Future Windows builds

[tux0r]

Ahoy,

I have been providing Vim nightly builds[1] for Windows since 2010[2], as Bram had asked for testers and I have volunteered. That was way before CI was a thing with Vim. I hope (and I think) that some of the problems I have found and reported with my homebrew manual CI infrastructure[3] have improved Vim as a software.

Now here’s the Big Bang (imagine a Wow! sound here): I have not had a Windows installation at home for two and a half years, as Windows has become a burden, neither do I use Vim much anymore. My builds live off unpaid time from a computer at my 9-5 job, and that’s where I test my own builds by using them as the default editor in Total Commander. Sadly (?!), there is a good chance that I’ll leave my current employer for greener pastures in early 2026, and I don’t think that a Windows PC will be a part of the deal.

There are two options that I would like to discuss in the community:

1) I will stop distributing Vim builds. After all, there are “official” nightly builds for Windows, built with an inefficient toolset, but “good enough” for most people. (Mine are entirely ignored on the Vim website. I can imagine that they just don’t care about people like me. That’s the only reasonable explanation.)

2) I will rent a Windows build server. However, that will cost money and I am not comfortable asking for donations, so if anyone has free capacities, please let me use them.

Cheers,

tux0r.*

* legal name, cost me a while and quite some money

[1] https://tuxproject.de/projects/vim

[2] https://groups.google.com/g/vim_dev/c/e2v2bO2ssAE/m/fE7ubEL9YVcJ?pli=1

[3] https://tuxproject.de/projects/vim/_compilation.html

[tux0r]

FYI, I don’t follow these lists.


Anfang der weitergeleiteten Nachricht:

Von: tux0r <ze...@tuxproject.de>
Datum: 30. August 2025 um 03:03:07 MESZ
An: vim...@googlegroups.com
Betreff: Future Windows builds
Antwort an: vim...@googlegroups.com

Ahoy,

--
--
You received this message from the "vim_dev" maillist.
Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to.
For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "vim_dev" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to vim_dev+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vim_dev/DC7CD6E1-062B-406F-A441-0A52F23C4F89%40tuxproject.de.

[Christian Brabandt]

Hi,

I am sorry to hear that and I want to make it very clear that your work
on the automatic builds¹ have been very much appreciated by us AND the
wider community. If you would have let me know that you wished to link
your builds on the Homepage, I would have added another link, but it
didn't even occur to me, that it is not linked there, I am sorry about
that.

Whatever you decide, I am grateful for you past work.

_
¹ as well as the many bug reports that came from you

Thanks,
Chris

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Christian
--
Got a dictionary? I want to know the meaning of life.