[Tex/LaTex] After recent update of MikTeX, ! Package totpages Error: Can’t use both, lastpage and totpages

lastpage

\documentclass[12pt, a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{adjustbox} % uses graphicx
\usepackage[top=1.8cm,bottom=1.8cm,left=0.88cm,right=0.88cm]{geometry}


\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{lastpage}

%\usepackage[
%   type={CC},
%   modifier={by-nc-nd},
%   version={4.0}
%]{doclicense}
%%
% \usepackage{doclicense}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage{hyperref}
\pdfsuppressptexinfo=-1
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\usepackage{qrcode}
%\usepackage{background}
\usepackage{multicol} % cover page multicol

\begin{document}


% \doclicenseImage

\cleardoublepage
\pagestyle{fancy}
\lipsum[1-5]

\end{document}

It was working fine when I installed and updated up to 17th Sep 2020.
Not sure which package casued it, but after the most recent update, if I add (put it back)\usepackage{doclicense}, I got this error now.

Best Answer

Same issue here after a recent upgrade in Debian Bullseye.

Before:

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{lastpage}
\usepackage{hyperxmp}
\begin{document}
  This is page~\thepage{} of~\pageref{LastPage}.
\end{document}

Which gave the error:

! Package totpages Error: Can't use both, lastpage and totpages.

See the totpages package documentation for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...                                              
                                                  
l.35 \begin{document}

I replaced the lastpage dependency with totpages and changed the corresponding \pageref{LastPage} to \pageref{TotPages}. After:

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{totpages}
\usepackage{hyperxmp}
\begin{document}
  This is page~\thepage{} of~\pageref{TotPages}.
\end{document}

This also works with an unnumbered title page. The totpages package claims it's meant to be used for the actual total number of pages, not the last page's number for which the lastpage package is meant, but this way it can do that anyway and it resolves the dependency conflict.

Result:
"This is page 1 of 1."

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Keep getting “aux file” error with the lastpage package

As part of the res.cls document class, it executes:

\nofiles         % resume's don't need .aux files

This avoid the creation of auxiliary files, needed when using references (which lastpage requires). So, add

\let\nofiles\relax

before loading the document class.

[Tex/LaTex] LastPage not defined – can’t get “page x of y” – even after multiple compiles

Suppress the extra pair of braces in the argument of \pageref; you have

\pageref{{LastPage}}

and it should be

\pageref{LastPage}

The extra pair of braces causes LaTeX to look for the wrong string {LastPage} to produce the cross-reference (the right string is LastPage). Your code produces some warnings about this:

LaTeX Warning: Reference `{LastPage}' on page 1 undefined on input line 35.

The code with some modifications explained before:

\documentclass[11pt,letterpaper,oneside,notitlepage]{article}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{natbib}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[loose]{units}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{pgf,tikz}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{lastpage}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{dcolumn}
\newcolumntype{.}{D{.}{.}{-1}}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{alltt}
\usepackage[font=small,format=plain,labelfont=bf,up,textfont=it,up]{caption}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}


% these commands use the fancyhdr package to get "x of y" style
% page numbering.  The headrulewidth command gets rid of a decorative 
% horizontal rule that is default with "fancy" pagestyle.
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyfoot[C]{\thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}

\begin{document}

\fancyfoot[C]{{Cyclic triaxial test report\qquad Page \thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}\qquad  Test ID: {testid} \\ {\bfseries PRELIMINARY REPORT -- NOT FOR ENGINEERING USE!}}}

\subsection*{1}
\subsection*{2}
\subsection*{3}
\clearpage 
\subsection*{a}
\clearpage 
\subsection*{b}
\clearpage 
\subsection*{c}
\clearpage 
\subsection*{d}AAA
\clearpage 
\clearpage 
\end{document}

enter image description here

I changed \cfoot{...} to the most modern \fancyfoot[C]{...} interfaz. I also fixed the headheight length; your MWE produces a warning

Package Fancyhdr Warning: `\headheight` is too small (`12.0pt`): Make it
at least `13.59999pt`.

so I used the geometry settings to increase the length as suggested by he message. Notice also thet \bf is an old TeX command that shouldn't be used in modern documents; you should use \bfseries instead,

Perhaps you should conside other method for getting your spacing in the footer; you can use \qquad (as I did in my example code) or \hspace{<length>} instead of all those single spaces together.