Manage your 'runtimepath' with ease. In practical terms, pathogen.vim
makes it super easy to install plugins and runtime files in their own
private directories.
Install to ~/.vim/autoload/pathogen.vim. Or copy and paste:
mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload ~/.vim/bundle
curl https://raw.github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen/HEAD/autoload/pathogen.vim \
> ~/.vim/autoload/pathogen.vim
If you don't have curl, use wget -O - instead.
By the way, if you're using Windows, change all occurrences of ~/.vim
to ~\vimfiles.
Add this to your vimrc:
call pathogen#infect()
If you're brand new to Vim and lacking a vimrc, vim ~/.vimrc and paste
in the following super-minimal example:
call pathogen#infect()
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on
Now any plugins you wish to install can be extracted to a subdirectory
under ~/.vim/bundle, and they will be added to the 'runtimepath'.
Observe:
cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone git://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive.git
Now fugitive.vim is installed. If you really want to get crazy, you could set it up as a submodule in whatever repository you keep your dot files in. I don't like to get crazy.
If you don't like the directory name bundle, you can pass a different
name as an argument:
call pathogen#infect('stuff')
You can also pass an entire path instead. I keep the plugins I maintain
under ~/src, and this is how I add them:
call pathogen#infect('~/src/vim/bundle')
Normally to generate documentation, Vim expects you to run :helptags
on each directory with documentation (e.g., :helptags ~/.vim/doc).
Provided with pathogen.vim is a :Helptags command that does this on
every directory in your 'runtimepath'. If you really want to get
crazy, you could even invoke Helptags in your vimrc. I don't like to
get crazy.
Finally, pathogen.vim has a rich API that can manipulate 'runtimepath'
and other comma-delimited path options in ways most people will never
need to do. If you're one of those edge cases, look at the source.
It's well documented.
As a guy who writes a lot of Vim script, I edit a lot of runtime files. For example, when editing a PDF file like I do every day, I might notice something weird in the syntax highlighting and want to have a look:
:sp $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/pdf.vim
Even the best case scenario with tab complete is painful:
:sp $VIMR<Tab>/synt<Tab>/pd<Tab>
The picture is even bleaker if the file in question sits in a bundle. Enter the V family of commands. The V stands for Vimruntime (work with me here).
:Vsp s/pd<Tab>
As you can see, not only does it eliminate the need to qualify the runtime path being targeted, the tab completion is friendlier, allowing you to expand multiple components at once. Here's me editing pathogen.vim itself:
:Ve a/pat<Tab>
In the event of duplicate files, you can give a count to disambiguate. Here's the full list of commands:
:Vedit:Vsplit:Vvsplit:Vtabedit:Vpedit:Vread
There's also :Vopen, which is like :Vedit but does an :lcd to the
containing runtime directory first.
Can I put pathogen.vim in a submodule like all my other plugins?
Sure, stick it under ~/.vim/bundle, and prepend the following to your
vimrc:
source ~/.vim/bundle/vim-pathogen/autoload/pathogen.vim
Will you accept these 14 pull requests adding a
.gitignorefortagsso I don't see untracked changes in my dot files repository?
No, but I'll teach you how to ignore tags globally:
git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.cvsignore'
echo tags >> ~/.cvsignore
While any filename will work, I've chosen to follow the ancient
tradition of .cvsignore because utilities like rsync use it, too.
Clever, huh?
What about Vimballs?
If you really must use one:
:e name.vba
:!mkdir ~/.vim/bundle/name
:UseVimball ~/.vim/bundle/name
If your commit message sucks,
I'm not going to accept your pull request. I've explained very politely
dozens of times that
my general guidelines
are absolute rules on on my own repositories, so I may lack the energy
to explain it to you yet another time. And please, if I ask you to
change something, git commit --amend.
Beyond that, don't be shy about asking before patching. What takes you hours might take me minutes simply because I have both domain knowledge and a perverse knowledge of Vim script so vast that many would consider it a symptom of mental illness. On the flip side, some ideas I'll reject no matter how good the implementation is. "Send a patch" is an edge case answer in my book.
Like pathogen.vim? Follow the repository on GitHub and vote for it on vim.org. And if you're feeling especially charitable, follow tpope on Twitter and GitHub.
Distributable under the same terms as Vim itself. See :help license.