Feedback on bootstrap

[idbrii]

Hi, I'm not a potential user of vim-bootstrap (I've used vim for too long to need to start from scratch), but I wanted to give some feedback that would make bootstrap something I might recommend to a new user. Sorry if I come off as a dick, I pulled these from reddit comments.

Should include vim-sensible instead of maintaining yet another set of sensible defaults.

cabbrev is evil. Use cmdalias instead.

I wonder what Grep_Default_Options is used for? (It's not setting the environment variable which is good, but it's unclear if a plugin uses it.)

Weird that there are several that remap trivial vanilla maps. (Including the first two which are s and v.)

Also, why are there :!git commands mixed with fugitive commands? (One commits a quote as commit message?)

It has the same code multiple times (NeoBundle lines for tagbar and mapping F4 for tagbar multiple times -- probably once per filetype).

The end of this looks like the vimrc that some dude has built up for years and hasn't cleaned up with new vim knowledge (like using autocmd FileType python instead of ftplugin and using nmap instead of nnoremap). It also has lots of arbitrary maps and some replace built-in vim commands (like P).

And why encourage users to use a .vimrc.local instead of owning the .vimrc. Who's going to run the generator again in a year to see what's updated?

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For this to be a useful tool it should be less opinionated, more organized, and more clear about how to bend the output to your will.

Do less and encourage maintaining your own vimrc or it can't be better than spf13.

[hmleal]

+1 for vim-sensible

[lerrua]

@idbrii thanks a lot for your feedback. I will try to answer you.

Why we build the vim-bootstrap?
Let's start from the beginning.
I always kept my Vimfiles, wrote code in javascript, Ruby, Python, sometimes lua and @avelino also kept his Vimfiles already used by many people who liked Python, C and Go.
We work together and both use Vim for at least 3, 4 years. So, we had the idea of joining our vimfiles with the aim of help beginners. Vim is hard, start a new vimrc is hard, right? A lot of people think so. Vim-Bootstrap was born to help improve it.
Yes, this merge have some problems, but problems will be solved and we hope for help of vim-bootstrap users. Keep a generic vimrc to all chosen languages, is also a difficult idea.

And why encourage users to use a .vimrc.local instead of owning the .vimrc. Who's going to run the generator again in a year to see what's updated?
No, nobody needs run the generator again. But we create the same logic for Bundle (or NeoBundle). It's normal you update your plugins, right? :NeoBundleUpdate, so you can update your vimrc from the master branch using :VimBootstrapUpdate.

I wonder what Grep_Default_Options is used for? (It's not setting the environment variable which is good, but it's unclear if a plugin uses it.)
grep.vim

It has the same code multiple times (NeoBundle lines for tagbar and mapping F4 for tagbar multiple times -- probably once per filetype).
Yes, I agree. Let's fix this and also correct other similar problems.

Questions about :!git commands mixed with fugitive commands, cabbrev, vim-sensible etc. Let's open an individual issues and make the best solution for each.

@idbrii thanks again for spending your time trying to help us. Thank you very much!
I know vim-bootstrap is still far from ideal, with time we will improve it and feedbacks like yours motivate us to improve this project.

[avelino]

However, the @lerrua did I add something, so stay on sending PR (will be very welcome).