Newsgroups: comp.editors
From: mool@oce.nl (Bram Moolenaar)
Subject: Vim version 4.6 has been released
Message-ID: <E6zDrq.Fx@oce.nl>
Keywords: vi text editor
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 12:09:25 GMT

This is a bug-fix version of Vim 4.5.  There are no new features, just fixes
for reported problems.  This is the last version in the 4.x series.
Development is now concentrating on version 5.0.

Vim is an almost compatible version of the UNIX editor vi.  Many new features
have been added: multi level undo, command line history, filename completion,
block operations, etc.  Those who don't know vi can probably skip this
message, unless you are prepared to learn something new and useful.  Vim is
especially useful for editing C programs.

Vim should run on any Unix flavor, MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows
NT, OS/2, Atari MiNT, VMS and Amiga.  A Port for Mac is still being worked
on.

The most interesting changes (there are a whole lot more):
New on-line help system.
	Help is now displayed in a window.  Tags can be used to jump around
	in the documentation (like hypertext links).
Mouse support.
	The mouse is supported in an xterm and for MS-DOS.  It can be used to
	position the cursor, select the visual area, paste a register, etc.
Graphical User Interface (GUI).
	Included support for GUI: menu's, mouse, scrollbars, etc.  Currently
	only with Motif and Athena interface.
Command line editing improved.
	Separate history for search commands.  Improved command line
	completion (for tags, help, buffer names, etc).
Improved indenting for C programs.
	Added 'cindent' option for configurable C indent mode.  Automatic
	indenting while inserting text.  The "=" operator can be used to
	indent specific lines.  Formatting of comments (also for other
	languages and e-mail).
Searching for words in include files.
	Added commands to search for a word in the current file and in
	included files.  List the first match, list all matches or jump to a
	match.  Quickly find out where a define, function of variable is
	declared.
Word completion in Insert mode.
	Added commands to complete the word before the cursor in Insert mode.
	Matches can be found in the current file, included files and/or a
	dictionary.  Works a lot better than the word completion macros.
Automatic commands.
	Commands can be automatically executed when reading a file, writing a
	file, jumping to another buffer, etc., depending on the file name.
	This is useful to set options and mappings for C programs,
	documentation, plain text, e-mail, etc.  This also makes it possible
	to edit compressed files.
Text objects.
	After an operator and in visual mode, text object commands can be used
	to quickly select a word, line or paragraph.  Delete the current
        sentence with "ds".  Format the current paragraph with "Qp".
Options.
	A whole bunch of new options.  Command line completion can be used to
	get the old value.  Added '&' after option: reset to default value.
	Added '!' after boolean option: invert value.
Support for editing one-line paragraphs.
	When a line is longer than the window width, it can be broken at a
	space or other convenient position.  Commands have been added to move
	the cursor a screen line up/down.
Usage of key names.
	Special keys now all have a name like <Up>, <End>, etc.  This name is
	used for mappings, in listings, and many other things.  Added a number
	of new special keys.
Viminfo.
	The command line history, marks and registers can be stored in a file
	that is automatically read on startup and written on exit.
Tag support improved.
	Static tags and Emacs tag files are now supported.  Tag completion
	works better.
Improved (error) messages.
	A lot of error messages include the reason for the error.  The
	'showcommand' includes partially typed mappings.
Swap file.
	Included checking of the actual file name in a swap file, avoids
	giving bogus "swap file exists" messages.  Give more information about
	the swap file with the "swap file exists" message and when recovering.
	Included catching of deadly signals for Unix.  Swap files for
	unmodified buffers are deleted, other swap files are preserved before
	exiting.  Improved recovery when there are multiple swap files.
Compilation improvements.
	Autoconf is used to adjust to different Unix flavors, editing the
	Makefile is rarely required.
32 bits PC version.
	There is now a new version of Vim for Windows NT and Windows 95.  It
	supports long file names, uses all available memory and many more
	enhancements.  There is also a protected mode version, compiled with
	DJGPP, that runs under Windows 3.1 and MSDOS.  It supports long file
	names where available.
Miscellaneous new features.
	Implemented incremental search.
	A whole bunch of commands that start with "g": Goto declaration, show
	ascii value of character under the cursor, go back to end of word,
	reselect last Visual area, etc..
	Added the ":retab" command.  Can be used to change the size of a
	<Tab>, replace spaces with a <Tab> or a <Tab> with spaces.
	Implemented "Vim -r" to list any swap files that can be found.
	The "Q" operator no longer affects empty lines.
	Added '-' register for deletes of less than one line.
	Quickfix: Support for several error formats at the same time.
	Added separate mapping for normal mode and visual mode.
	Allow for digraphs to be entered in reverse.
	Added commands to search for #if/#endif and start/end of comment.
	Added ":abclear" and ":mapclear": remove all abbreviations/mappings.
	Added check for last modification time of original file before
	overwriting it.
Vi compatibility improvements.
	A few more things have been made vi-compatible.  The 'cpoptions'
	option has a few flags to switch specific vi-compatibility items
	on/off.

