enumitem conflict with french babel

Question

The following crashes with the error:

! LaTeX Error: Something's wrong--perhaps a missing \item.

\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage[francais]{babel}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}[topsep=20pt]
\item item1
\item item2
\end{itemize}
\end{document}

Works ok with english babel. I tried the option loadonly like in enumitem conflicts with galician but without success. Crashes also with french babel.

---

I found a workaround:

use

 \begin{enumerate}[topsep=20pt,label=--]

instead of

 \begin{itemize}[topsep=20pt]

Answer 1

it is a problem with the language setting of frenchb.ldf. Update your system, at least babel then it will work.

Answer 2

When loading [french]{babel} with MiKTeX, use the following in the preamble:

%\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}    
\usepackage[french]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\frenchbsetup{StandardLists=true}   %% Resolves conflict between babel and enumitem
\usepackage{enumitem}

I am unaware of the exact workings behind the [french]{babel}package (I would much appreciate if someone could shed the light on the exact technical issue), but I do know that certain changes are made by babel regarding the interpretation of certain characters by LaTeX to allow for the appropriate output of lists according to french typographical standards. These changes are the cause of the conflict between babel and enumitem. The use of \frenchbsetup{StandardLists=true} will resolve this conflict.

Answer 3

Load Babel at the end of your preamble.