obsolescent theme. Just use Warsaw and go about your business. :-D

Matthew Leingang
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I can't reproduce the problem, since the code compiles without errors for me, and therefore not answer on the first part.

But the \usetheme{MYTHEME} command basically loads the file beamerthemeMYTHEME.sty. The actual theme is split up into several files according to some naming convention, each containing inner theme, outer theme, font theme and so on. The main theme package loads the other files like beamerfontthemeMYTHEME.sty and so forth.

The \usepackage command just includes the one package you specify. You can replace \usetheme{MYTHEME} by \usepackage{beamerthemeMYTHEME} if you want. But it's probably better to stick to the beamer guide.

I believe beamerthemeshadow is not part of a single big theme and thus does not follow the naming convention.

The advantage of the naming system of beamer is that you can freely combine inner and outer themes from different 'global' themes.

Carsten Thiel
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