Loading Vimfiles On WIndows With GVimPortable
I'm trying to use Gvim on Windows from a USB thumbdrive. I found and installed the GvimPortable project (http://portablegvim.sourceforge.net/), and it works pretty well. The only problem is that I would like to use a non-standard location for my vimfiles directory. Here's the basic directory layout that I would like to use: USB_ROOT | |__/Apps | |__/conf | | | |__/vim | | | |__vimrc | | | |__/vimfiles (my custom vimfiles dir) | |__/GVimPortable | |__GVimPortable.exe (which launches gvim) |__GVimPortable.ini (which has some config options) Using this custom directory structure, I hope to protect my custom vimfiles directory when I upgrade GvimPortable (or any other app on my thumbdrive). I'm currently able to set the location of the vimrc file using the GVimPortable.ini file, but I'm unable to specify the location of my custom vimfiles directory. Since my vimfiles directory is usually placed in my $HOME directory, I tried putting both of the following commands into my vimrc: let $HOME = . let $HOME = E:/Apps/_conf/vim Both commands seems to change the value of the $HOME dir, but it does nothing to load the plugins and such in my custom vimfiles directory. Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks in advance! Tom Purl
Loading Vimfiles On WIndows With GVimPortable
Forgive me if this is double-posted. I'm having e-mail problems this morning. I'm trying to use Gvim on Windows from a USB thumbdrive. I found and installed the GvimPortable project (http://portablegvim.sourceforge.net/), and it works pretty well. The only problem is that I would like to use a non-standard location for my vimfiles directory. Here's the basic directory layout that I would like to use: USB_ROOT | |__/Apps | |__/conf | | | |__/vim | | | |__vimrc | | | |__/vimfiles (my custom vimfiles dir) | |__/GVimPortable | |__GVimPortable.exe (which launches gvim) |__GVimPortable.ini (which has some config options) Using this custom directory structure, I hope to protect my custom vimfiles directory when I upgrade GvimPortable (or any other app on my thumbdrive). I'm currently able to set the location of the vimrc file using the GVimPortable.ini file, but I'm unable to specify the location of my custom vimfiles directory. Since my vimfiles directory is usually placed in my $HOME directory, I tried putting both of the following commands into my vimrc: let $HOME = . let $HOME = E:/Apps/_conf/vim Both commands seems to change the value of the $HOME dir, but it does nothing to load the plugins and such in my custom vimfiles directory. Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks in advance! Tom Purl
Re: Loading Vimfiles On WIndows With GVimPortable
Tom Purl wrote: I'm trying to use Gvim on Windows from a USB thumbdrive. I found and installed the GvimPortable project (http://portablegvim.sourceforge.net/), and it works pretty well. The only problem is that I would like to use a non-standard location for my vimfiles directory. Here's the basic directory layout that I would like to use: USB_ROOT | |__/Apps | |__/conf | | | |__/vim | | | |__vimrc | | | |__/vimfiles (my custom vimfiles dir) | |__/GVimPortable | |__GVimPortable.exe (which launches gvim) |__GVimPortable.ini (which has some config options) Using this custom directory structure, I hope to protect my custom vimfiles directory when I upgrade GvimPortable (or any other app on my thumbdrive). I'm currently able to set the location of the vimrc file using the GVimPortable.ini file, but I'm unable to specify the location of my custom vimfiles directory. Since my vimfiles directory is usually placed in my $HOME directory, I tried putting both of the following commands into my vimrc: let $HOME = . let $HOME = E:/Apps/_conf/vim Both commands seems to change the value of the $HOME dir, but it does nothing to load the plugins and such in my custom vimfiles directory. Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks in advance! Tom Purl I suggest the following variation, which I think will work: USB_ROOT \__ Apps \__ Vim |__ vimrc (optional: system vimrc) |__ _vimrc (user vimrc, if not in %HOME%) |__ vimfiles | \__ user scripts, not distributed with vim | no executables; otherwise | same directory astructure as below \__ vim70 |__ gvim.exe |__ vim.exe |__ various global scripts and programs |__ autoload | \__ autoload scripts |__ colors | \__ colorschemes |__ compiler | \__ compiler scripts |__ doc | \__ help files |__ ftplugin | \__ filetype-plugins |__ indent | \__ indent scripts |__ keymap | \__ keymaps |__ lang | \__ menu translations | in subdirectories: message translations |__ macros | \__ miscellaneous |__ plugin | \__ global plugins |__ print | \__ *.ps |__ spell | \__ spelling dictionaries |__ syntax | \__ syntax scripts |__ tools | \__ various sources, shell scripts, etc. \__ tutor \__ Vim tutor files Leave %HOME% at its usual setting. Put neither a _vimrc nor a .vimrc in it if you want to use the _vimrc on the USB key Set a few other environment variables as follows (you may want to set them from a startup script run from somewhere on the USB key if plugged). SET VIM_VERSION=70 SET VIM=%USB_ROOT%\Apps\Vim PATH %USB_ROOT%\Apps\Vim\vim%VIM_VERSION%;%PATH% Invoking vim or gvim will then load Vim from the USB key. It will spontaneously set $VIMRUNTIME to $USB_ROOT/Apps/Vim/vim70 which is the proper setting for this directory architecture. Your user files (in $VIM and $VIM/vimfiles but not $VIM/vim70) are kept apart from the distribution (in $VIM/vim70). Startup files peculiar to Vim, but which don't come from the distribution, can reside in $VIM. When Vim 7.1 comes out, you will install the new distribution in $VIM (which the installer will probably propose as default), it will create a directory tree starting at $VIM/vim71 and install itself into it. You will then change the first set line above to SET VIM_VERSION=71 , remove the $VIM/vim70 directory tree, and leave the rest unchanged. Best regards, Tony.
