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sm-grimoire-bugs - [SM-Grimoire-Bugs] [Bug 10486] vim should optionally install a nice global vimrc

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  • From: bugzilla-daemon AT bugs.sourcemage.org
  • To: sm-grimoire-bugs AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [SM-Grimoire-Bugs] [Bug 10486] vim should optionally install a nice global vimrc
  • Date: 14 Mar 2006 15:55:22 -0000

http://bugs.sourcemage.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10486





------- Additional Comments From jblosser-smgl AT firinn.org 2006-03-14 09:55
-------
(In reply to comment #8)
> I don't think so.
>
> this vimrc adds no strange features, only things that anyone would expect
> from
> vim such as syntax highlighting, some usability features like backspace
> going
> back, jumping to the same place where we left the file, indenting,
> command-completion, command-history,...
>
> the only thing I might agree on that some people might not like is the
> backupfile that's put in place (FILE~)
>
> vim sucks without this rc file iyam
>
> I'm pointing this to sm-grimoire-bugs to hear what others think, coz I
> really
> think _anyone_ wants this file.

No, vim really does not suck without this rc file, and I for one really don't
like what it sets up. The first time I encountered it as a newbie was on some
other 'helpful' distro that installed it by default, and it was changed from
all
the regular vim settings I was used to, and it took me some time to figure out
how to turn it off. In the years since then I have watched lots of other new
users struggle with vim because of things specifically introduced by this
file.
vim is a complicated piece of software and this ramps the initial learning
curve up a *lot*.

Specifically:

- nocompatible is turned on. This is really bad for mixed admin shops where
people are going to just be expecting vi vs. something else and need to just
get
in and get work done.

- colors are turned on. The default vim colors are really bad on quite a lot
of
terminals I've run into, making texts unreadable. This is mad 100 times worse
because:

- hlsearch is turned on. I've lost count of the times I've seen people search
for something and have it become highlighted so that they can't read it. It
happened last week when I was doing a training course and the student's
machine
was on a projector, no one could read anything up there because of the default
colors, especially after a search. I had to walk them through turning it all
off (getting more appropriate colors wasn't inside the realm of the training).

- textwidth and autoindent are turned on. Now we have a text editor that is
formatting user files for them.

- last positition is turned on. A lot of people just find this annoying, it
violates the principle of least user surprise when entering a file.

- as noted, the backup file. This is just not good. :-(

Regardless of whether we all like or hate these features, they are
*significant*
changes from upstream defaults, and we as a distro are about *not* making
these
decisions for our users. I don't like them but if upstream turned them on by
default I would not be asking for a default vimrc that turned them off.
Admins
who install via spells should get as close as what upstream would have
installed
as possible, not "help".

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