problems with using gundo

[zidar]

Hello,

I have just started using vim, and I would really like give it a fair
chance, since it sounds like an awesome editor.
First thing i did was install python syntax highlighting, witch looked
really nice.

Then i tried installing gundo, and here is where my problems started.
First thing i saw was:
"install details
Use Pathogen.

No, seriously."

Okay, what is "pathogen"? After a quick google search i found
pathogen.vim . So I installed that the way it said on the page, and I
still have no clue how to make gundo work.

So i have downloaded gundo, put it in ~/.vim/bundle/gundo and i've put
"nnoremap <F5> :GundoToggle<CR>" in .vimrc .

And I still get "not an editor command: GundoToggle" after i press
<F5>.


I realize it's a bit hard getting started on something new like vim,
but install notes like "use Pathonge, No, seriously." Are really
annoying when you don't have a clue how to do something.


Sorry for this half rent half question. I still hope someone could
help me with this "noob" problem.

Thank you, Zidar.

[Ben Fritz]

On Apr 20, 9:53 am, zidar <zidar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have just started using vim, and I would really like give it a fair
> chance, since it sounds like an awesome editor.
> First thing i did was install python syntax highlighting, witch looked
> really nice.
>
> Then i tried installing gundo, and here is where my problems started.
> First thing i saw was:
> "install details
> Use Pathogen.
>
> No, seriously."
>

I agree this is a terrible installation instruction. And I don't use
pathogen, I use Vim plugins the way they were originally set up.

Not having used Pathogen, I don't know how to work installation using
it. If you get rid of Pathogen, to install *any* global plugin like
gundo, just put the .vim file into a (possibly new) ~/.vim/plugin
directory. That's all you need to do to use the plugin.

Some other plugins also require stuff to be copied into "autoload" or
"ftplugin" or similar, however most of them will show you the
directories needed, just like gundo does in the .zip file. The common
thread is that they all go under ~/.vim.

There is technically one more step for a full gundo installation. To
install the help file, copy it into ~/.vim/doc, go into Vim, and run
the command :helptags ~/.vim/doc

That's it. Details within Vim, at :help plugin

[Taylor Hedberg]

Ben Fritz, Wed 2011-04-20 @ 17:26:49-0700:

> Not having used Pathogen, I don't know how to work installation using
> it.

Pathogen creates a new directory "bundle/" underneath your .vim/
directory. You then place the entire directory structure for a plugin in
a subdirectory of bundle. For example:

.vim/
bundle/
pluginFoo/
plugin/
autoload/
syntax/
doc/
pluginBar/
plugin/
autoload/
doc/

The point is to prevent files from multiple plugins from being mixed
together in the standard directory structure. This makes them much
easier to upgrade or remove in the future.

Other than putting plugins into the bundle/ directory, you have to add
one line to your .vimrc so the bundles get loaded at startup. That's all
there is to it.

[Martin Lundberg]

Add this to the top of your .vimrc file:

    filetype off

    call pathogen#runtime_append_all_bundles() " Pathogen hack

    call pathogen#helptags()

    filetype plugin indent on " Enable file-type indentation

It's important that the pathogen stuff is before the filetype plugin indent on because if it is not pathogen won't be able to load filetype plugins.

[Charles Campbell]

Taylor Hedberg wrote:
> Ben Fritz, Wed 2011-04-20 @ 17:26:49-0700:
>
>> Not having used Pathogen, I don't know how to work installation using
>> it.
>>
> Pathogen creates a new directory "bundle/" underneath your .vim/
> directory. You then place the entire directory structure for a plugin in
> a subdirectory of bundle. For example:
>
> .vim/
> bundle/
> pluginFoo/
> plugin/
> autoload/
> syntax/
> doc/
> pluginBar/
> plugin/
> autoload/
> doc/
>
> The point is to prevent files from multiple plugins from being mixed
> together in the standard directory structure. This makes them much
> easier to upgrade or remove in the future.
>

I agree that pathogen makes plugins easier to remove if the plugin is
not in vimball format. With vimball format, its simply :RmVimball
pluginname , so the two methods are about equally easy to use as regards
plugin removal.

Insofar as upgrading a plugin is concerned; well, a plugin not using
pathogen would likely just overwrite its previous component(s), so
upgrading isn't likely to be easier (the only exception I see is where a
component is removed).

IMHO, of course,
Chip Campbell

[Taylor Hedberg]

Charles Campbell, Thu 2011-04-21 @ 16:56:30-0400:

> I agree that pathogen makes plugins easier to remove if the plugin is
> not in vimball format. With vimball format, its simply :RmVimball
> pluginname , so the two methods are about equally easy to use as
> regards plugin removal.
>
> Insofar as upgrading a plugin is concerned; well, a plugin not using
> pathogen would likely just overwrite its previous component(s), so
> upgrading isn't likely to be easier (the only exception I see is where
> a component is removed).

Good points. However, pathogen confers the additional benefit (for those
who want it) of making it simpler to version-control your .vim
directory. I've seen a number of people (myself included) who use Git to
track changes to .vim/, and install plugins as Git submodules with
pathogen. Since a lot of plugin authors host their code on Github (and
there's a mirror of vim.org's scripts repository there), this makes it
trivially easy to bring all your plugins up to date with a single
command.

That said, Vimballs are a fine solution for anyone who doesn't care
about that. But unless every plugin you want to use is available as a
Vimball, I think it's cleaner just to use pathogen, and enforce the
"good hygiene" from the outside.