footnotenosplit Package

LaTeX: Suppress orphan footnote rules when footnotes are not allowed to split

Setting \interfootnotelinepenalty=10000 keeps footnote text from being split across pages: a footnote that does not fit on the current page is moved to the next page as a whole. This policy is common in book production, but it has two side effects:

1. The original page may end with a lone \footnoterule (plus the \skip\footins space) with no footnote text below it.
2. The footnote moved to the next page gets only \splittopskip (= \footnotesep) above its first line, so it sits closer to the rule than a normal footnote does.

This happens with any engine — it is a property of TeX's page builder and the LaTeX output routine, not of a particular language or engine. It shows up when the footnote insertion begins with vertical material such as a leading \kern in \@makefntext (common in book-production classes) and the page bottom has stretch (\raggedbottom).

The footnotenosplit package suppresses both side effects:

1. If \ht\footins < \footnotesep (the footnote box holds no actual footnote line), the box is discarded, so neither \footnoterule nor \skip\footins is emitted. The footnote itself is typeset normally on the next page.
2. \splittopskip inside \@footnotetext (or \H@@footnotetext when hyperref is loaded) is patched to \footnotesep + \footnotetopkern.

• Supported formats/engines: pdfLaTeX, LuaLaTeX, XeLaTeX (LaTeX2ε 2025-06-01 or later), pLaTeX, upLaTeX

Files

The implementation files are loaded automatically; do not load them directly.

Requirements

• LaTeX2ε 2025-06-01 or later (for pdfLaTeX/LuaLaTeX/XeLaTeX; the socket-based \@makecol), or pLaTeX2ε for (u)pLaTeX
• etoolbox

Installation

Copy the three .sty files to your local TeX tree: $TEXMF/tex/latex/footnotenosplit/

Usage

\usepackage{footnotenosplit}

% If your class's \@makefntext starts with "\kern <dimen>",
% set \footnotetopkern to that dimension and replace the \kern:
\footnotetopkern=2pt
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\@makefntext[1]{\kern\footnotetopkern ... #1}
\makeatother

By default the package sets \interfootnotelinepenalty=\@M for you. If your class already sets it (or you want to manage it yourself), load the package with the nopenalty option:

\usepackage[nopenalty]{footnotenosplit}

Testing

The repository ships four test files:

• test-latex.tex (pdfLaTeX/LuaLaTeX/XeLaTeX) and test-ptex.tex ((u)pLaTeX + dvipdfmx) reproduce the orphan footnote rule and verify that the package suppresses it. Build a control version without the package via "\def\NOPKG{1}\input test-latex.tex" and compare the page where the long footnote reference sits at the very bottom. The filler-line count \FILLN may need rescanning on TeX distributions other than TeX Live 2026.
• test-latex-show.tex / test-ptex-show.tex dump the patched macros to the log for a quick patch-status check (make test greps these).

Repository

• https://github.com/munepi/footnotenosplit
• Bug reports: https://github.com/munepi/footnotenosplit/issues

License

This package is licensed under the conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c of this license or any later version.

Copyright (c) 2026 Munehiro Yamamoto