[metapost] What is the best approach for writing LaTeX specific commands in metapost

[Taco Hoekwater]

On 03/01/2011 08:16 AM, Vafa Khalighi wrote:
> Also if I put the definitions from mpdefs.mp <http://mpdefs.mp> directly
> into vafa.mp <http://vafa.mp>, no error happens. It seems the error only
> happens when I put my definitions inside mpdefs.mp <http://mpdefs.mp>

In a way, metapost's label processing is blind to its environment:
the btex ... etex processing happens strictly per file. Your
definitions, when they are in mpdefs.mp, therefore never get the 
verbatimtex ... etex block prepended, and so they do not start with
\documentclass etc., and that is what is producing the error.

A simple solution is to copy the verbatimtex block in the
mpdefs.mp as well.

Best wishes,
Taco