install help, please

[jml]

hello,

i'm trying to figure out how to install the macvim installation into
the terminal application.
i don't see any shell script or anything... i checked the contents of
the package and it looks like i *might* be able to install something
inside of it into the terminal but i sorta doubt it.

please help.

i don't see any reason to have to use the standalone GUI version if
the rest of the program is available.
or has the terminal version just not been programmed yet?

thanks,
jml

[Steven Michalske]

terminal vim is built into the system

mac vim ( from google code ) is a GUI made to behave more like an OS X
GUI application. There are some things you can do with mac vim that
are not in the standard install.

What are you trying to do exactly, where the installed version from
the OS doesn't meet your needs as a terminal application?

Others will run vim from the bundle.

sudo ln -s /Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim /usr/local/bin/
vim

( provided that /usr/local/bin is in your PATH )

If you were to rip out the contents of the application bundle you
might be able to get it to work, but it is probably not worth the
effort.

Steve

[jml]

> mac vim ( from google code ) is a GUI made to behave more like an OS X  
> GUI application.  There are some things you can do with mac vim that  
> are not in the standard install.

well, what i'm trying to do is to utilize the matchparen.vim file/
script that is included in the std distro.
i have vers. 6.2, which doesn't include it.
i'd like to upgrade but i don't see any obvious "current terminal
version" on vim.org.

> What are you trying to do exactly, where the installed version from  
> the OS doesn't meet your needs as a terminal application?

matchparen.vim allows you to get the highlighting when you're on top
of a matched paren or bracket, depending on if there *is* one.

> sudo ln -s /Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim /usr/local/bin/

> ( provided that /usr/local/bin is in your PATH )

> If you were to rip out the contents of the application bundle you  
> might be able to get it to work, but it is probably not worth the  
> effort.

hm. well, i think 7.x is quite a bit newer (5 years or so)?

thanks
jml

[Nico Weber]

Hi,

On 19.01.2009, at 16:53, jml wrote:

> i'm trying to figure out how to install the macvim installation into
> the terminal application.
> i don't see any shell script or anything... i checked the contents of
> the package and it looks like i *might* be able to install something
> inside of it into the terminal but i sorta doubt it.

You can add

alias vim=/Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim

to your ~/.profile, then `vim` in your terminal will start MacVim in
terminal mode. The method recommended by Steven works just as well.

> i don't see any reason to have to use the standalone GUI version if
> the rest of the program is available.

MacVim not only gives you the latest and greatest version of vim, it
also gives you access to OS X's pasteboard (terminal mode and GUI
mode), clientserver support, all the OS X keyboard shortcuts other Mac
programs support, automatic upgrades, a fullscreen mode, ... (GUI
only). Give the GUI mode a try.

> or has the terminal version just not been programmed yet?

You can start MacVim in terminal mode, as mentioned above.

Only using MacVim's runtime files (e.g. matchparen.vim) with your
system's vim binary won't work, as the new runtime files depend on new
vim features.

Nico

[jml]

Great; thanks for the help, all.

jml

[jml]

> to your ~/.profile, then `vim` in your terminal will start MacVim in  
> terminal mode. The method recommended by Steven works just as well.

just out of curiousity, does this do the exact same thing?
i mean, in one case you're making a symbolic link and in the other an
alias.

just curious...

thanks,
jml

[Nico Weber]

> just out of curiousity, does this do the exact same thing?
> i mean, in one case you're making a symbolic link and in the other an
> alias.

No, it's not the exact same thing. The symbolic link is an actual file
in your file system (it's visible if you do `ls /usr/local/bin` for
example), while the `alias` command tells your shell that it should
insert the long form each time it sees the short form.

But for all practical purposes I can think of, both ways have the same
effect.

Nico