How to install

[aisthesis]

This looks like exactly what I want--if only I didn't have to scrape the web to figure out how to install it.

[karambita]

Just copy everything under ~/.vim
open the file with json extension
$ vim test.json
That's it!

[aisthesis]

Are you saying this:

$ cd ~/.vim
$ git clone git@github.com:elzr/vim-json.git
$ ls -a
.otherstuff      vim-json

Now just use vim, and the configuration gets picked up when you use a file with .json extension? How about it my .vimrc has filetype specifications? Do I need to comment them out? Or will the above override the configurations in my .vimrc?

[karambita]

~$ mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload ~/.vim/bundle;
~$ curl -LSso ~/.vim/autoload/pathogen.vim https://tpo.pe/pathogen.vim

~$ sudo gedit ~/.vimrc
just copy paste the below data into the file and save the file

" contents of minimal .vimrc
execute pathogen#infect()
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on

~$ cd ~/.vim/bundle
~$ git clone git@github.com:elzr/vim-json.git

[mrquincle]

@karambita Thanks. Would be great if added to the README. 👍

[elzr]

Added link to here in the README for the manual install instructions. Thanks @karambita! :)

[aisthesis]

Looking through the README.md, I didn't see the link. It in any case should be in a much more prominent spot--like right at the first. As is, the README is nice advertising, but it's very mysterious as to how to actually get the product.

[elzr]

This is the first time in the almost 3 years that this script has been online that this issue has come up. Mysteriousness is not at all deliberate, Pathogen is an inmensely popular installation method. ;) The link back to here was added in the 3rd paragraph in the README: "(Or install it manually.)"

[sprive]

Note that to get to the link for "manual install" instructions in the README, the user has already read past the Pathogen option. By clicking manual install link, they're expressing a clear request for manual installation instructions.

SO, is @karambita's post the "manual install" method?
Isn't it calling for installation of Pathogen?
Is there a way to manually install without Pathogen?

...As for folks never mentioning the problem before now, there was no issue posted - so nothing to point at and question. It's human nature that when people are alone with a problem, sometimes they may feel like giving up rather than persisting.

[sprive]

Based on the endorsement of Pathogen (and not having any way to install vim-json without it) I went ahead with Pathogen.

Eventually I got Pathogen working, and vim-json after that was a piece of cake.

My comment to newbies: IGNORE all Pathogen instructions you find in Google results or at vim-scripts site, unless it matches what you see in the Pathogen README. I think some blog posts are out of date (they instruct you to to 'call' pathogen functions in your .vimrc which will fail).

The README for the current release of Pathogen is is clear what you need to do; it's just 3 lines in your .vimrc. Then use git to grab the code (or unzip the download) in your bundle dir.

[zvrablik]

small typo in the git clone

there should be https://github.com/elzr/vim-json.git

[gcbw]

if I simply copy this syntax/json.vim to my ~/.vim/syntax/json.vim should it work? (i only need the colors, no fancy indent or syntax occlusion)

and obviously, i've already tested and it did not :) that's why i'm throwing it here to know if i it should work and i screwed something somewhere, or to know if i am missing something else and it was supposed not to work...

@gcbw
You also need to cp ftplugin/json.vim to ~/.vim/ftplugin/json.vim.
works for me.

[davaya]

The pathogen documentation notes its own demise - Vim 8 includes native support for package management. See https://shapeshed.com/vim-packages/.

And thanks for creating vim-json - it's exactly what we need.

Issues are not really documentation. It would be nice to have proper instructions in the README. Just because only one person has spoken up about the problem it doesn't mean they're the only person who has the problem.