lfs/chapter06/vim-inst.xml

<sect2><title>&nbsp;</title><para>&nbsp;</para></sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Installation of Vim</title>

<para>This package requires its patch to be applied before you can
install it. This patch fixes a compile problem with GCC-3.2:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../vim-&vim-patch-version;.patch</userinput></screen></para>

<para>Prepare Vim to be compiled:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>./configure --prefix=/usr</userinput></screen></para>

<para>Continue with compiling the package:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>make CPPFLAGS=-DSYS_VIMRC_FILE=\\\"/etc/vimrc\\\"</userinput></screen></para>

<para>The meaning of the make option is:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><userinput>CPPFLAGS=-DSYS_VIMRC_FILE=\\\"/etc/vimrc\\\"</userinput>:
This option above causes vim to look for the
<filename>/etc/vimrc</filename> file which contains vim's global settings.
Normally, this file is assumed to be located in <filename
class="directory">/usr/share/vim</filename>, but we feel that
<filename class="directory">/etc</filename> is a more logical place for this
kind of file.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>The <emphasis>CPPFLAGS</emphasis> option above causes vim to look
for the /etc/vimrc file which contains vim's global settings. Normally,
this file is assumed to be located in <filename>/usr/share/vim</filename>,
but we feel that <filename>/etc</filename> is a more logical place for
this kind of file.</para>

<para>Finish installing the package:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>make install</userinput></screen></para>

<para>Vim can run in old-fashioned <emphasis>vi</emphasis> mode by
creating a symlink, which may be created with the following command:</para>

<para><screen><userinput>ln -s vim /usr/bin/vi</userinput></screen></para>

<para>If you plan to install the X Window system on your LFS
system, you might want to re-compile Vim after you have installed X. Vim
comes with a nice GUI version of the editor which requires X and a few
other libraries to be installed. For more information read the Vim
documentation.</para>

</sect2>