[texhax] Question about \skip\footins

[Axel E. Retif]

On  25 Sep, 2008, at 06:39, Philip G. Ratcliffe wrote:

>> I'm using the book class with no size option (therefore, 10pt with
>> 12pt baseline skip) and a sty file where I have defined footnotes as
>> follow:
>>
>>     \renewcommand{\footnoterule}{\vspace*{-3pt}}%
>>
>> therefore, no rule between main text and footnotes; and
>>
>>     \setlength{\skip\footins}{1.0\baselineskip plus0.5\baselineskip
>> minus0.5\baselineskip}
>>
>> therefore I would expect \skip\footins = 12pt, plus 6pt minus
>> 6pt (the baselineskip of main text is *indeed* 12pt); but if I put
>> anywhere in my document
>>
>>     footins = \the\skip\footins
>>
>> I get
>>
>>     footins = 10.0pt plus 5.0pt minus 5.0pt
>
> That's not what I get; I just did it get
>
>      footins = 12.0pt plus 6.0pt minus 6.0pt
>
> So, what you're really doing probably isn't quite as simple as your  
> claim.

I'm using Walter Schmidt's lucimatx.sty (from PCTeX) with option  
lucidasmallscale, but I have ruled that out because a) it doesn't  
redefine fontins anywhere, and b) as I said, the leading *is indeed*  
12pt (I have a watermark 1pc grid to check that, and I get 43 lines of  
normalsize text with a 516pt textheight).

I'll try to investigate further, to see if I find what's going on.

Thanks a lot for your test and kind reply.

Axel