Bug#368276: vim configuration not found anymore?

Stefano Zacchiroli zack at debian.org
Sun May 21 16:44:04 UTC 2006


On Sun, May 21, 2006 at 12:33:36PM +0200, lars.doelle at on-line.de wrote:
> I am using "vi" from the command line. I use am using mc as a file manager,
> too. Editing a file there calls "/usr/bin/sensible-editor" (a script from the
> debianutils) package, ending in "vi" either. I could workaround the later
> using the EDITOR environment variable.
> 
> For the first - how do i cope with this if i want to use the name "vi" still on
> the command line?

As suggested in the NEWS items, an easy solution for the first is using
an 'alias vi=vim' in your shell.

If you don't like this solution remember that /etc/vim/virc is after all
a configuration file which you can edit. You can comment the 'set
compatible' line there and source /etc/vim/vimrc or even turn it in a
symlink to /etc/vim/vimrc.

> And - I do not think that the current behaviour is a good idea.

It has been discussed on debian-devel at lists.debian.org [1], and required as
a feature. The rational behind the choice is that vim is going to enter
the debian vim system and will be installed per default instead of nvi.
The 'vim' behaviour when 'nocompatible' (and all the other settings in
/etc/vim/vimrc are in effect) is really different from the default 'vi'
behaviour. This has been found to be annoying for a lot of users. With
the current setting people running it as 'vi' have a more standard 'vi',
while people running it as 'vim' have a more improved editor.

JFYI, this is annoying for me as well, I've always executed vim as vi
via alternatives. But still I found this is the solution which satisfy
more users ... and I'm happily leaving using the alias :-)

Cheers.

[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/12/msg00796.html

-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli -*- Computer Science PhD student @ Uny Bologna, Italy
zack@{cs.unibo.it,debian.org,bononia.it} -%- http://www.bononia.it/zack/
If there's any real truth it's that the entire multidimensional infinity
of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. -!-




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