Can't use with biblatex

[larseggert]

Doing

\documentclass[sigconf, natbib=false]{acmart}
\usepackage[backend=biber, style=trad-abbrv]{biblatex}

results in:

(/usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/blx-dm.def)

! LaTeX Error: Command \citename already defined.
               Or name \end... illegal, see p.192 of the manual.

See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...

l.9791 ...d*{\citename}{\blx@citexpunct{citename}}

[larseggert]

A workaround seems to be:

--- /usr/local/texlive//2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/acmart/acmart.cls	2017-03-10 00:01:06.000000000 +0100
+++ acmart.cls	2017-03-13 10:46:27.000000000 +0100
@@ -424,8 +424,8 @@
      {\begingroup\NAT@swafalse
        \let\NAT@ctype\@ne\NAT@partrue\NAT@fullfalse\NAT@open\NAT@citetp}%
   \providecommand\newblock{}%
-\else
-  \providecommand\citename[1]{#1}
+%\else
+%  \providecommand\citename[1]{#1}
 \fi
 \def\shortcite#1{\ifNAT@numbers\cite{#1}\else\citeyear{#1}\fi}
 \def\bibliographystyle#1{%

[borisveytsman]

I am afraid the problem is not just disabling \citename. The bigger problem is that official ACM bibtex styles create special tags used by metadata tools during publication. Adding biblatex compatibility means writing similar ACM biblatex package.

I will discuss with ACM people whether they want this

[larseggert]

At least getting rid of the \citename lets me use biblatex at all with the new template. Whether that removes any ACM metadata is something I'll worry about after the paper is accepted...

But I do think that having the ACM template force people to use natbib is not really a great solution, give that it's apparently not being maintained and has seen the last update in 2010.

[borisveytsman]

@larseggert please test. Works for me

[larseggert]

Works here, too

[ncardozo]

@borisveytsman The fix works for me too, though the first time i try to run bibtex I get a "command \bibhang already defined" Do you know what this problem may be? (If i keep on running it a couple of times it eventually displays the bibliography correctly}

[drt24]

@ncardozo Do you have something like \documentclass[sigconf,natbib=false]{acmart} ? With that set I only seem to need \let\citename\relax and (before the documentclass) \newcommand{\citestyle}[1]{} to make it work with the version of acmart currently used by Overleaf.

[drt24]

For the record: style=trad-abbrv does not produce references in anything close to the ACM reference style. I am working on something that approximates it but in the meantime using biblatex with acmart will produce incorrect results.