Frank, >Bernard, > > > >The new definition of add@accent is supposed to keep correct > > >spacefactor's after accented uppercase letters. The cost is > > >that a command like \edef\agrave{\`a} will not work as > > >expected (with respect to spacefactors). > > >More importantly, this makes the babel package fail, > > >and possibly others. [...] >within standard LaTeX the new defnition of \` and friends still work >perfectly >in all circumstances. the fact that inside babel \edef was used in a place >where \protected@edef should have been used was an oversight and is >corrected. The "expandability" of \add@accent has not changed. It is still expandable, if its definition is: \def\add@accent#1#2{{% \setbox\@tempboxa\hbox{#2% \global\mathchardef\accent@spacefactor\spacefactor}% \accent#1 #2}\spacefactor\accent@spacefactor} The problem is that \accent@spacefactor is not yet defined in \edef's prior to an actual use of any accent. That is a LaTeX bug which can be fixed by letting \accent@spacefactor to \relax or by defining it with \mathchardef (in both cases it expands into itself). Example: \documentclass{minimal} \edef\agrave{\`a} % Doesn't work \setbox0\hbox{\`a} % We use an accent \edef\agrave{\`a} % Now it does work (but \agrave looks horrible! :-) ) Regards Javier Bezos