runtimepath lets system settings override user settings

[Giorgio Sironi]

Binary package hint: vim

In /usr/share/vim/vim72/debian.vim:
set runtimepath=~/.vim,/var/lib/vim/addons,/usr/share/vim/vimfiles,/usr/share/vim/vim72,/usr/share/vim/vimfiles/after,/var/lib/vim/addons/after,~/.vim/after

This means that when using for example the `filetype plugin on`, which includes automatically filetype-specific scripts in ftplugin/ folders, system plugins (/usr/share/vim/vim72/ftplugin) are executed after user ones and override settings from the user (.vim/ftplugin).
A workaround is rewrite the runtimepath declaration in ~/.vimrc, or use after/ folders; though, many vim filetype plugins do not come with after/ hooks. It may be the case to change the order of folders *if it does not break anything else*.

Observed on Ubuntu 9.10 Server and Desktop editions, Vim 7.2.245.

[James McCoy (jamessan)]

The order of directories in 'runtimepath' is intentional and follows the way that Vim upstream orders the directories. The only difference is that the /var/lib/vim/addons{,/after} directories are inserted.

Using the after/ directories isn't a workaround. The entire reason they exist is so the system-wide settings can be overridden by users. I'm not sure what you mean by "many vim filetype plugins do not come with after/ hooks". Just create a new file in ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/ that matches the ftplugin's name in the non-after directory and it will get sourced.