[SOLVED] vim on 14.2 issue with man files + workaround

jmccue · 12-21-2016, 06:12 PM

In Slackware 14.2, I was having an issue with editing text files named *.man. When in command mode, if I pressed the letter 'q' vim would exit.

I located the issue in file

Quote:

/usr/share/vim/vim74/ftplugin/man.vim

If I comment out this line

Quote:

nnoremap <buffer> <silent> q :q<CR>

the issue is solved and I can use the letter 'q' to create on-the-fly macros in *.man files.

Anyway I do not know what that line is suppose to do, but posted the 'issue' here in case other people have this problem.

John

glorsplitz · 12-21-2016, 10:11 PM

Maybe ask "Maintainer: SungHyun Nam" at the top of that file and point out your work around?

ljb643 · 12-22-2016, 06:13 PM

It was added deliberately in November 2015 to vim-7.4 (between the Slackware-14.1 version and the Slackware-14.2 version), and is documented in the help for "filetype": "q same as :quit". So it isn't a bug. I'm not really sure what the reason is, because I'm not sure what filetype man is for. If it is meant for viewing manual pages, then mapping q to quit makes a lot of sense because that's how the 'less' pager for the 'man' command works too - quits when you press q. But when I tried to view a man page in vim (:runtime ftplugin/man.vim, then Man ls) it doesn't trigger those mappings. So I'm missing something. Sounds like you are using man mode for something else, though, which is why 'q' is interfering.

jmccue · 12-23-2016, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljb643

It was added deliberately in November 2015 to vim-7.4

Based upon what I saw in the file it looked like it was put there on purpose but was more curious about the 'why'. In any event it set 'q' to a value that did not work for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljb643

is documented in the help for "filetype": "q same as :quit". So it isn't a bug.

I did not see the help but I never considered a real bug, it just seemed an odd definitionfor 'q'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljb643

Sounds like you are using man mode for something else, though, which is why 'q' is interfering.

Filetype 'man' is a text file with manual page source. When I was creating/changing man pages, vim would exit when I wanted to create a macro. I finally had time to figure what was causing my issue and modified the file. Maybe as you seem to mention, it may be an attempt by vim to show formatted manuals, similar to what one can do in elvis using ':display man' and ':display normal'

John

Xsane · 12-23-2016, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmccue

Maybe as you seem to mention, it may be an attempt by vim to show formatted manuals, similar to what one can do in elvis using ':display man' and ':display normal'

Yes, that is what this plugin does. See:

Code:

vim "+help ft-man"
vim "+help manpage"

Unfortunately, it is in conflict with the 'man' file extension. Not only
will that file extension cause the 'man' plugin to load, it also sets
the filetype and syntax highlighting to 'man'. When editing man-page
source files you'll likely want the filetype set to nroff.

You can override this behavior on a per call basis with:

STOP THE KEY MAPPING

Code:

vim --cmd "let no_man_maps=1" somefile.man

SET THE FILE TYPE

Code:

vim "+set ft=nroff" somefile.man

OR BOTH

Code:

vim --cmd "let no_man_maps=1" "+set ft=nroff" somefile.man

To make the key mapping sticky add this to your ~/.vimrc file:

Code:

let no_man_maps=1

For other ways see:

Code:

vim "+help ftplugin-overrule"
vim "+help new-filetype"

jmccue · 12-24-2016, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xsane

To make the key mapping sticky add this to your ~/.vimrc file:

Code:

let no_man_maps=1

I added the above and reverted the change I made to /usr/share/vim/vim74/ftplugin/man.vim and all works as I would like it to.

I will make this 'solved' since I believe your solution is much better then what I did.

John