Tip 1578 Printable Monobook Previous Next
created February 3, 2008 · complexity basic · author Metacosm · version 7.0
Which version of Vim should I use?
- I want a fully patched standard Vim for Windows, without compiling it myself.
- The easiest and best solution for Windows users on 32-bit systems is to use the standard Vim (Vim without Cream) at http://sourceforge.net/projects/cream/files/
- Enable scripting in your browser.
- Near the bottom, click "+" next to "Vim" to expand the list of files.
- The first file listed under Vim should have a name like gvim-7-2-234.exe (Vim without Cream, version 7.2.234 = 7.2 with patches 1–234).
- You can click the icon in the "Notes/Subscribe" column to see the output of the :version command (which shows what features are in the build).
- Click the most recent gvim-7-2-xxx.exe to download; run the download to install.
- It installs a patched standard gvim.exe (GUI) and vim.exe (console), with all help and runtime files.
- Includes Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl and MzScheme interfaces.
- I'm using 64-bit Windows.
- I want standard Vim (source code to compile for all platforms, or unpatched Windows executables).
- Available at http://www.vim.org/download.php
- I want an easy-to-use configuration for Windows with common menus and standard keyboard shortcuts.
- Cream for BSD, Linux and Windows is available at http://cream.sourceforge.net/download.html
- Click "Windows One-click installer, includes both Vim and Cream".
- You will download a file with a name like cream-0-41-gvim-7-1-293.exe (Cream version 0.41 with gvim version 7.1.293 = 7.1 with patches 1–293).
- I want to put Vim on a keydrive and use it on a bunch of Windows machines, but standard versions of Vim choke when the keydrive is mounted as a different drive letter.
- Check out GVim Portable http://portablegvim.sourceforge.net/
- I want Vim on a Macintosh.
- See the versions at http://www.vim.org/download.php#mac
Comments
TO DO
This can be our tip on downloading Vim.
The Main Page links to Vim documentation and I would eventually like that page cleaned up with a new section about downloading and building Vim. It would have a link to this tip, and hopefully a link to another tip about building Vim (one for Unix and one for Windows).
The following seem relevant (may need to merge):
- 46 Win32 binaries with perl, python, and tcl
- 531 Build Vim in Windows with Cygwin
- 714 Version independent installation of Vim on Windows
- 744 Get latest releases for syntax highlighting, runtime, plugins etc
- 747 Easily keep runtime files up to date