[OS X TeX] Fragile Commands [Was: how to convert .doc to .TEX?]

[Will Robertson]

On 20 Jan 2005, at 10:28 AM, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> I hadn't noticed pdfsync.sty does redefine \emph. For sure it makes it 
> fragile. About whether \emph is already fragile in standard LaTeX 2e, 
> I'm not sure; being at home with no copy of Lamport's LaTeX manual, I 
> can't check.

Surely it is not. What would be the correct way to "un-fragile" the 
pdfsync definition of \emph? Would it be enough to say:
      \global\def\emph{{\protect\@PDFSYNC}\PDFSYNC at emph}%
or should the definition of \@PDFSYNC itself be altered?

> Things also seem to change, with more and more commands becoming 
> robust in successive LaTeX 2e releases. I remember that originally all 
> \ref commands in a figure caption had to be \protect'ed (like in a 
> figure caption referencing another figure), and at some point suddenly 
> it ceased to be so.

As far as I know, the eventual aim (i.e., LaTeX3) is to eliminate 
fragile commands entirely, making it impossible to create them. Them 
guys sure are clever.

Regards,
Will

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