[Tex/LaTex] Babel Error: Undefined Control Sequence

babelerrorslanguages

I'm running into a bizarre issue with the Babel package that I haven't seen before and would love some help figuring out a solution.

First, I'll give an example of something that does compile correctly (using pdftex) on my computer:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[hebrew, english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
Document Text.
\end{document}

However, when I remove the word hebrew, it no longer compiles and gives me the following error (taken from the log file):

! Undefined control sequence.
\bbl@set@language ...ge {\languagename }}\bbl@for 
                                                  \bbl@tempa \BabelContentsF...
l.6 \begin{document}

? 
! Emergency stop.
\bbl@set@language ...ge {\languagename }}\bbl@for 
                                                  \bbl@tempa \BabelContentsF...
l.6 \begin{document}

End of file on the terminal!

I have noticed that the same error occurs when using Arabic and English.

I just recently updated to TeX Live 2013; I also just updated all my packages. After running into this issue, I reinstalled all babel packages with the TeX Live Utility and tried to compile the document again with no luck.

I also just recently installed GNU Aspell with a bunch of dictionaries, including Arabic, Hebrew, and English. I can't imagine that would cause this issue, but I thought I'd mention it. Also, I am on a Mac.

Here is output from \listfiles for the english document:

! Undefined control sequence.
\bbl@set@language ...ge {\languagename }}\bbl@for 
                                                  \bbl@tempa \BabelContentsF...
l.6 \begin{document}

? r
OK, entering \nonstopmode...
[1

{/usr/local/texlive/2013/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}]
(./FIT2.aux)

 *File List*
 article.cls    2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
  size10.clo    2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX file (size option)
inputenc.sty    2008/03/30 v1.1d Input encoding file
    utf8.def    2008/04/05 v1.1m UTF-8 support for inputenc
   t1enc.dfu    2008/04/05 v1.1m UTF-8 support for inputenc
  ot1enc.dfu    2008/04/05 v1.1m UTF-8 support for inputenc
  omsenc.dfu    2008/04/05 v1.1m UTF-8 support for inputenc
   babel.sty    2005/11/23 v3.8h The Babel package
 english.ldf    2005/03/30 v3.3o English support from the babel system
 fontenc.sty
   t1enc.def    2005/09/27 v1.99g Standard LaTeX file
 ***********

 )

Best Answer

It turns out that I had an outdated version of babel in my Library folder (/Users/username/Library/texmf/tex/latex/babel/). After deleting this outdated version, LaTeX used the correct, updated version found in the 2013 distribution (/usr/local/texlive/2013/texmf-dist/tex/latex/generic/babel/). Documents now compile correctly!

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