[MiKTeX] Conflicting user-defined commands

[Richard D. <rdy...@bt...>]

I have a problem with conflicting user-defined commands. Suppose I have 
three chapters for a book:
chapter1.tex
chapter2.tex
chapter3.tex
Each chapter is written be a different author, and each author has written 
his/her own set of user-defined commands:
chapter1_userdefs.tex
chapter2_userdefs.tex
chapter3_userdefs.tex

There is the problem that two authors have defined the same command \foo, 
in which case, if I use

\include{chapter1_userdefs}
\include{chapter2_userdefs}
\include{chapter3_userdefs}
..........................
\mainmatter
\include{chapter1}
\include{chapter2}
\include{chapter3}

in the root file, I will get the error message "! LaTeX Error: Command \foo 
already defined". Is there a way to get round this problem without having 
to edit the user definitions?

Richard

-------------------------------
Dr Richard Dybowski
143 Village Way
Pinner HA5 5AA, UK
Tel: 07976 250092