4 ms·

Bcvi - run vi over a 'back-channel'

82 points by kree10 16y ago

KC8ZKF 16y ago
GNU Emacs users have tramp-mode for this. http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode
- jrockway 16y ago
  And it works with EShell: /home/jon $ hostname snowball2 /home/jon $ cd /stonepath:~ /scp:stonepath:/home/jon $ hostname stonepath Pretty cool!
  - astine 16y ago
    My experience using tramp with eshell is that it is painfully slow. However, most of what I would accomplish doing that can be accomplished using tramp with dired instead.
    - jrockway 16y ago
      s/with eshell// and I agree. I prefer sshfs, but sometimes you are on Windows and tramp is the only way.
      - surki 16y ago
        Have you enabled SSH connection sharing? If you have a connection open already, it could leverage that (ssh does it, not tramp).
wwortiz 16y ago
I never run gvim, are there any real advantages that I am missing? On the server I just install vim and scp -r .vim* to the server on the desktop I spend most of the time using emacs and only vim when I don't have emacs open and need to do a quick edit. Tramp mode as stated is painfully slow and emacs doesn't really work for me in terminals as well as vim.
- dhimes 16y ago
  I never run gvim, are there any real advantages that I am missing? Probably only if you have a mouse connected to your computer. It is much easier for cutting/pasting between documents in different windows in a gui. I understand there are plugins for vi that work (I use vi most of the time), but it's easier for me to just use vim. Seems like to a first-order approximation gvim = vi + gui plugin
  - pyre 16y ago
    The X11 clipboard support in vim works in the terminal, but it only works when X11 support is built in. You just have to use the keyboard shortcuts ("+y = copy / "+gP = paste). vim has to be built with X11 (gvim) support though b/c vim and gvim are really the same binary, IIRC (gvim = vim -g).
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - dhimes 16y ago
      when you compile vim this way, do you get the menus also, or is that only gvim? About the only thing I do by menu is change the color scheme, because I never remember the commands (nor the scheme names, for that matter). Different schemes can be useful for different lighting conditions and different monitors.
      - pyre 16y ago
        The menus are only drawn in gvim. It doesn't draw them in the terminal like Emacs. The colorscheme command is ":colorscheme <scheme>" or ":colors <scheme>". It tab-completes to the scheme names that it has accessible to it, so you don't really need the menu. This is useful even in the terminal due to 256-color support (":set t_Co=256" if it doesn't auto-detect this for you). There are also a couple of plugins that will auto-convert gvim-only (aka fullcolor) colorschemes into 256-color schemes when you are in a 256-color terminal.
- 16y ago
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
andrew_k 16y ago
Does it work on Mac?
- grantm 16y ago
  If you use GVim on your mac then it should work fine. If you use a different editor then it should be pretty easy to hack up a plugin that launches your preferred editor instead. The plugin API docs give an example of launching GNOME gedit: http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?App::BCVI::Plugins http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?App::BCVI::Plugins
- newman314 16y ago
  Would be interesting to see a setup with textmate editing on the local workstation using this.
- stevelosh 16y ago
  Symlinking gvim to mvim seems to make everything work perfectly.
TimothyFitz 16y ago
I've been doing this with sshfs (Linux/Mac) or ExpanDrive (Windows) for years, with whatever my editor of choice is for the file in question.
- grantm 16y ago
  bcvi will also let you use your editor of choice - it just happens to use gvim "out of the box". If you're already logged into the box with SSH then being able to type 'vi file' on the server and have the editor window pop up on your workstation actually turns out to be really handy. IMHO it's easier to set up than sshfs too.
  - icode 16y ago
    "easier to set up than sshfs" sshfs yourname@server /some/where How can the setup of bcvi be easier then this oneliner?
    - grantm 16y ago
      Well 'bcvi --install server' is pretty simple and that's a one-time setup cost which survives disconnects and reboots. But yes, of course you can do the same stuff with sshfs and if that's your preferred tool you should definitely use that.
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
      - vog 16y ago
        You seem to imply that the "sshfs" command is the analogon to the "bcvi --install" command, which isn't true. Rather, the "sshfs" command is the replacement for the "ssh" command, and "bcvi --install" is a complete extra step.
tmsh 16y ago
:set paste
- mct 16y ago
  ...but then you need to ":set nopaste", afterwards. I frequently do this, instead: ":r !cat"
  - vog 16y ago
    ...but then you need to ":set nopaste", afterwards. For me, it's just <F8>, then pasting, then pressing <F8> again. This works because of the following line in my .vimrc which I highly recommend: set pastetoggle=<F8>
ertug 16y ago
Vim has a scp handler to allow you to work locally. Here is how you do it: vim scp://server//path/to/document
- jcw 16y ago
  Is it just me, or is SCP very slow in vim?
jcw 16y ago
This is really cool. However, one of the advantages of using vi is that you use it on any machine without really needing your configuration files, the defaults are comfortable enough.

