[texhax] about \skip\footins --footnoterule

[Barbara Beeton]

    On  25 Sep, 2008, at 18:09, Donald Arseneau wrote:

    > "Axel E. Retif" <axel.retif at mac.com> writes:
    >
    >>     \renewcommand{\footnoterule}{\vspace*{-3pt}}%
    >
    > That is an error!  \footnoterule must consume zero vertical space.

    Thank you. I'll look into this. I took half the code from The LaTeX  
    Companion, 2nd ed., p. 112:

    > \footnoterule [...] The default definition is equivalent to the  
    > following:
    >
    >   \renewcommand\footnoterule{\vspace*{-3pt}%
    >      \hrule width 2in height 0.4pt \vspace*{2.6pt}}

    So to get no rule I omitted the second half of the code.

you failed to notice that this is a three-part
definition:
  \renewcommand\footnoterule{\vspace*{-3pt}%
     \hrule width 2in height 0.4pt
     \vspace*{2.6pt}}

the first part backs up three points;
the second adds .4pt as a rule;
the third adds 2.6pt of space.
the total space occupied is 0pt (-3 + .4 + 2.6).
so an equivalent definition without a rule would
be either
  \renewcommand\footnoterule{\vspace*{-3pt}%
     \vspace*{3pt}}
or just
  \renewcommand\footnoterule{}

							-- bb