#### Linux From Scratch - Version 12.0-rc1

### Chapter 8. Installing Basic System Software

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# 8.71. Vim-9.0.1677

The Vim package contains a powerful text editor.

Approximate build time: 2.3 SBU
Required disk space: 229 MB

### Alternatives to Vim

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

## 8.71.1. Installation of Vim

First, 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:

    ./configure --prefix=/usr

Compile the package:

    make

To prepare the tests, ensure that user `tester` can write to the source tree:

    chown -Rv tester .

Now run the tests as user `tester`:

    su tester -c "LANG=en_US.UTF-8 make -j1 test" &> vim-test.log

The test suite outputs a lot of binary data to the screen. This can cause issues with the settings of the current terminal. The problem can be avoided by redirecting the output to a log file as shown above. A successful test will result in the words "ALL DONE" in the log file at completion.

Install the package:

    make install

Many users reflexively type vi instead of vim. To allow execution of vim when users habitually enter vi, create a symlink for both the binary and the man page in the provided languages:

    ln -sv vim /usr/bin/vi
    for L in  /usr/share/man/{,*/}man1/vim.1; do
        ln -sv vim.1 $(dirname $L)/vi.1
    done

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-9.0.1677`, making it consistent with the location of documentation for other packages:

    ln -sv ../vim/vim90/doc /usr/share/doc/vim-9.0.1677

If an X Window System is going to be installed on the LFS system, it may be necessary 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 on this process, refer to the Vim documentation and the Vim installation page in the BLFS book at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/view/svn/postlfs/vim.html.

## 8.71.2. 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

    " Ensure defaults are set before customizing settings, not after
    source $VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim
    let skip_defaults_vim=1

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

    " End /etc/vimrc
    EOF

The `set nocompatible` setting 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` setting allows backspacing over line breaks, autoindents, and the start of an insert. The `syntax on` parameter enables vim's syntax highlighting. The `set mouse=` setting enables proper pasting of text with the mouse when working in chroot or over a remote connection. Finally, the if statement with the `set background=dark` setting 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'

### Note

By default, vim only installs spell-checking files for the English language. To install spell-checking files for your preferred language, copy the `.spl` and optionally, the `.sug` files for your language and character encoding from `runtime/spell` into `/usr/share/vim/vim90/spell/`.

To use these spell-checking files, some configuration in `/etc/vimrc` is needed, e.g.:

    set spelllang=en,ru
    set spell

For more information, see `runtime/spell/README.txt`.

## 8.71.3. Contents of Vim

Installed programs: ex (link to vim), rview (link to vim), rvim (link to vim), vi (link to vim), view (link to vim), vim, vimdiff (link to vim), vimtutor, and xxd
Installed directory: /usr/share/vim

### Short Descriptions

ex | Starts vim in ex mode
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
vi | Link to vim
view | Starts vim in read-only mode
vim | Is the editor
vimdiff | Edits two or three versions of a file with vim and shows differences
vimtutor | Teaches the basic keys and commands of vim
xxd | Creates a hex dump of the given file; it can also perform the inverse operation, so it can be used for binary patching

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