-- VIM Distribution Sites --

Vim can be found at:
	ftp://ftp.oce.nl/pub/misc/vim/			(Holland)

Mirrors:
	ftp://jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/unix/vim/	(USA, fast)
	ftp://ftp.nuxi.com/pub/vim			(USA, fast)
	ftp://nuxi.ucdavis.edu/pub/vim			(USA, fast)
	ftp://petrified.cic.net/mirrors/vim/		(USA)
	ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/misc/editors/vim/	(Germany)
	ftp://ftp.is.co.za/applications/editors/vim/    (South Africa)
	ftp://ftp.progsoc.uts.edu.au/pub/vim/           (Australia)
        ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/utilities/vim/	(Germany, incomplete)

A Linux binary statically linked with Motif can soon be found at:
	ftp://ftp.blarg.net/pub/vim
	ftp://ftp.nuxi.com/pub/vim/linux

A few Win32 binaries (for NT on Alpha, MIPS and PowerPC) can be found at:
	ftp://ftp.halcyon.com/local/gvr/vim/


file                   size   system  contents

unix/vim-4.6.tar.gz   1034K   Unix    Sources and docs.

os2/vim46os2.zip       660K   OS/2    OS/2 binary and docs. (LATER)

pc/vim46r16.zip        613K   MS-DOS  16 bit real mode binary and docs.  Runs
                                      on most MS-DOS systems, but is
                                      restricted to using 640K memory.
pc/vim46p32.zip        701K   MS-DOS  32 bit protected mode binary and docs.
				      Recommended for Windows 95.
                                      It is compiled with DJGPP, it may need
                                      DPMI driver (CWSDPMI is included).
                                      Supports long file names on Windows 95.
pc/vim46w32.zip        645K   WIN-32  32 bit Windows 95/NT binary and docs.
				      Recommended for Windows NT.
                                      Only runs on Windows 95 or Windows NT,
                                      supports long file names on both.
pc/vim46src.zip        776K   MS-DOS  Sources (with CR-LF).

amiga/vim46src.lha     794K   Amiga   Sources.
amiga/vim46bin.lha     590K   Amiga   Binary and docs.

README                   9K           This file.

[Files for Atari MiNT will be available a bit later]

system    file type      Unpack with

Unix      file.tar.gz    gunzip file.tar.gz; tar xf file.tar
Amiga     file.lha       lha -x file.lha
PC        file.zip       pkunzip -d file.zip


Reporting bugs:
Send them to <mool@oce.nl>.  Please be brief, all the time that is spend on
answering mail is subtracted from the time that is spend on improving Vim!
Always give a reproducable example and try to find out which settings or other
things influence the appearance of the bug.  Try different machines if
possible.  Send me patches if you can!

Happy Vimming!

--
ARTHUR: I've said I'm sorry about the old woman, but from the behind you
        looked ...
DENNIS: What I object to is that you automatically treat me like an inferior...
ARTHUR: Well ... I AM king.
                 "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" PYTHON (MONTY) PICTURES LTD

--/-/-------------- Bram Moolenaar ---- mool@oce.nl -------------------\-\--
  \ \  VIM home page: <URL:http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/vim/>  / /