Can I prevent a package from redefining a command?

symbols packages characters

1,056

before loading the package do

\let\origbar\bar
\let\origdot\dot
\usepackage{...}
\let\bar\origbar
\let\dot\origdot

Note that in some cases you may need to postpone the redoing until after \begin{document}

One might wonder why you are using runes in a documnt with math?

1,056

Saibot

Updated on December 24, 2020

Comments

Saibot almost 3 years
I like to use runes and letters from other non-standard alphabets as mathematical symbols. However, now the allrunes package is interfering with my other mathematical typesetting. Take this minimal example:
```
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{allrunes}

\begin{document}
$\bar{x}$
\end{document}
```
I get these error messages:
```
LaTeX Warning: Command \bar invalid in math mode on input line 6.

! LaTeX Error: Command \bar unavailable in encoding OT1.
```
I think that the problem lies in allrunes.sty, which redefines the \bar command:
```
\newcommand{\DeclareRuneSeparators}[1]{%
  [..]
  \DeclareTextSymbol{\bar}{#1}{33}        % !
  [..]
} % end of newcommand{\DeclareRuneSeparators}
```
Is there a way to prevent allrunes from redefining \bar, so that I can still use it as the usual math symbol? Or any other way of recovering the functionality of \bar?

The exact same happens not just for \bar, but also for \dot.
- egreg almost 10 years
  
  Beware that allrunes also does some other redefinitions that are quite disputable. In particular it redefines \bfseries and this can lead to severe problems.
Saibot almost 10 years

Thanks, that works perfectly! Runes are useful as an additional source of mathematical symbols without any predefined meaning or connotation, and they are kind of entertaining as well.
Saibot almost 10 years

I don't have enough reputation (yet) for an upvote.
daleif almost 10 years

@TobiasFritz, I do not think that is a good idea. Inventing additional mathematical symbols often ends up giving headaches to those trying to typeset what ever the mathematician have invented. Did you have a look in the symbols list instead?
Saibot almost 10 years

that's a good point which I'll have to keep in mind. In the present case, we use them only for some simple examples, so it shouldn't be harmful, but I'll reconsider it.
Ott Toomet almost 4 years

I am explaining how to transform images represented in matrix form, and runes make beautiful line-art symbols that are easy to be put into matrices.