Re: Loading Vimfiles On WIndows With GVimPortable
On 2006-11-30, Tom Purl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Forgive me if this is double-posted. I'm having e-mail problems this morning. I'm trying to use Gvim on Windows from a USB thumbdrive. I found and installed the GvimPortable project (http://portablegvim.sourceforge.net/), and it works pretty well. The only problem is that I would like to use a non-standard location for my vimfiles directory. [...] I'm currently able to set the location of the vimrc file using the GVimPortable.ini file, but I'm unable to specify the location of my custom vimfiles directory. Since my vimfiles directory is usually placed in my $HOME directory, I tried putting both of the following commands into my vimrc: let $HOME = . let $HOME = E:/Apps/_conf/vim Both commands seems to change the value of the $HOME dir, but it does nothing to load the plugins and such in my custom vimfiles directory. Does anyone know how to fix this? :help rtp I can't determine from the vim documentation when 'runtimepath' is set, although it appears to be before vimrc is sourced, so as you have discovered, setting $HOME in vimrc doesn't affect 'runtimepath'. One solution would be to set $HOME before vimrc is sourced, if that's possible in your situation. Another solution is to set or edit 'runtimepath' in your vimrc, e.g., let rtp = substitute(rtp, $HOME, 'E:/Apps/_conf/vim', 'g') I have edited my 'runtimepath' in this way on one of my systems, but I've not tested the specific example above. HTH, Gary -- Gary Johnson | Agilent Technologies [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Wireless Division | Spokane, Washington, USA
Re: Loading Vimfiles On WIndows With GVimPortable
Thanks for the advice Al! On 30/11/06, Tom Purl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm trying to use Gvim on Windows from a USB thumbdrive. I found and installed the GvimPortable project (http://portablegvim.sourceforge.net/), and it works pretty well. [snip] Using this custom directory structure, I hope to protect my custom vimfiles directory when I upgrade GvimPortable (or any other app on my thumbdrive). [snip] Does anyone know how to fix this? [snip] On my USB stick is a directory structure thus: /vim - /vim70 - /vimfiles - _gvimrc - _vimrc vim70 is the standard vim directory, vimfiles is my vimfiles directory. Running U:/vim/vim70/gvim70 automatically finds the vimrc/gvimrc files and the vimfiles directory and upgrading is simply a case of changing the vim70 directory. In practice, I have _vimrc and _gvimrc in the format shown below and the real vimrc file in the vimfiles directory. This allows me to have the entirety of vimfiles in a subversion repository to keep my USB stick, windows machine (C:\vim\vimfiles) and Linux PC (~/.vim) synchronised. I guess I could just merge my personal vimfiles dir with the $VIM/vimfiles dir, but then wouldn't I have to re-merge it every time I upgrade VIM? If so, then how difficult is that for you? What does GvimPortable offer over this sort of arrangement? Not much really I guess. I think some of its exe's are compressed somehow, and it's a simpler installation process, but that's about it. Regards, Al P.S. If you are interested, I can zip up my U:\vim directory and send you a copy... That's a very generous offer , but I don't think I need that yet. Thanks again! Tom Purl
Re: Loading Vimfiles On WIndows With GVimPortable
Thanks a ton for all of the help AJ, Al, and Gary. I basically took did what AJ and Al suggested, including replacing the GVimPortable runtime with the official one. I forgot that the vimfiles directory under $VIM doesn't contain any files, so I simply placed my vimfiles dir there and also placed my _vimrc in the same directory. Now everythign works exactly like I want it to. Thanks again! Tom Purl
