Manage your 'runtimepath' with ease. In practical terms, pathogen.vim
makes it super easy to install plugins and runtime files in their own
private directories.
For new users, I recommend using Vim's built-in package management
instead. :help packages
Install to ~/.vim/autoload/pathogen.vim.
Or copy and paste the following into your terminal/shell:
mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload ~/.vim/bundle && \
curl -LSso ~/.vim/autoload/pathogen.vim https://tpo.pe/pathogen.vim
If you're using Windows, change all occurrences of ~/.vim to ~\vimfiles.
Add this to your vimrc:
execute pathogen#infect()
If you're brand new to Vim and lacking a vimrc, vim ~/.vimrc and paste
in the following super-minimal example:
execute pathogen#infect()
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on
Now any plugins you wish to install can be extracted to a subdirectory
under ~/.vim/bundle, and they will be added to the 'runtimepath'.
Observe:
cd ~/.vim/bundle && \
git clone https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible.git
Now sensible.vim is installed. If you really want to get crazy, you could set it up as a submodule in whatever repository you keep your dot files in. I don't like to get crazy.
If you don't like the directory name bundle, you can pass a runtime relative
glob as an argument:
execute pathogen#infect('stuff/{}')
The {} indicates where the expansion should occur.
You can also pass an absolute path instead. I keep the plugins I maintain under ~/src, and this is how I add them:
execute pathogen#infect('bundle/{}', '~/src/vim/bundle/{}')
Normally to generate documentation, Vim expects you to run :helptags
on each directory with documentation (e.g., :helptags ~/.vim/doc).
Provided with pathogen.vim is a :Helptags command that does this on
every directory in your 'runtimepath'. If you really want to get
crazy, you could even invoke Helptags in your vimrc. I don't like to
get crazy.
Finally, pathogen.vim has a rich API that can manipulate 'runtimepath'
and other comma-delimited path options in ways most people will never
need to do. If you're one of those edge cases, look at the source.
It's well documented.
Vim 8 includes support for package management in a manner similar to
pathogen.vim. If you'd like to transition to this native support,
pathogen.vim can help. Calling pathogen#infect() on an older version of Vim
will supplement the bundle/{} default with pack/{}/start/{}, effectively
backporting a subset of the new native functionality.
:Vopen, :Vedit, :Vsplit, :Vvsplit, :Vtabedit, :Vpedit, and
:Vread have all moved to scriptease.vim.
Can I put pathogen.vim in a submodule like all my other plugins?
Sure, stick it under ~/.vim/bundle, and prepend the following to your
vimrc:
runtime bundle/vim-pathogen/autoload/pathogen.vim
Or if your bundles are somewhere other than ~/.vim (say, ~/src/vim):
source ~/src/vim/bundle/vim-pathogen/autoload/pathogen.vim
Will you accept these 14 pull requests adding a
.gitignorefortagsso I don't see untracked changes in my dot files repository?
No, but I'll teach you how to ignore tags globally:
git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.cvsignore'
echo tags >> ~/.cvsignore
While any filename will work, I've chosen to follow the ancient
tradition of .cvsignore because utilities like rsync use it, too.
Clever, huh?
What about Vimballs?
If you really must use one:
:e name.vba
:!mkdir ~/.vim/bundle/name
:UseVimball ~/.vim/bundle/name
Why don't my plugins load when I use Vim sessions?
Vim sessions default to capturing all global options, which includes the
'runtimepath' that pathogen.vim manipulates. This can cause other problems
too, so I recommend turning that behavior off:
set sessionoptions-=options
If your commit message sucks,
I'm not going to accept your pull request. I've explained very politely
dozens of times that
my general guidelines
are absolute rules on my own repositories, so I may lack the energy to
explain it to you yet another time. And please, if I ask you to change
something, git commit --amend.
Beyond that, don't be shy about asking before patching. What takes you hours might take me minutes simply because I have both domain knowledge and a perverse knowledge of Vim script so vast that many would consider it a symptom of mental illness. On the flip side, some ideas I'll reject no matter how good the implementation is. "Send a patch" is an edge case answer in my book.
Like pathogen.vim? Follow the repository on GitHub and vote for it on vim.org. And if you're feeling especially charitable, follow tpope on Twitter and GitHub.
Copyright (c) Tim Pope. Distributed under the same terms as Vim itself.
See :help license.