makeheadrule in the memoir class

Question

I have been trying to get the makeheadrule and makefootrule directives to work in a memoir class document. Here is an MWE

\documentclass[10pt]{memoir}
\usepackage{lipsum}


\copypagestyle{memoirStylePages}{headings}
\makerunningwidth{memoirStylePages}{\textwidth}

\makeheadrule{memoirStylePages}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}
\makefootrule{memoirStylePages}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}{}

\nouppercaseheads

\makeevenhead{memoirStylePages}{\thepage}{}{}
\makeoddhead{memoirStylePages}{}{}{\itshape\leftmark}

\makeevenfoot{memoirStylePages}{}{}{}
\makeoddfoot{memoirStylePages}{}{}{}

\makepsmarks{memoirStylePages}{%
  \createmark{chapter}{left}{nonumber}{}{}
}

\pagestyle{memoirStylePages}

\begin{document}
\chapter{A chapter}
\section{A section}    
\lipsum[1-10]    
\end{document}

I am unable to understand why I get the errors.

Answer 1

The last argument of makefootrule mustn't be empty. So use:

\makefootrule{memoirStylePages}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}{0pt}

---

The command \makefootrule has the following syntax:

\makefootrule{ style }{ width }{ thickness }{ skip }

Specifies the width and thickness of the rule drawn skip (see \footskip) above the footers of the style pagestyle.

---

Here your modifed MWE:

\documentclass[10pt]{memoir}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\copypagestyle{memoirStylePages}{headings}
\makerunningwidth{memoirStylePages}{\textwidth}
\makeheadrule{memoirStylePages}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}
\makefootrule{memoirStylePages}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}{0pt}
\nouppercaseheads
\makeevenhead{memoirStylePages}{\thepage}{}{}
\makeoddhead{memoirStylePages}{}{}{\itshape\leftmark}
\makeevenfoot{memoirStylePages}{}{}{}
\makeoddfoot{memoirStylePages}{}{}{}

\makepsmarks{memoirStylePages}{%
  \createmark{chapter}{left}{nonumber}{}{}
}

\pagestyle{memoirStylePages}
\begin{document}
\chapter{A chapter}
\section{A section}    
\lipsum[1-10]    
\end{document}