Bug#1015149: vim-addon-manager is no longer desirable for packaging Vim plugins

[Nicholas Guriev]

Package: vim-addon-manager

This message states that deprecated vim-addon-manager(1) should not be used
within Debian codebase.
VAM was written in aughts to simplify installation of third-party scripts for
Vim editor. Nowadays this editor has got a built-in replacement, Vim packages
(see doc in :help packages).

vim-addon-manager requires maintainers to manually track internal files in a
plugin, to write post{inst,rm} scripts risking of mistakes. There are many
chances things go wrong if a user interferes with symlinks under ~/.vim
controlled by VAM. And moreover, it does not work in NeoVim.

Debian packages that provide Vim plugins can put a symlink to /usr/share/vim/
vimfiles/pack/*/{start,opt} and Vim will add it to 'runtimepath'. NeoVim looks
into /usr/share/nvim/site/pack/*/{start,opt}. The helper dh_vim-addon(1)
automates this process in build time.

We are going to raise the bug report to RC after bookworm, so Debian 13 will
not offer vim-addon-manager.

All this also deprecates vim-registry(5) format of YAML files.

Info:
https://manpages.debian.org/sid/dh_vim-addon
https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/vim-addon-manager
https://vi.stackexchange.com/q/7266

[Antonio Terceiro]

Hi,

On Sat, Jul 16, 2022 at 10:15:02PM +0300, Nicholas Guriev wrote:
> Package: vim-addon-manager
>
> This message states that deprecated vim-addon-manager(1) should not be used
> within Debian codebase.
> VAM was written in aughts to simplify installation of third-party scripts for
> Vim editor. Nowadays this editor has got a built-in replacement, Vim packages
> (see doc in :help packages).
>
> vim-addon-manager requires maintainers to manually track internal files in a
> plugin, to write post{inst,rm} scripts risking of mistakes. There are many
> chances things go wrong if a user interferes with symlinks under ~/.vim
> controlled by VAM. And moreover, it does not work in NeoVim.
>
> Debian packages that provide Vim plugins can put a symlink to /usr/share/vim/
> vimfiles/pack/*/{start,opt} and Vim will add it to 'runtimepath'. NeoVim looks
> into /usr/share/nvim/site/pack/*/{start,opt}. The helper dh_vim-addon(1)
> automates this process in build time.
>
> We are going to raise the bug report to RC after bookworm, so Debian 13 will
> not offer vim-addon-manager.
>
> All this also deprecates vim-registry(5) format of YAML files.

FWIW, I think this is the right thing to do.

Did you also, or are you planning to, report bugs against all packages
that currently rely on vim-addon-manager? e.g.

$ apt-file search /usr/share/vim/registry/
apparmor-utils: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-apparmor.yaml
asymptote: /usr/share/vim/registry/asymptote.yaml
biosyntax-vim: /usr/share/vim/registry/biosyntax-vim.yaml
cernlib-base: /usr/share/vim/registry/cernlib-base.yaml
clustershell: /usr/share/vim/registry/clustershell.yaml
coccinelle: /usr/share/vim/registry/coccinelle.yaml
crmsh: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-pcmk.yaml
di-netboot-assistant: /usr/share/vim/registry/disources.yaml
espeak-ng-data: /usr/share/vim/registry/espeak.yaml
global: /usr/share/vim/registry/global.yaml
gtypist: /usr/share/vim/registry/gtypist.yaml
halibut: /usr/share/vim/registry/halibut.yaml
mpop: /usr/share/vim/registry/mpop.yaml
msmtp: /usr/share/vim/registry/msmtp.yaml
nescc: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-syntax-nesc.yaml
nginx-common: /usr/share/vim/registry/nginx.yaml
notmuch-vim: /usr/share/vim/registry/notmuch.yaml
ocaml-tools: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-omlet.yaml
powerline: /usr/share/vim/registry/powerline.yaml
python-mako-doc: /usr/share/vim/registry/mako.yaml
python3-jinja2: /usr/share/vim/registry/jinja.yaml
ragel: /usr/share/vim/registry/ragel.yaml
sisu: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-sisu.yaml
survex: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-survex.yaml
systemtap-common: /usr/share/vim/registry/systemtap.yaml
tpp: /usr/share/vim/registry/tpp.yaml
vifm: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-vifm.yaml
vim-addon-mw-utils: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-addon-mw-utils.yaml
vim-airline: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-airline.yaml
vim-airline-themes: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-airline-themes.yaml
vim-autopep8: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-autopep8.yaml
vim-bitbake: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-bitbake.yaml
vim-command-t: /usr/share/vim/registry/command-t.yaml
vim-ctrlp: /usr/share/vim/registry/ctrlp.yaml
vim-editorconfig: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-editorconfig.yaml
vim-fugitive: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-fugitive.yaml
vim-haproxy: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-haproxy.yaml
vim-julia: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-julia.yaml
vim-khuno: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-khuno.yaml
vim-lastplace: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-lastplace.yaml
vim-latexsuite: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-latexsuite.yaml
vim-migemo: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-migemo.yaml
vim-pathogen: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-pathogen.yaml
vim-python-jedi: /usr/share/vim/registry/python-jedi.yaml
vim-rails: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-rails.yaml
vim-snipmate: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-snipmate.yaml
vim-snippets: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-snippets.yaml
vim-syntastic: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-syntastic.yaml
vim-syntax-gtk: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-syntax-gtk.yaml
vim-tabular: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-tabular.yaml
vim-textobj-user: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-textobj-user.yaml
vim-tjp: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-tjp.yaml
vim-tlib: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-tlib.yaml
vim-ultisnips: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-ultisnips.yaml
vim-vimerl: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-vimerl.yaml
vim-vimerl-syntax: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-vimerl-syntax.yaml
vim-youcompleteme: /usr/share/vim/registry/vim-youcompleteme.yaml

[Nicholas Guriev]

On 17.07.2022 00:30:45 MSK Antonio Terceiro wrote:
> Did you also, or are you planning to, report bugs against all packages
> that currently rely on vim-addon-manager? e.g.

Yeah, I have a template for mass-bug(1). And I am going to file bugs of
serious severity on the next weekend. Starting from packages that mention
VAM in the Depends field.

Not all packages, which apt-file listed, require vim-addon-manager. For
instance, vim-ctrlp already migrated to the new schema.

[James McCoy]

On Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 02:21:24PM +0300, Nicholas Guriev wrote:
> On 17.07.2022 00:30:45 MSK Antonio Terceiro wrote:
> > Did you also, or are you planning to, report bugs against all packages
> > that currently rely on vim-addon-manager? e.g.
>
> Yeah, I have a template for mass-bug(1). And I am going to file bugs of
> serious severity on the next weekend. Starting from packages that mention
> VAM in the Depends field.

I'd start with normal severity. Nothing's broken currently. We're just
informing people of the transition. When VAM is removed, then they
would be serious.

Cheers,
--
James
GPG Key: 4096R/91BF BF4D 6956 BD5D F7B7 2D23 DFE6 91AE 331B A3DB