[XeTeX] error \begin{document}

[Ross Moore]

On 03/06/2011, at 7:54 AM, Gareth Hughes wrote:

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> On 02/06/11 18:57, Ruth Robbins wrote:
>> just tried desperate measures--trashed the aux files and then ran the
>> typesetting again and it worked.  So something must have been wrong with
>> an aux file.
>> Ruth
> 
> Hi Ruth!
> 
> Deleting the aux file before recompiling when it fails for no reason is
> just one of those tricks that I've picked up on the way.

Before deleting the .aux  file, you should look at its contents.

If something is not easily readable, because it has expanded a macro 
into LaTeX internal tokens and TeX primitives, or other macro names 
that don't make much sense to you, then this may well indicate 
the cause of the problem. Frequently it will be the last line 
in the file that has unbalanced TeX bracket structures.

This kind of thing can occur when you have rather complex macros 
within section titles or figure/table captions. 
Often it will be fixed by using \protect  immediately before 
the offending macro name, or, if it is one that you defined 
yourself with \newcommand , then use \DeclareRobustCommand  instead. 

> Often processes
> are two-stage. If you make an error that makes the compile fail, it can
> be written to the aux file, and ensure that, even if the original error
> is fixed, it keeps failing. I thought I'd comment just to keep the
> record for the future perturbed!
> 
> Gareth.


Hope this helps,

	Ross

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Ross Moore                                       ross.moore at mq.edu.au 
Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419      
Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850 8114
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