Adjust font size with \patchcmd{\normalsize} not working with TL 2022

Question

I used to slightly adjust my font size with \patchcmd{\normalsize}. Consider this code:

\documentclass[11pt]{memoir}
\usepackage{etoolbox,lipsum}

\makeatletter
\patchcmd{\normalsize}{\@xipt}{{30pt}}{}{} % 30pt only for testing purpose!
\normalsize
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\lipsum
\end{document}

If I compile it with LuaLaTeX (or XeLaTeX, or pdfLaTeX) 2021 or older, the text is resized; with TL 2022 it is not.

I'm using Overleaf, so I wonder if the reason is a change (or a bug) within TL 2022 as such, or its implementation in Overleaf.

Answer 1

In the meantime, \normalsize has become a robust command, so \patchcmd is trying to patch the wrong command, namely the “surface” one rather than the one with the real code.

You shouldn't be patching \normalsize, actually: use instead a modern package such as fontsize.

Anyway, you can do with the patch with xpatch.

\documentclass[11pt]{memoir}
\usepackage{xpatch,lipsum}

\makeatletter
\xpatchcmd{\normalsize}{\@xipt}{{30pt}}{}{} % 30pt only for testing purpose!
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\lipsum
\end{document}

Note that \normalsize after the patch is completely useless, as \normalsize (in the patched version) will be issued at begin document.