'runtimepath' fiddling

[Stefano Zacchiroli]

On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 02:15:03PM -0400, James Vega wrote:
> This has been bugging me for a while, but I kept forgetting to ask about
> it.  Why do we modify 'runtimepath' in /etc/vim/vimrc?  Why not just
> dictate that vim plugins will be installed into $VIM/vimfiles and
> $VIM/vimfiles/after?  Of course, that would mean that
> /usr/share/vim/vimfiles would need to be a directory instead of a
> symlink to /etc/vim (another thing I was never sure why we did).  I see
> no benefit of using $VIM/addons{,/after} over $VIM/vimfiles{,/after}.

Indeed I don't see the point in dictating it to the value we set it to
now. I also completely agree in stating in an potential policy that
plugins should be installed into $VIM/vimfiles & co.

However I do see the point of dictating it to something including:
1) the legacy runtimepath (that which comes with upstream vim)
2) some paths under /usr/local
3) some paths under /var

The rationale behind (1) is pretty obvious.

That behind (2) is to enable sysadms to install system-wide plugins
which are not available as debian packages without violating FHS. A lot
of other packaging schemes support such pattern (perl/python/ocaml
libraries, man pages, ...) and I think we should do that too.

That behind (3) is to enable loading of files which are automatically
generated tools. The only example I have right now is that of
dictionaries for the new spelling feature: they can be either downloaded
or generated from local myspell dictionaries and installed by some suid
program under /var/something.

Summarizing: I do think we should provide a runtimepath different from
the current one.

I raise an additional issue: we should not set the runtimepath in
/etc/vim/vimrc (a file which is likely to be modified by sysadm) since
it is a vital value for the correct behaviour of vim and not upgrading
it correctly may cause failures. The removal of the vim version from it
was only a partial solution. I think we should set it from some
autoloaded file under $VIM.

Cheers.

-- 
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. -!-
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
Url : http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-vim-maintainers/attachments/20060425/5ea04ff2/attachment.pgp