Prepare Vim to be compiled: ./configure --prefix=/usr Continue with compiling the package: make CPPFLAGS=-DSYS_VIMRC_FILE=\\\"/etc/vimrc\\\" The meaning of the make option is: CPPFLAGS=-DSYS_VIMRC_FILE=\\\"/etc/vimrc\\\": This option causes vim to look for the /etc/vimrc file which contains vim's global settings. Normally, this file is assumed to be located in /usr/share/vim, but we feel that /etc is a more logical place for this kind of file. Finish installing the package: make install Vim can run in old-fashioned vi mode by creating a symlink, which may be created with the following command: ln -s vim /usr/bin/vi If you plan to install the X Window system on your LFS system, you might want to re-compile Vim after you have installed X. Vim comes with a nice GUI version of the editor which requires X and a few other libraries to be installed. For more information read the Vim documentation.