1README.txt for version 8.2 of Vim: Vi IMproved. 2 3 4WHAT IS VIM? 5 6Vim is a greatly improved version of the good old UNIX editor Vi. Many new 7features have been added: multi-level undo, syntax highlighting, command line 8history, on-line help, spell checking, filename completion, block operations, 9script language, etc. There is also a Graphical User Interface (GUI) 10available. Still, Vi compatibility is maintained, those who have Vi "in the 11fingers" will feel at home. See "runtime/doc/vi_diff.txt" for differences with 12Vi. 13 14This editor is very useful for editing programs and other plain text files. 15All commands are given with normal keyboard characters, so those who can type 16with ten fingers can work very fast. Additionally, function keys can be 17mapped to commands by the user, and the mouse can be used. 18 19Vim runs under MS-Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10), macOS, VMS and almost all 20flavours of UNIX. Porting to other systems should not be very difficult. 21Older versions of Vim run on MS-DOS, MS-Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000, Amiga DOS, 22Atari MiNT, BeOS, RISC OS and OS/2. These are no longer maintained. 23 24 25DISTRIBUTION 26 27You can often use your favorite package manager to install Vim. On Mac and 28Linux a small version of Vim is pre-installed, you still need to install Vim 29if you want more features. 30 31There are separate distributions for Unix, PC, Amiga and some other systems. 32This README.txt file comes with the runtime archive. It includes the 33documentation, syntax files and other files that are used at runtime. To run 34Vim you must get either one of the binary archives or a source archive. 35Which one you need depends on the system you want to run it on and whether you 36want or must compile it yourself. Check "https://www.vim.org/download.php" for 37an overview of currently available distributions. 38 39Some popular places to get the latest Vim: 40* Check out the git repository from github: https://github.com/vim/vim. 41* Get the source code as an archive: https://github.com/vim/vim/releases. 42* Get a Windows executable from the vim-win32-installer repository: 43 https://github.com/vim/vim-win32-installer/releases. 44 45 46COMPILING 47 48If you obtained a binary distribution you don't need to compile Vim. If you 49obtained a source distribution, all the stuff for compiling Vim is in the 50"src" directory. See src/INSTALL for instructions. 51 52 53INSTALLATION 54 55See one of these files for system-specific instructions. Either in the 56READMEdir directory (in the repository) or the top directory (if you unpack an 57archive): 58 59README_ami.txt Amiga 60README_unix.txt Unix 61README_dos.txt MS-DOS and MS-Windows 62README_mac.txt Macintosh 63README_vms.txt VMS 64 65There are more README_*.txt files, depending on the distribution you used. 66 67 68DOCUMENTATION 69 70The Vim tutor is a one hour training course for beginners. Often it can be 71started as "vimtutor". See ":help tutor" for more information. 72 73The best is to use ":help" in Vim. If you don't have an executable yet, read 74"runtime/doc/help.txt". It contains pointers to the other documentation 75files. The User Manual reads like a book and is recommended to learn to use 76Vim. See ":help user-manual". 77 78 79COPYING 80 81Vim is Charityware. You can use and copy it as much as you like, but you are 82encouraged to make a donation to help orphans in Uganda. Please read the file 83"runtime/doc/uganda.txt" for details (do ":help uganda" inside Vim). 84 85Summary of the license: There are no restrictions on using or distributing an 86unmodified copy of Vim. Parts of Vim may also be distributed, but the license 87text must always be included. For modified versions a few restrictions apply. 88The license is GPL compatible, you may compile Vim with GPL libraries and 89distribute it. 90 91 92SPONSORING 93 94Fixing bugs and adding new features takes a lot of time and effort. To show 95your appreciation for the work and motivate Bram and others to continue 96working on Vim please send a donation. 97 98Since Bram is back to a paid job the money will now be used to help children 99in Uganda. See runtime/doc/uganda.txt. But at the same time donations 100increase Bram's motivation to keep working on Vim! 101 102For the most recent information about sponsoring look on the Vim web site: 103 104 https://www.vim.org/sponsor/ 105 106 107CONTRIBUTING 108 109If you would like to help making Vim better, see the CONTRIBUTING.md file. 110 111 112INFORMATION 113 114The latest news about Vim can be found on the Vim home page: 115 https://www.vim.org/ 116 117If you have problems, have a look at the Vim documentation or tips: 118 https://www.vim.org/docs.php 119 https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Vim_Tips_Wiki 120 121If you still have problems or any other questions, use one of the mailing 122lists to discuss them with Vim users and developers: 123 https://www.vim.org/maillist.php 124 125If nothing else works, report bugs directly: 126 Bram Moolenaar <[email protected]> 127 128 129MAIN AUTHOR 130 131Send any other comments, patches, flowers and suggestions to: 132 133 Bram Moolenaar E-mail: [email protected] 134