*os_vms.txt*    For Vim version 7.0aa.  Last change: 2005 Jul 12


		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL


							*VMS* *vms*
This file contains the particularities for the VMS version of Vim.
You can reach this information file by typing :help VMS in Vim command
prompt.

 1. Getting started	|vms-started|
 2. Download files	|vms-download|
 3. Compiling		|vms-compiling|
 4. Problems		|vms-problems|
 5. Deploy		|vms-deploy|
 6. Practical usage	|vms-usage|
 7. GUI mode questions	|vms-gui|
 8. Useful notes	|vms-notes|
 9. VMS related changes	|vms-changes|
10. Authors		|vms-authors|

==============================================================================

1. Getting started					*vms-started*

Vim (Vi IMproved) is a vi-compatible text editor that runs on nearly every
operating system known to humanity.  Now use Vim on OpenVMS too, in character
or X/Motif environment.  It is fully featured and absolutely compatible with
Vim on other operating systems.

==============================================================================

2. Download files					*vms-download*

You can download the Vim source code by ftp from the official Vim site:
	ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/
Or use one of the mirrors:
	ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/MIRRORS

You will need both the Unix and Extra archives to build vim.exe for VMS.
For using Vim's full power you will need the runtime files as well.

You can download precompiled executables from:
	http://www.polarhome.com/vim/
	ftp://ftp.polarhome.com/pub/vim/

To use the precompiled binary version, you need one of these archives:

  vim-XX-exe-ia64-gui.zip       IA64 GUI/Motif executables
  vim-XX-exe-ia64-gtk.zip       IA64 GUI/GTK executables
  vim-XX-exe-ia64-term.zip      IA64 console executables
  vim-XX-exe-axp-gui.zip        Alpha GUI/Motif executables
  vim-XX-exe-axp-gtk.zip        Alpha GUI/GTK executables
  vim-XX-exe-axp-term.zip       Alpha console executables
  vim-XX-exe-vax-gui.zip	VAX GUI executables
  vim-XX-exe-vax-term.zip       VAX console executables

and of course
  vim-XX-runtime.zip		runtime files

The binary archives contain: vim.exe, ctags.exe, xxd.exe files.

==============================================================================

3. Compiling						*vms-compiling*

See the file [.SRC]INSTALLVMS.TXT.

==============================================================================

4. Problems						*vms-problems*

The code has been tested under Open VMS 6.2 - 8.2 on Alpha, VAX and IA64
platforms with the DEC C compiler.  It should work without bigger problems.
If your system does not have some include libraries you can tune up in
OS_VMS_CONF.H file.

If you decided to build Vim with +perl, +python, etc. options, first you need
to download OpenVMS distributions of Perl and Python.  Build and deploy the
libraries and change adequate lines in MAKE_VMS.MMS file.  There should not be
a problem from Vim side.

Also GTK, XPM library paths should be configured in MAKE_VMS.MMS

Note: Under VAX it should work with the DEC C compiler without problems.  The
VAX C compiler is not fully ANSI C compatible in pre-processor directives
semantics, therefore you have to use a converter program what will do the lion
part of the job.  For detailed instructions read file INSTALLvms.txt

MMS_VIM.EXE is build together with VIM.EXE, but for XD.EXE you should
change to subdirectory and build it separately.

CTAGS is not part of the Vim source distribution anymore, however the OpenVMS
specific source might contain CTAGS source files as described above.
You can find more information about CTAGS on VMS at
http://www.polarhome.com/ctags/

Advanced users may try some acrobatics in FEATURE.H file also.

It is possible to compile with +xfontset +xim options too, but then you have
to set up GUI fonts etc. correctly.  See :help xim from Vim command prompt.

You may want to use GUI with GTK icons, then you have to download and install
GTK for OpenVMS or at least runtime shareable images - LIBGTK from
polarhome.com

For more advanced questions, please send your problem to Vim on VMS mailing
list <vim-vms@polarhome.com>
More about the vim-vms list can be found at:
http://www.polarhome.com/mailman/listinfo/vim-vms

==============================================================================

5. Deploy						*vms-deploy                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 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