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Old 04-10-2004, 02:29 AM   #1
davidas
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Registered: Mar 2004
Distribution: Debian 'Sarge'
Posts: 168

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Symbolic link in /etc/alternatives not working as intended


1) I have just installed vim-gtk. Various links in /etc/alternatives have been changed to reflect the installation of vim-gtk, as follows:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Apr 10 22:24 editor -> /usr/bin/vim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Apr 10 22:24 editor.1.gz -> /usr/share/man/man1/vim.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Apr 10 22:24 ex -> /usr/bin/vim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Apr 10 22:24 ex.1.gz -> /usr/share/man/man1/vim.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 10 22:43 vi -> /usr/bin/vim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Apr 10 22:24 vi.1.gz -> /usr/share/man/man1/vim.1.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Apr 10 22:24 view -> /usr/bin/vim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Apr 10 22:24 view.1.gz -> /usr/share/man/man1/vim.1.gz

I changed the symbolic link for vi from /usr/bin/vim to /usr/bin/gvim.
Code:
ln -sf /usr/bin/gvim vi
Update: I tried using update-alternatives --install

Code:
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/vi vi /usr/bin/gvim 130
Code:
update-alternatives --display vi
shows the best current editor is /usr/bin/gvim.

However, when I key in the command vi <filename>, the text-based vim instead of gvim is launched. Shouldn't gvim be launched instead?

2) Do I need to edit vi.1.gz -> /usr/share/man/man1/vim.1.gz to something else after changing vi -> /usr/bin/gvim ?

Thanks !

Last edited by davidas; 04-10-2004 at 07:07 PM.
 
Old 04-10-2004, 01:55 PM   #2
Goll
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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: €urope
Distribution: Debian GNU/Linux
Posts: 16

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just a guess.. try
Code:
ln -sf /usr/bin/gvim /usr/bin/vi
you are not giving the path to actual vi ....
 
Old 04-10-2004, 07:09 PM   #3
davidas
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Registered: Mar 2004
Distribution: Debian 'Sarge'
Posts: 168

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 30
/usr/bin/vi is a symbolic link pointing to /etc/alternatives/vi, which in turn selects the 'best' vi alternatives to use based on priorities.

Thanks

Quote:
Originally posted by Goll
just a guess.. try
Code:
ln -sf /usr/bin/gvim /usr/bin/vi
you are not giving the path to actual vi ....
 
  


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