*vim_os2.txt*   For Vim version 4.1.  Last modification: 1996 June 11

This file contains the particularities for the OS/2 version of Vim.


Note: This OS/2 port works well for me and an additional OS/2 user on the Vim
      development team (Karsten Sievert); however, since I haven't had any
      other feedback from other people, that either means no (OS/2-specific)
      bugs exist, or no one has yet created a situation in which any bugs are
      apparent.  Report any problems or other comments to paul@wau.mis.ah.nl
      (email valid up to at least September 1996, after that try
      paul@wurtel.hobby.nl, paul@murphy.nl, or paulS@toecompst.nl).
      Textmode/notextmode, binary mode, and FAT handling all seem to work
      well, which would seem to be the most likely places for trouble.


Prerequisites:

- To run Vim, you need the emx runtime environment (at least rev. 0.9b).  This
  is generally available as (ask Archie about it):

    emxrt.zip     emx runtime package

  I've included a copy of emx.dll, which should be copied to one of the
  directories listed in your LIBPATH. Emx is GPL'ed, but the emx.dll library
  is not (read COPYING.EMX to find out what that means to you).

  This emx.dll is from the emxfix04.zip package, which unfortunately has a bug
  in select().  Versions of Vim before 3.27 will appear to hang when starting
  (actually, while processing vimrc). Hit return a couple of times until Vim
  starts working if this happens.  Next, get an up to date version of Vim!

The VIM environment variable is used to find the location of the help files
and the system .vimrc. Place an entry such as this in CONFIG.SYS:

SET VIM=c:/local/lib/vim

and copy all the vim_*.txt files and .vimrc to that directory. Vim will then
be able to find them.

Note: .vimrc may also be called _vimrc to accommodate those who have chosen to
install OS/2 on a FAT file system. Vim first tries to find .vimrc and if that
fails, looks for _vimrc in the same place.

If you're using network drives with OS/2, then you can install Vim on a
network drive (including .vimrc; this is then called the "system" vimrc file),
and then use a personal copy of .vimrc (the "user" vimrc file). This should be
located in a directory indicated by the HOME environment variable.

This HOME environment variable is also used when using ~ in file names, so
":e ~/textfile" will edit the file "textfile" in the directory referred to by
HOME.  Additionally you can use other environment variables in file names, as
as ":n $SRC/*.c".

Use "os2ansi" as the TERM environment variable (or don't set it at all, as the
default is the correct value). You can set term to os2ansi in the .vimrc, in
case you need TERM to be a different value for other applications.  The
problem is that OS/2 ANSI emulation is quite limited (it doesn't have insert /
delete line, for example).

Using slashes ('/') and backslashes ('\') can be a bit of a problem (see
vim_dos.txt for more explanation), but in almost all cases Vim does "The Right
Thing".  Vim itself uses backslashes in file names, but will happily accept
forward slashes if they are entered (in fact, often that works better!). Note
that ":n doc\*.txt" may say "doc\*.txt [New File]", as the backslash serves to
escape the *.  ":n doc/*.txt" will work as expected.


Paul Slootman

vim:ts=8:tw=78:
