'runtimepath' fiddling

[James Vega]

On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 02:23:49PM -0400, Stefano Zacchiroli wrote:
> However I do see the point of dictating it to something including:
> 1) the legacy runtimepath (that which comes with upstream vim)
> 2) some paths under /usr/local
> 3) some paths under /var
> 
> The rationale behind (1) is pretty obvious.
> 
> That behind (2) is to enable sysadms to install system-wide plugins
> which are not available as debian packages without violating FHS. A lot
> of other packaging schemes support such pattern (perl/python/ocaml
> libraries, man pages, ...) and I think we should do that too.
> 
> That behind (3) is to enable loading of files which are automatically
> generated tools. The only example I have right now is that of
> dictionaries for the new spelling feature: they can be either downloaded
> or generated from local myspell dictionaries and installed by some suid
> program under /var/something.

My initial thought was to remove any modification of 'runtimepath' since
it caused such a hassle when we changed its value in /etc/vim/vimrc.
You make some good arguments for reasons to modify it, though.

> Summarizing: I do think we should provide a runtimepath different from
> the current one.
> 
> I raise an additional issue: we should not set the runtimepath in
> /etc/vim/vimrc (a file which is likely to be modified by sysadm)

It's probably also a good idea to add more advertising for
/etc/vim/{g,}vimrc.local within /etc/vim/vimrc.  That is, instead of
saying "uncomment these lines to get this functionality", maybe it would
be better to say "add these lines to /etc/vim/vimrc.local" and to add a
note at the top of the file stating any modifications should be made in
the vimrc.local file.

> since
> it is a vital value for the correct behaviour of vim and not upgrading
> it correctly may cause failures. The removal of the vim version from it
> was only a partial solution. I think we should set it from some
> autoloaded file under $VIM.

Yes, that's probably the best choice.  How does
$VIMRUNTIME/debdefaults.vim sound?  Then we would remove the
modification of 'runtimepath' from /etc/vim/vimrc and place "runtime
debdefaults.vim" after setting 'nocompatible'.

James
-- 
GPG Key: 1024D/61326D40 2003-09-02 James Vega <jamessan at jamessan.com>
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