Konstantin Rozinov wrote:
Hey folks,
I have several questions about Jason Holt's mlock patch
(http://www.lunkwill.org/src/vim_diffs/mlock.patch). Sorry if they're a
bit loaded...
1. Has anyone successfully applied it to the current stable version of
vim-7.0? I've applied it to the beta vim-7.0157 about a year ago and
could run vim and :set mlock. But now I just downloaded the stable
version of vim-7.0 and finished applying the mlock patch. After a
configure and make, running vim and trying to :set mlock fails.
2. Does the mlock patch change all the necessary places that need to be
changed in vim-7.0? Or are there other spots that need changing?
3. What would be the proper way to add the :set mlock command to
vim-7.0 and making sure that the mlock code is actually called? Is
there a standard way of adding new commands?
Thanks,
Konstantin
The standard way of adding new commands is by means of the ":command" command,
which might invoke a new function defined via the ":function" command.
In this case, you were adding not a new command but a new option. The standard
way of adding new options (if you prefer not to patch the source) is to add
not a new option but a new variable.
Both of the above can often be implemented through scripts, autocommands, etc.
This is the safest way to implement new functionality, as it is almost
completely self-contained. Several Vim users have been quite successful at
implementing new functionalities just this way: indeed, a number of these
"user-written" scripts made it into the "official" distribution, and are now
distributed together with Vim.
In some cases, the functionality you want cannot be had through a script, and
you have to patch the C code. If you can convince Bram that your patch is
useful for the Vim users in general, and doesn't break existing functionality,
he may (after some "testing" time) decide to adopt your patch and include it
into the "official" Vim code.
If you /can't/ convince Bram to take up your patch into the "official" Vim
code, then over some patchlevels (of "official" Vim) it may still apply
without warnings, and for some more patchlevels it may apply with a warning
from the patcher, telling you that some hunks required an offset up or down in
order to be applied. These warnings should be taken seriously, because soon
afterwards your patch won't apply anymore, or maybe the patcher will apply it
at the wrong place. If you want people (including yourself) to go on using
your patch, you should keep it up-to-date with the most recent patchlevels of
every successive release of Vim, which is a never-ending labour.
Best regards,
Tony.
