Problem redefining an internal macro of a sty file

Question

[I posted this question first on stackoverflow since I wasn't aware of the existence of this site]

Hi,

I am using a special usepackage to write my thesis in tex and I need to adjust one of the provided macros. Usually there would be the way to use \renewcommand but in this case it doesn't work. Either the command is not changed or I get the error message that the overridden macro is not set, although I set it. The defined macro I'd like to change is as follows:

\gdef\TUD@thesis@referee{\PackageError{\@currname}{No '\noexpand\refereegiven!\MessageBreak See documentation for details.}\@ehc}
\def\referee#1#2{\@ifnextchar[{\TUD@thesis@referee@three{#1}{#2}}{\TUD@thesis@referee@two{#1}{#2}}}
\def\TUD@thesis@referee@two#1#2{
  \gdef\TUD@thesis@referee{1. Gutachten: #1\\2. Gutachten: #2}
}
\def\TUD@thesis@referee@three#1#2[#3]{
  \gdef\TUD@thesis@referee{1. Gutachten: #1\\2. Gutachten: #2\\3. Gutachten: #3}
}
\newcommand{\gutachter}[2]{%
  \referee{#1}{#2}
  \PackageError{\@currname}{Command '\noexpand\gutachter deprecated! Use '\noexpand\referee` instead.}\@ehc%
}

the way I use the command is:

\referee{ref1}{ref2}

and instead of having

{1. Gutachten: #1\\2. Gutachten: #2}

I would like to have

{Betreuer:\\#1\\#2}

I can solve this by simply modifying this part within the sty file but that means I have to adjust the file on every machine I possibly work on.

I tried to use

\renewcommand{\referee}[2]{Betreuer:\\#1\\#2}

But that obviously didn't work^^.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Try to include the following code in your document preamble (untested):

\makeatletter
\def\TUD@thesis@referee@two#1#2{%
  \gdef\TUD@thesis@referee{Betreuer:\\#1\\#2}%
}
\def\TUD@thesis@referee@three#1#2[#3]{%
  \gdef\TUD@thesis@referee{Betreuer:\\#1\\#2\\#3}%
}
\makeatother