source: postlfs/config/vimrc.xml@ 76d61ba

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE part PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
]>

<sect1 id="postlfs-config-vimrc" xreflabel="The vimrc Files">
  <?dbhtml filename="vimrc.html"?>

  <sect1info>
    <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
    <date>$Date$</date>
  </sect1info>

  <title>The /etc/vimrc and ~/.vimrc Files</title>

  <indexterm zone="postlfs-config-vimrc">
    <primary sortas="e-etc-vimrc">/etc/vimrc</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <indexterm zone="postlfs-config-vimrc">
    <primary sortas="e-AA.vimrc">~/.vimrc</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <para>The LFS book installs <application>Vim</application>
  as its text editor.  At this point it should be noted that there are a
  <emphasis>lot</emphasis> of different editing applications out there including
  <application>Emacs</application>, <application>nano</application>,
  <application>Joe</application> and many more.  Anyone who has been around the
  Internet (especially usenet) for a short time will certainly have observed at
  least one flame war, usually involving <application>Vim</application> and
  <application>Emacs</application> users!</para>

  <para>The LFS book creates a basic <filename>vimrc</filename> file. In this
  section you'll find an attempt to enhance this file. At startup,
  <command>vim</command> reads <filename>/etc/vimrc</filename> and
  <filename>~/.vimrc</filename> (i.e., the global <filename>vimrc</filename>
  and the user-specific one).  Note that this is only true if you compiled
  <application>vim</application> using LFS-3.1 onwards. Prior to this, the
  global <filename>vimrc</filename> was
  <filename>/usr/share/vim/vimrc</filename>.</para>

  <para>Here is a slightly expanded <filename>.vimrc</filename> that you can
  put in <filename>~/.vimrc</filename> to provide user specific effects. Of
  course, if you put it into <filename>/etc/skel/.vimrc</filename> instead, it
  will be made available to users you add to the system later. You can also copy
  the file from <filename>/etc/skel/.vimrc</filename> to the home directory of
  users already on the system, such as
  <systemitem class='username'>root</systemitem>. Be sure to set permissions,
  owner, and group if you do copy anything directly from
  <filename class="directory">/etc/skel</filename>.</para>

<screen><literal>" Begin .vimrc

set columns=80
set wrapmargin=8
set ruler

" End .vimrc</literal></screen>

  <para>Note that the comment tags are " instead of the more
  usual # or //.  This is correct, the syntax for
  <filename>vimrc</filename> is slightly unusual.</para>

  <para>Below you'll find a quick explanation of what each of the
  options in this example file means here:</para>

  <itemizedlist>
    <!--
    <listitem>
      <para><option>set nocompatible</option> : This option
      stops <command>vim</command> from behaving in a strongly <command>vi
      </command>-compatible way. It should be at the start of any <filename>vimrc
      </filename> file as it can affect lots of other options which you may want to
      override.</para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para><option>set bs=2</option>: This influences the behavior
      of the backspace option.  It is fairly complex so see <command>:help 'bs'
      </command> for more details.</para>
    </listitem>
    -->
    <listitem>
      <para><option>set columns=80</option>: This simply sets the
      number of columns used on the screen.</para>
    </listitem>
    <!--
    <listitem>
      <para><option>set background=dark</option>: This tells
      <command>vim</command> to use colors which look good on a dark
      background.</para>
    </listitem>
    -->
    <listitem>
      <para><option>set wrapmargin=8</option>: This is the number of
      characters from the right window border where wrapping starts.</para>
    </listitem>
    <!--
    <listitem>
      <para><option>syntax on</option>: Enables
      <command>vim</command>'s syntax highlighting.</para>
    </listitem>
    -->
    <listitem>
      <para><option>set ruler</option>: This makes <command>vim</command>
      show the current row and column at the bottom right of the screen.</para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>

  <para>More information on the <emphasis>many</emphasis>
  <command>vim</command> options can be found by reading the help
  inside <command>vim</command> itself.  Do this by typing
  <command>:</command><option>help</option> in
  <command>vim</command> to get the general help, or by typing
  <command>:</command><option>help usr_toc.txt</option> to view
  the User Manual Table of Contents.</para>

</sect1>