How to install full version of Vim in Ubuntu
Vim is a very powerful text editor and is available in almost all modern computing platforms. It is bundled in the default installation of almost Linux distribution, though Ubuntu ships with the minimal version of Vim which lack features such as syntax highlighting making it less powerful or useful as it could be.
Details about the currently installed version could be gathered by running vi --version from the command line;
Note the list of enabled and disabled features.
$ vi --version VIM - Vi IMproved 8.0 (2016 Sep 12, compiled Jul 26 2017 20:13:43) Included patches: 1-197, 322, 377-378, 422, 550 Modified by [email protected] Compiled by [email protected] Small version without GUI. Features included (+) or not (-): +acl -farsi -mouse_netterm +tag_binary -arabic -file_in_path -mouse_sgr -tag_old_static -autocmd -find_in_path -mouse_sysmouse -tag_any_white -balloon_eval -float -mouse_urxvt -tcl -browse -folding -mouse_xterm -termguicolors +builtin_terms -footer +multi_byte +terminfo -byte_offset +fork() -multi_lang -termresponse -channel -gettext -mzscheme -textobjects -cindent -hangul_input -netbeans_intg -timers -clientserver +iconv -num64 -title -clipboard -insert_expand +packages -toolbar -cmdline_compl -job -path_extra -user_commands +cmdline_hist +jumplist -perl +vertsplit -cmdline_info -keymap -persistent_undo -virtualedit -comments -lambda -printer +visual -conceal -langmap -profile -visualextra -cryptv -libcall -python -viminfo -cscope -linebreak -python3 -vreplace -cursorbind -lispindent -quickfix +wildignore -cursorshape -listcmds -reltime -wildmenu -dialog -localmap -rightleft +windows -diff -lua -ruby +writebackup -digraphs -menu -scrollbind -X11 -dnd -mksession -signs +xfontset -ebcdic -modify_fname -smartindent -xim -emacs_tags -mouse -startuptime -xpm -eval -mouse_dec -statusline -xsmp +ex_extra -mouse_gpm -sun_workshop -xterm_clipboard -extra_search -mouse_jsbterm -syntax -xterm_save system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc" user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc" 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc" user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc" defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim" fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim" Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -Wdate-time -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/vim-w5iGhr/vim-8.0.0197=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -DTINY_VIMRC -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 Linking: gcc -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim -lSM -lICE -lXpm -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE -lm -ltinfo -lselinux -lacl -lattr -ldl
The full version however is available in the default package repository and can easily be installed by following these steps at the terminal;
-
Remove
vim-tinywhich is the default installation package.sudo apt -y remove vim-tiny
-
Update package list.
sudo apt -y update
-
Install the full version of
Vim.sudo apt -y install vim
-
Verify package is successfully installed and view the list of enabled features.
$ vi --version VIM - Vi IMproved 8.0 (2016 Sep 12, compiled Jul 26 2017 20:13:43) Included patches: 1-197, 322, 377-378, 422, 550 Modified by [email protected] Compiled by [email protected] Huge version without GUI. Features included (+) or not (-): +acl +file_in_path +mouse_sgr +tag_old_static +arabic +find_in_path -mouse_sysmouse -tag_any_white +autocmd +float +mouse_urxvt -tcl -balloon_eval +folding +mouse_xterm +termguicolors -browse -footer +multi_byte +terminfo ++builtin_terms +fork() +multi_lang +termresponse +byte_offset +gettext -mzscheme +textobjects +channel -hangul_input +netbeans_intg +timers +cindent +iconv +num64 +title -clientserver +insert_expand +packages -toolbar -clipboard +job +path_extra +user_commands +cmdline_compl +jumplist -perl +vertsplit +cmdline_hist +keymap +persistent_undo +virtualedit +cmdline_info +lambda +postscript +visual +comments +langmap +printer +visualextra +conceal +libcall +profile +viminfo +cryptv +linebreak -python +vreplace +cscope +lispindent +python3 +wildignore +cursorbind +listcmds +quickfix +wildmenu +cursorshape +localmap +reltime +windows +dialog_con -lua +rightleft +writebackup +diff +menu -ruby -X11 +digraphs +mksession +scrollbind -xfontset -dnd +modify_fname +signs -xim -ebcdic +mouse +smartindent -xpm +emacs_tags -mouseshape +startuptime -xsmp +eval +mouse_dec +statusline -xterm_clipboard +ex_extra +mouse_gpm -sun_workshop -xterm_save +extra_search -mouse_jsbterm +syntax +farsi +mouse_netterm +tag_binary system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc" user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc" 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc" user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc" defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim" fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim" Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -Wdate-time -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/vim-w5iGhr/vim-8.0.0197=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 Linking: gcc -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim -lm -ltinfo -lnsl -lselinux -lacl -lattr -lgpm -ldl -L/usr/lib/python3.6/config-3.6m-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.6m -lpthread -ldl -lutil -lm
