*vim_os2.txt*   For Vim version 4.0.  Last modification: 1996 May 26

This file contains the particularities for the OS/2 version of Vim.


Warning! This has not been tested as well as the other ports of Vim!
	 Report problems to paul@wau.mis.ah.nl (email valid up to at least
	 August 1996).  Watch out for binary mode (tested a bit and it looked
	 OK, but make sure it does what you think it does). Other problems are
	 sure to exist as well; as always when testing beta software, keep an
	 up to date backup of files use this software on!

Prerequisites:

- To run Vim, you need the emx runtime environment (at least rev. 0.9b).  This
  is generally available as (ask Archie about it):

    emxrt.zip     emx runtime package

  I've included a copy of emx.dll, which should be copied to one of the
  directories listed in your LIBPATH. Emx is GPL'ed, but the emx.dll library
  is not (read COPYING.EMX to find out what that means to you).
  
  This emx.dll is from the emxfix04.zip package, which unfortunately has a bug
  in select().  Versions of Vim before 3.27 will appear to hang when starting
  (actually, while processing vimrc). Hit return a couple of times until Vim
  starts working if this happens.  Next, get an up to date version of Vim!

The VIM environment variable is used to find the location of the help files
and the system .vimrc. Place an entry such as this in CONFIG.SYS:

SET VIM=c:/local/lib/vim

and copy all the vim_*.txt files and .vimrc to that directory. Vim will then
be able to find them.

Note: .vimrc may also be called _vimrc to accommodate those who have chosen to
install OS/2 on a FAT file system. Vim first tries to find .vimrc and if that
fails, looks for _vimrc in the same place.

If you're using network drives with OS/2, then you can install Vim on a
network drive (including .vimrc; this is then called the "system" vimrc file),
and then use a personal copy of .vimrc (the "user" vimrc file). This should be
located in a directory indicated by the HOME environment variable.

Use "os2ansi" as the TERM environment variable (or don't set it at all, as the
default is the correct value). You can set term to os2ansi in the .vimrc, in
case you need TERM to be a different value for other applications.  The
problem is that OS/2 ANSI emulation is quite limited (it doesn't have insert /
delete line, for example).

Using slashes ('/') and backslashes ('\') can be a bit of a problem (see
vim_dos.txt for more explanation), but in almost all cases Vim does "The Right
Thing".  Vim prefers backslashes in file names, but will happily accept
forward slashes if they are entered. Note that ":n doc\*.txt" will say
"doc\*.txt [New File]", as the backslash serves to escape the *.
":n doc/*.txt" will work as expected.

Due to an oversight, ":n *.c *.h" will NOT work.  Sorry.  Starting Vim with
"vim *.c *.h" works correctly.


Try and test it as much as possible; when a problem is found, try to recreate
it as simply as possible, ans then try it again on another platform (dos or
unix for example) if at all possible, to separate generic Vim bugs from
genuine OS/2 problems.  Report bugs to me: paul@wau.mis.ah.nl (up to at least
August 1996) or paul@wurtel.hobby.nl (permanent, but only infrequently
checked).

Paul Slootman

vim:ts=8:tw=78:
