10.65. Vim-7.0

#### Cross-Compiled Linux From Scratch - Version 1.0.0rc2-x86_64-Multilib

### Chapter 10. Installing Basic System Software

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# 10.65. Vim-7.0

The Vim package contains a powerful text editor.

### Alternatives to Vim

If you prefer another editor—such as Emacs, Joe, or Nano—please refer to http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/postlfs/editors.html for suggested installation instructions.

## 10.65.1. Installation of Vim

First, unpack both `vim-7.0.tar.bz2` and (optionally) `vim-7.0-lang.tar.gz` archives into the same directory.

The following patch contains updates from the maintainer. The maintainer of Vim only releases these patches to fix serious issues.

    patch -Np1 -i ../vim-7.0-fixes-5.patch

Change the default location of the `vimrc` configuration file to `/etc`:

    echo '#define SYS_VIMRC_FILE "/etc/vimrc"' >> src/feature.h

Prepare Vim for compilation:

    CC="gcc ${BUILD64}" CXX="g++ ${BUILD64}" ./configure --prefix=/usr \
       --enable-multibyte

The meaning of the configure options:

`--enable-multibyte`

  This optional but highly recommended switch enables support for editing files in multibyte character encodings. This is needed if using a locale with a multibyte character set. This switch is also helpful to be able to edit text files initially created in Linux distributions like Fedora Core that use UTF-8 as a default character set.

Compile the package:

    make

To test the results, issue: `make test`. However, this test suite outputs a lot of binary data to the screen, which can cause issues with the settings of the current terminal. This can be resolved by redirecting the output to a log file.

Install the package:

    make install

Many users are accustomed to using vi instead of vim. Some programs, such as vigr and vipw, also use vi. Create a symlink to permit execution of vim when users habitually enter vi and allow programs that use vi to work:

    ln -sv vim /usr/bin/vi

By default, Vim's documentation is installed in `/usr/share/vim`. The following symlink allows the documentation to be accessed via `/usr/share/doc/vim-7.0`, making it consistent with the location of documentation for other packages:

    ln -sv ../vim/vim70/doc /usr/share/doc/vim-7.0

If an X Window System is going to be installed on the CLFS system, you may want to recompile Vim after installing X. Vim comes with a GUI version of the editor that requires X and some additional libraries to be installed. For more information, refer to the Vim documentation and the Vim installation page in the BLFS book at http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/postlfs/editors.html#postlfs-editors-vim.

## 10.65.2. Configuring Vim

By default, vim runs in vi-incompatible mode. This may be new to users who have used other editors in the past. The “nocompatible” setting is included below to highlight the fact that a new behavior is being used. It also reminds those who would change to “compatible” mode that it should be the first setting in the configuration file. This is necessary because it changes other settings, and overrides must come after this setting. Create a default vim configuration file by running the following:

    cat > /etc/vimrc << "EOF"
    " Begin /etc/vimrc

    set nocompatible
    set backspace=2
    syntax on
    if (&term == "iterm") || (&term == "putty")
      set background=dark
    endif

    " End /etc/vimrc
    EOF

The `set nocompatible` makes vim behave in a more useful way (the default) than the vi-compatible manner. Remove the “no” to keep the old vi behavior. The `set backspace=2` allows backspacing over line breaks, autoindents, and the start of insert. The `syntax on` enables vim's syntax highlighting. Finally, the if statement with the `set background=dark` corrects vim's guess about the background color of some terminal emulators. This gives the highlighting a better color scheme for use on the black background of these programs.

Documentation for other available options can be obtained by running the following command:

    vim -c ':options'

## 10.65.3. Contents of Vim

Installed programs: efm_filter.pl, efm_perl.pl, ex (link to vim), less.sh, mve.awk, pltags.pl, ref, rview (link to vim), rvim (link to vim), shtags.pl, tcltags, vi (link to vim), view (link to vim), vim, vim132, vim2html.pl, vimdiff (link to vim), vimm, vimspell.sh, vimtutor, and xxd

### Short Descriptions

efm_filter.pl | A filter for creating an error file that can be read by vim
efm_perl.pl | Reformats the error messages of the Perl interpreter for use with the “quickfix” mode of vim
ex | Starts vim in ex mode
less.sh | A script that starts vim with less.vim
mve.awk | Processes vim errors
pltags.pl | Creates a tags file for Perl code for use by vim
ref | Checks the spelling of arguments
rview | Is a restricted version of view; no shell commands can be started and view cannot be suspended
rvim | Is a restricted version of vim; no shell commands can be started and vim cannot be suspended
shtags.pl | Generates a tags file for Perl scripts
tcltags | Generates a tags file for TCL code
view | Starts vim in read-only mode
vi | Link to vim
vim | Is the editor
vim132 | Starts vim with the terminal in 132-column mode
vim2html.pl | Converts Vim documentation to HypterText Markup Language (HTML)
vimdiff | Edits two or three versions of a file with vim and show differences
vimm | Enables the DEC locator input model on a remote terminal
vimspell.sh | Spell checks a file and generates the syntax statements necessary to highlight in vim. This script requires the old Unix spell command, which is provided neither in CLFS nor in BLFS
vimtutor | Teaches the basic keys and commands of vim
xxd | Creates a hex dump of the given file; it can also do the reverse, so it can be used for binary patching

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