Vim documentation: pi_vimball
main help file*pi_vimball.txt* For Vim version 7.2. Last change: 2008 Jul 30 ---------------- Vimball Archiver ---------------- Author: Charles E. Campbell, Jr. <NdrOchip@ScampbellPfamily.AbizM> (remove NOSPAM from Campbell's email first) Copyright: (c) 2004-2008 by Charles E. Campbell, Jr. *Vimball-copyright* The VIM LICENSE applies to Vimball.vim, and Vimball.txt (see |copyright|) except use "Vimball" instead of "Vim". No warranty, express or implied. Use At-Your-Own-Risk!
1. Contents *vba* *vimball* *vimball-contents* 1. Contents......................................: |vimball-contents| 3. Vimball Manual................................: |vimball-manual| MkVimball.....................................: |:MkVimball| UseVimball....................................: |:UseVimball| RmVimball.....................................: |:RmVimball| 4. Vimball History...............................: |vimball-history|
2. Vimball Introduction *vimball-intro* Vimball is intended to make life simpler for users of plugins. All a user needs to do with a vimball is: vim someplugin.vba :so % :q and the plugin and all its components will be installed into their appropriate directories. Note that one doesn't need to be in any particular directory when one does this. Plus, any help for the plugin will also be automatically installed. If a user has decided to use the AsNeeded plugin, vimball is smart enough to put scripts nominally intended for .vim/plugin/ into .vim/AsNeeded/ instead. Removing a plugin that was installed with vimball is really easy: vim :RmVimball someplugin This operation is not at all easy for zips and tarballs, for example. Vimball examines the user's |'runtimepath'| to determine where to put the scripts. The first directory mentioned on the runtimepath is usually used if possible. Use :echo &rtp to see that directory.
3. Vimball Manual *vimball-manual* *:MkVimball* :[range]MkVimball[!] filename [path] The range is composed of lines holding paths to files to be included in your new vimball, omitting the portion of the paths that is normally specified by the runtimepath (|'rtp'|). As an example: plugin/something.vim doc/something.txt using :[range]MkVimball filename on this range of lines will create a file called "filename.vba" which can be used by Vimball.vim to re-create these files. If the "filename.vba" file already exists, then MkVimball will issue a warning and not create the file. Note that these paths are relative to your .vim (vimfiles) directory, and the files should be in that directory. The vimball plugin normally uses the first |'runtimepath'| directory that exists as a prefix; don't use absolute paths, unless the user has specified such a path. If you use the exclamation point (!), then MkVimball will create the "filename.vba" file, overwriting it if it already exists. This behavior resembles that for |:w|. *g:vimball_mkdir* First, the |mkdir()| command is tried (not all systems support it). If it doesn't exist, then g:vimball_mkdir doesn't exist, it is set to: |g:netrw_local_mkdir|, if it exists "mkdir", if it is executable "makedir", if it is executable Otherwise, it is undefined. One may explicitly specify the directory making command using g:vimball_mkdir. This command is used to make directories that are needed as indicated by the vimball. *g:vimball_home* You may override the use of the |'runtimepath'| by specifying a variable, g:vimball_home. Path Preprocessing *g:vimball_path_escape* Paths used in vimball are preprocessed by s:Path(); in addition, certain characters are escaped (by prepending a backslash). The characters are in g:vimball_path_escape, and may be overridden by the user in his/her .vimrc initialization script. *vimball-extract* vim filename.vba Simply editing a Vimball will cause Vimball.vim to tell the user to source the file to extract its contents. Extraction will only proceed if the first line of a putative vimball file holds the "Vimball Archiver by Charles E. Campbell, Jr., Ph.D." line. :VimballList *:VimballList* This command will tell Vimball to list the files in the archive, along with their lengths in lines. :UseVimball [path] *:UseVimball* This command is contained within the vimball itself; it invokes the vimball#Vimball() routine which is responsible for unpacking the vimball. One may choose to execute it by hand instead of sourcing the vimball; one may also choose to specify a path for the installation, thereby overriding the automatic choice of the first existing directory on the |'runtimepath'|. :RmVimball vimballfile [path] *:RmVimball* This command removes all files generated by the specified vimball (but not any directories it may have made). One may choose a path for de-installation, too (see |'runtimepath'|); otherwise, the default is the first existing directory on the |'runtimepath'|. To implement this, a file (.VimballRecord) is made in that directory containing a record of what files need to be removed for all vimballs used thus far.
4. Vimball History *vimball-history* {{{1 26 : May 27, 2008 * g:vimball_mkdir usage installed. Makes the $HOME/.vim (or $HOME\vimfiles) directory if necessary. May 30, 2008 * (tnx to Bill McCarthy) found and fixed a bug: vimball wasn't updating plugins to AsNeeded/ when it should 25 : Mar 24, 2008 * changed vimball#Vimball() to recognize doc/*.??x files as help files, too. Apr 18, 2008 * RmVimball command is now protected by saving and restoring settings -- in particular, acd was causing problems as reported by Zhang Shuhan 24 : Nov 15, 2007 * |g:vimball_path_escape| used by s:Path() to prevent certain characters from causing trouble 22 : Mar 21, 2007 * uses setlocal instead of set during BufEnter 21 : Nov 27, 2006 * (tnx to Bill McCarthy) vimball had a header handling problem and it now changes \s to /s 20 : Nov 20, 2006 * substitute() calls have all had the 'e' flag removed. 18 : Aug 01, 2006 * vimballs now use folding to easily display their contents. * if a user has AsNeeded/somefile, then vimball will extract plugin/somefile to the AsNeeded/ directory 17 : Jun 28, 2006 * changes all \s to /s internally for Windows 16 : Jun 15, 2006 * A. Mechelynck's idea to allow users to specify installation root paths implemented for UseVimball, MkVimball, and RmVimball. * RmVimball implemented 15 : Jun 13, 2006 * bugfix 14 : May 26, 2006 * bugfixes 13 : May 01, 2006 * exists("&acd") used to determine if the acd option exists 12 : May 01, 2006 * bugfix - the |'acd'| option is not always defined 11 : Apr 27, 2006 * VimballList would create missing subdirectories that the vimball specified were needed. Fixed. 10 : Apr 27, 2006 * moved all setting saving/restoration to a pair of functions. Included some more settings in them which frequently cause trouble. 9 : Apr 26, 2006 * various changes to support Windows' predilection for backslashes and spaces in file and directory names. 7 : Apr 25, 2006 * bypasses foldenable * uses more exe and less norm! (:yank :put etc) * does better at insuring a "Press ENTER" prompt appears to keep its messages visible 4 : Mar 31, 2006 * BufReadPost seems to fire twice; BufReadEnter only fires once, so the "Source this file..." message is now issued only once. 3 : Mar 20, 2006 * removed query, now requires sourcing to be extracted (:so %). Message to that effect included. * :VimballList now shows files that would be extracted. 2 : Mar 20, 2006 * query, :UseVimball included 1 : Mar 20, 2006 * initial release
top - main help file