Bug#137823: bibtex fails with : Sorry---you've exceeded BibTeX's buffer size 5000

["C.M. Connelly" <c@eskimo.com>]

"AT" == Ariel Tankus <arielt@post.tau.ac.il>

Ariel,

    AT> As a matter of policy, I don't usually send unpublished
    AT> material like the one which discovered the bug for me, as
    AT> source (i.e., tex) files.  However, as a matter of policy,
    AT> I usually try and help debugging free software which I
    AT> use, and that is why I sent the bug report from the first
    AT> place.  (Of course, the amount of help is decided under
    AT> the time constraints I have).

Understood -- what you sent is actually much more useful, as it's
a minimal file showing the problem so that we don't have to worry
about everything else that's goes on in a normal file.

So.

The problem is your use of the \( and \) commands to open and
close inline math environment within the argument of a \caption
command.  The argument of a \caption command is a ``moving
argument'', because it can be used in various parts of a TeX file
(specifically, as the caption for the figure and also as an item
in a \listoffigures).  \( and \) are not robust commands, which
means they cannot be used ``safely'' in a moving argument.

When you TeX the file, it appears to TeX just fine, but produces a
bizarre auxiliary file (a.aux) where it's essentially writing a
line for a list of figures that's a series of recursive errors.
Obviously BibTeX is trying to read the file, getting lost in the
recusive error, and dying.  That's definitely a bug in BibTeX.

You can avoid this problem by using \protect before *both* opening
\( and closing \) commands in a moving argument or, better, using
the robust command $ to mark the start and end of inline math
environments.

Either option produces a correct a.aux file, and allows BibTeX to
run normally (giving an error because there aren't actually any
citations in the file).

With your permission, I would like to forward your example files
upstream (and forward your message to the bug report) so someone
can look into the problems with BibTeX.

Note that I've cc:ed the bug with this message.

   Claire

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
 Man cannot be civilised, or be kept civilised by what he does in his
	    spare time; only by what he does as his work.
			     W.R. Lethaby
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
  C.M. Connelly               cmc@debian.org                   SHC, DS
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+


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