Vi partially installed by default
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
vim (Ubuntu) |
Invalid
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
Binary package hint: vim
Affects:
Default installs of feisty Desktop AMD64, feisty desktop i386, and possibly edgy desktop versions as well.
The AMD64/i386 Live CD's for feisty, and possibly edgy Live CD's as well.
Symptoms:
the vi command line editor seems to be partially installed.
You can run the vi command, for example:
vi myfile.txt
However, the editor refuses to accept normal commands, does not display the commands to the editor itself (example: :q!), does not display the --Insert-- dialog at bottom left of the screen, and when using arrow keys to navigate it outputs the keypresses and carriage returns in the file itself.
Fix:
This problem is fixed simply by installing the correct package:
sudo apt-get install vim
Possible permanent solutions:
(1) Have the vim package fully installed on the Live CD , and fully installed on default install.
(2) Completely remove vi functionality if it was never intended to be included on the Live CD (not a good idea, especially if Live CD X server crashes and user needs to access files from the command line)
Thank you for your bug report. However, what you describe is not a bug. The vi installed by default (vim-tiny) is a full-featured, traditional vi; just not a full-featured "vim". All of the symptoms you have described are normal for a traditional vi, except for the claim that ex line commands (":q!") are not displayed, which I cannot reproduce (are you certain that your entire terminal emulator is visible on the screen?). Note that displaying the current mode ("-- INSERT --") is controlled by the 'showmode' option, which in a traditional vi is disabled by default.
vim-tiny is the default vi in Ubuntu because it is commonly expected for a Unix to have vi available, so a basic and traditional one has been provided. However, the full power (and space consumption) of vim-full was not appropriate for the basic install, since the default editor is nano, and users who prefer vim(-full) can simply install it.
Discussion as to whether this decision is appropriate is fine, but this is not the forum for such a discussion; use the ubuntu- devel-discuss mailing list instead (but note that, prior to taking this action, it was of course discussed).