Frank Mittelbach <[log in to unmask]> writes:

> David Kastrup writes:
>  >         Javier Bezos <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>
>  > > I think a better place is inputenc itself or fontenc;
>  > > otherwise saveboxes in the preamble won't work.
>  >
>  > Saveboxes in the preamble are probably not a good idea, anyway, since
>  > the font setup has not completed there.
>
> well, yes. this is an open question to us for a long time.
>
> I tend to think that one has to view the preamble as a
> "non-typesetting area" otherwise you end up with all kind of
> complications, e.g., the font setup not being ready, etc.
>
> however, i still think that there are problems with typesetting in
> the preamble and while i doubt it should be completely banned it is
> best to assume that normally it doesn't work or can't be relied on.

I think that it is pretty safe to wrap that sort of stuff in
\AtBeginDocument or so.  Except that quite a few packages shift stuff
that could be relevant to that also in that hook.  Perhaps one would
need a command \AfterBeginDocument as well...

--
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum