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.
- Get Vim without Cream: The easiest and best solution for Windows users on 32-bit systems is to use the standard Vim at http://sourceforge.net/projects/cream/files/
- Under "Newest Files" near the top of the list, there should be a file with a name like gvim-7-2-411.exe
(Vim without Cream, version 7.2.411 = 7.2 with patches 1–411). - You can click the icon in the "Notes/Subscribe" column to see the output of the :version command
(that 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.
- All installed files are "standard" Vim (the installers named cream-xxx.exe are for a special "Vim with Cream" version).
- Includes Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl and MzScheme interfaces.
- See "Vim without Cream problems" below.
- 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-0-42-gvim-7-2-245.exe
(Cream version 0.42 with gvim version 7.2.245 = 7.2 with patches 1–245).
- 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
Vim without Cream problems
"Vim without Cream", as described above, is the best Vim for 32-bit Windows (without compiling it yourself). This section documents known problems.
- The release notes show that it is built with feature +ole which means that it will try to load the OLE interface DLL each time it starts, which would be irritating if you just wanted to run Vim on another computer without bothering to install it.
- The format of the Sourceforge page occasionally changes and the instructions given above may not exactly match what you see. For standard Vim and gvim without Cream, look for the highest version of the gvim-7-2-xxx.exe file.
- In the past, the Sourceforge page required that scripting be enabled in your browser, and, near the bottom of the file list, you had to click "+" next to "Vim" to expand the list of files.
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
- 376 Build Vim with your name included want to develop this as our "how to build" tip
- 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