82 points by kree10 16y ago

GNU Emacs users have tramp-mode for this. http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TrampMode

jrockway 16y ago
And it works with EShell: /home/jon $ hostname snowball2 /home/jon $ cd /stonepath:~ /scp:stonepath:/home/jon $ hostname stonepath Pretty cool!
- astine 16y ago
  My experience using tramp with eshell is that it is painfully slow. However, most of what I would accomplish doing that can be accomplished using tramp with dired instead.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    s/with eshell// and I agree. I prefer sshfs, but sometimes you are on Windows and tramp is the only way.
    - surki 16y ago
      Have you enabled SSH connection sharing? If you have a connection open already, it could leverage that (ssh does it, not tramp).

wwortiz 16y ago

I never run gvim, are there any real advantages that I am missing? On the server I just install vim and scp -r .vim* to the server on the desktop I spend most of the time using emacs and only vim when I don't have emacs open and need to do a quick edit. Tramp mode as stated is painfully slow and emacs doesn't really work for me in terminals as well as vim.

dhimes 16y ago
I never run gvim, are there any real advantages that I am missing? Probably only if you have a mouse connected to your computer. It is much easier for cutting/pasting between documents in different windows in a gui. I understand there are plugins for vi that work (I use vi most of the time), but it's easier for me to just use vim. Seems like to a first-order approximation gvim = vi + gui plugin
- pyre 16y ago
  The X11 clipboard support in vim works in the terminal, but it only works when X11 support is built in. You just have to use the keyboard shortcuts ("+y = copy / "+gP = paste). vim has to be built with X11 (gvim) support though b/c vim and gvim are really the same binary, IIRC (gvim = vim -g).
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - dhimes 16y ago
    when you compile vim this way, do you get the menus also, or is that only gvim? About the only thing I do by menu is change the color scheme, because I never remember the commands (nor the scheme names, for that matter). Different schemes can be useful for different lighting conditions and different monitors.
    - pyre 16y ago
      The menus are only drawn in gvim. It doesn't draw them in the terminal like Emacs. The colorscheme command is ":colorscheme <scheme>" or ":colors <scheme>". It tab-completes to the scheme names that it has accessible to it, so you don't really need the menu. This is useful even in the terminal due to 256-color support (":set t_Co=256" if it doesn't auto-detect this for you). There are also a couple of plugins that will auto-convert gvim-only (aka fullcolor) colorschemes into 256-color schemes when you are in a 256-color terminal.
16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

andrew_k 16y ago

Does it work on Mac?

grantm 16y ago
If you use GVim on your mac then it should work fine. If you use a different editor then it should be pretty easy to hack up a plugin that launches your preferred editor instead. The plugin API docs give an example of launching GNOME gedit: http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?App::BCVI::Plugins http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?App::BCVI::Plugins
newman314 16y ago
Would be interesting to see a setup with textmate editing on the local workstation using this.
stevelosh 16y ago
Symlinking gvim to mvim seems to make everything work perfectly.

TimothyFitz 16y ago

I've been doing this with sshfs (Linux/Mac) or ExpanDrive (Windows) for years, with whatever my editor of choice is for the file in question.

grantm 16y ago
bcvi will also let you use your editor of choice - it just happens to use gvim "out of the box". If you're already logged into the box with SSH then being able to type 'vi file' on the server and have the editor window pop up on your workstation actually turns out to be really handy. IMHO it's easier to set up than sshfs too.
- icode 16y ago
  "easier to set up than sshfs" sshfs yourname@server /some/where How can the setup of bcvi be easier then this oneliner?
  - grantm 16y ago
    Well 'bcvi --install server' is pretty simple and that's a one-time setup cost which survives disconnects and reboots. But yes, of course you can do the same stuff with sshfs and if that's your preferred tool you should definitely use that.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - vog 16y ago
      You seem to imply that the "sshfs" command is the analogon to the "bcvi --install" command, which isn't true. Rather, the "sshfs" command is the replacement for the "ssh" command, and "bcvi --install" is a complete extra step.

tmsh 16y ago

:set paste

mct 16y ago
...but then you need to ":set nopaste", afterwards. I frequently do this, instead: ":r !cat"
- vog 16y ago
  ...but then you need to ":set nopaste", afterwards. For me, it's just <F8>, then pasting, then pressing <F8> again. This works because of the following line in my .vimrc which I highly recommend: set pastetoggle=<F8>

ertug 16y ago

Vim has a scp handler to allow you to work locally. Here is how you do it: vim scp://server//path/to/document

jcw 16y ago
Is it just me, or is SCP very slow in vim?

jcw 16y ago

This is really cool. However, one of the advantages of using vi is that you use it on any machine without really needing your configuration files, the defaults are comfortable enough.