gvim with huge features

Question

Coming from Windows to Ubuntu, I'm pretty unfamiliar with almost every terminal command and Linux jargon. One that I am currently facing is:

When installing Vim for the first time, what do you mean by using the config script like the following

configure --enable-cscope --with-features=huge

to get Vim's huge feature set.

Specifically,

What is a config script?
When do I use such a script? (After the installation of Vim by hg clone or what?)
where and how do I use it? (To write it in a file and put it where？ Or to run it in a Terminal?)

You probably already have some version of Vim installed. It may be vim-tiny (Check via `:version`). Have you tried installing vim via `apt-get`? — Peter Rincker, Nov 13 '14 at 06:18
Hi @PeterRincker thanks for helping. Typing `vim` in Terminal tells me "the program vim can be found in the following packages..." So I assume there's no pre-installed Vim. Am I right? I think I can install `vim-gnome` or the likes through `apt-get`. But will it be `huge` features by default or can I configure it somehow after installation? — Naitree, Nov 13 '14 at 06:28
As for your questions: a configure script typically prepares the _compilation_ of a program and would usually be called from a terminal with it's brother `make`, which triggers the actual compilation. The command `make install` installs the binaries, libraries and resources to their correct location in the filesystem hierarchy. Most of the time, you don't need to compile anything using modern Linux distributiins, since they usually offer precompiled programs via either dpkg (Debian, Ubuntu and friends) or rpm packages (RedHat, CentOS). You install them using apt or yum. Hth. — Markus W Mahlberg, Nov 13 '14 at 06:48
@MarkusWMahlberg Thank you very much for taking your time providing this knowledge. — Naitree, Nov 13 '14 at 06:53

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 13 '14 at 06:37

2

On Ubuntu and every other Debian-based distros, you only need this command to install a proper Vim:

$ sudo apt-get install vim-gnome

answered Nov 13 '14 at 06:37

romainl

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

1

This answers the question about what configure is and what it does:

edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Community

answered Nov 13 '14 at 06:42

Andy J

2 Answers2