footmisc 2011/06/06 v5.5b and hyperref's option hyperfootnotes=false

This was originally posted here: https://github.com/FrankMittelbach/fmitex/issues/5#issue-383991035
but I think it really should be resolved from the hyperref side ...

The issue was brought up by Axel Berger in the German-language usenet-newsgroup de.comp.text.tex in the discussion with subject "Fussnoten widerholen" :

When loading both the package footmisc and the package hyperref, some problems arise:

With hyperref's option hyperfootnotes=true, the macro \footref will deliver a hyperlink where the measurements of the clickable area is considerably smaller than the clickable area of hyperlinks that come into being due to \footnote-commands.

With hyperref's option hyperfootnotes=false, the macro \footref will disobey the hyperref-option and deliver such a hyperlink anyway.

Therefore in case of the hyperref-package being loaded I suggest having the \footref-command

• check for the switch \ifHy@hyperfootnotes
• not place the hyperlink inside the footnotemark (as happens when simply applying the \ref-command within \@thefnmark) but having the \footref-command apply the starred-variant of the \ref-command within \@thefnmark (which does not deliver a hyperlink) and wrap a call to the \hyperref- macro around the footnote-mark when it gets paced:

In the above-mentioned usenet-discussion I suggested the following patch:

\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage{footmisc} 
%\usepackage{hyperref} 
\usepackage[hyperfootnotes=false]{hyperref} 

\makeatletter 
\@ifpackageloaded{hyperref}{% 
  \renewcommand\footref[1]{% 
    \begingroup 
    \unrestored@protected@xdef\@thefnmark{% 
      \ref*{#1}% 
    }% 
    \endgroup 
    \ifHy@hyperfootnotes 
       \expandafter\@firstoftwo 
    \else 
       \expandafter\@secondoftwo 
    \fi 
    {\hyperref[#1]{\strut\H@@footnotemark}}{\@footnotemark}% 
  }% 
}{}% 
\makeatother 

\begin{document} 

argument of the footnote command that is being 
labelled\footnote{Note text\label{fnlabel}} 
potato head\footref{fnlabel} 

\end{document} 

Start with the \footref entry point and the hyperref option switch \ifHy@hyperfootnotes, then compare behavior with hyperfootnotes=true and hyperfootnotes=false. Done means \footref respects the option and its clickable area matches the intended footnote link behavior described in the issue.