Please read it as to avoid sending unnecessary complaints. Thanks! :-)

By the way, if you think this FAQ needs to be extended - let me know. I especially welcome feedback with additional text. hint hint ;-)

You should know what you want. But what is there?

• OS? What is your operating system?
• developer or user? Do you want the bleeding edge developer version (vim-6.1.x) - or do you want the latest stable version for users (vim-6.1)?
• binary or source? Do you want to install from source (using a compiler) or do you want a precompiled binary (with given code options)?
• GUI? OLE? Do you want a graphical user interface (aka GUI), ie with icons, drop-down/tear-off menus, text selection with mouse, scroll bars?
• Location? What is your location? Which mirror is the one nearest to you?

Most people use some kind of 32bit Windows (Windows95/98/2000/NT), so here is a summary for those Windows users: You need two archive files - the gvim58.zip (containing the gvim.exe) and the vim58rt.zip (which contains the helpfiles and syntax files).

Vim-6.1 for Windows95/98/NT [000116,000624,011202]

Get the files gvim60.zip and vim60rt.zip. However, the choice of your mirror is still up to you! ;-)

Give me a direct link, dammit!

OK - here you are then:

ftp://vim.ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/gvim60.zip [010926 - 643082 bytes]
ftp://vim.ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/vim60rt.zip [010926 - 2133740 bytes]

The download takes ages! Why is this so slow?

The links point to the mirror in Berlin, Germany. There might be closer/faster mirrors to your place - but you will have to find this one yourself!! So look at the distribution page for a list of mirrors.

"Why did you tell me to get the 'gvim' file instead of the 'vim' one?"

"Gvim" stands for "GUI vim", ie Vim with a graphical user interface, that is you get icons and menus as well as support for the mouse, so you can select text from the windows with the mouse. Most users want that, perhaps you are one of them.

The "plain" version is considered to be for die-hard console users and nerds. Or for people who RTFM and can remember the commands in their head. ;-)

Developers Version Binaries [010214]

Where can you download binaries of the developer versions?

A: There are no binaries of developer versions. Feature! Why? Well, we don't want the developer versions to spread to "users" but only to "testers", ie people who are able to "make" their own binary with a compiler, test the new features, send bug reports, and possibly create patches to fix the bugs. Mind you, we really want to prevent casual users or newbies to modal editing from tripping over bugs in exprimental code. Hope you understand.

Note: The developers versions reside in the subdirectory unreleased of the ftp mirrors to clearly prevent casual users from using them.

Please do not distribute any binaries of unreleased versions - thankyou!

More Binaries?

Are there any other versions than the plain and the GUI one?

Yes, there are more versions: One is with support for OLE and includes "VisVim" - hence the "ole" in its filename. The files with "d16" and "d32" in its name contain the binaries for 16bit (read: MS-DOS) and 32bit systems (read: MS-Windows 95/98/NT).

ncftp vim.ftp.fu-berlin.de
ncftp> cd pc
ncftp> dir *58*
 466779 May 31 13:09 gvim58.zip
 471736 May 31 13:09 gvim58_s.zip
 506882 May 31 13:10 gvim58ole.zip
 240885 May 31 13:10 vim58d16.zip
 463117 May 31 13:11 vim58d32.zip
1509035 May 31 13:12 vim58rt.zip
 851596 May 31 13:14 vim58rt1.zip
 657543 May 31 13:14 vim58rt2.zip
1155801 May 31 13:16 vim58src.zip
 423602 May 31 13:16 vim58w32.zip

"Which files do I have to download to get Vim?"

There are two files that you should get: The first file is the "source archive" which holds the source files required to build a binary with a compiler, and the other file is the "runtime archive" which holds the rest of the files needed when Vim is running.

The runtime files are mostly plain text files and contain these things: Documentation (aka helpfiles), syntax files (which contain the rules for coloring text according to the syntax of a language), some sample setup files, a tutor text for getting started with Vim, sample files with macros, source files for some tools, and - icons (of course).

NOTE to users CJK people (Chinese, Japanese, Korean): You will need to get a third archive, namely the extra/lang archive. For more info on Vim please take a look at http://www.kaoriya.net/

Installation [000830,001214]

"How do I install the files from the runtime archive?" [000830]

Well, the installation depends on the kind of operating system you have. If you are using a Unixish system (FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris etc) then you (as "root") just unpack the runtime and the source archives within the same directory (eg in /usr/local/src/) and then run the following three commands:

	./configure
	make
	make install

This will install Vim with the default options.

Installing vim as a non-root user is only slightly more difficult - but not much. Unpack the archives in, say, ~/src/ and run these commands:

	./configure --prefix=$HOME
	make
	make install

For more info see the Vim Install HOWTO.

Downloading via HTTP [001214,010618]

"How can I download Vim using my browser?"

Most browsers understand FTP, so you can use any FTP mirror. However, some browsers do not "speak FTP", and some other sites may not allow the FTP service (usually with domains using a firewall). There are a few sites which allow download via HTTP, too. Two of these are the mirror in Austria and the mirror in Australia (separated at birth? ;-). Please check the distribution page for more mirrors with "HTTP download"!

Binaries and Executables

"I don't have a compiler - how do I get a binary/executable?

"Where can I get the binaries/executables for Vim?"

You can download prepackaged binaries from the special page with binary sites. Alas, we cannot offer binary packages for every operating system that Vim runs on. This is where we need your help!

"Why does the link for 'download' lead to this page?" and

"Why can't the link just take me to the ftp site directly?"

Well, there is no link to "the" Vim site as there are many sites mirroring it. This page allows you to select the fastest/nearest site - but that's something you should choose yourself. It would be a bad thing to have you connected to just a site which is halfway around the world, wouldn't it? I hope you understand.

Setting up a mirror

"How can I become a vim mirror?"

If you can offer a mirror then please get in touch. There are some hints on the Mirror HowTo.

Mirror which site?

"Which site should I mirror?"

Should you like to mirror Vim then please chose the closest/fastest mirror to your site. Please mirror at an off peak time (usually at night). And please stay away from Vim homesite - use the mirror in Berlin (Germany) instead which is always up-to-date! This will save you time and probably some money, too. :-)

Getting Announcements

"How do I get info about new versions of Vim?"

Announcements are distributed via the mailing lists, ie "[email protected]" and "[email protected]" automatically. but there is also a mailing list for announcements *only*: [email protected]. [See the page about the vim mailing lists for more info on subscription.] You can also use NetMind's Servcie to keep an eye on the History Page which usually gets updated with every new (developer) release.

Do you know a system that should have VIM? Then please let me know!

Release Frequency

"Why does it take so long until a new version is released?"

"When can you expect the next release?"

"Is there a periodic update?"

Bram: "I prefer to keep the number of changes very small. This makes it easier to test the changes and reduces the chance of including new bugs." [960716] "I don't think a new version each month is required. It's a bad symptom to have so many versions. Let's just make a new version when it's required. Once a month is about the maximum." [960729] "Whenever there is something to be discussed, I'll send it to vimdev. So you will stay informed about what I'm working on."

Support of old versions [971009]

"I have found a bug in version xxx - can you fix it?"

Bram: "I do not support old versions. I discourage their use, since they contain bugs that have been fixed in newer versions."

 BYTES   DATE         FILENAME
 1128673 Jul 12 13:10 vim-6.0an-rt1.tar.gz
  568167 Jul 12 13:11 vim-6.0an-rt2.tar.gz
 1213305 Jul 12 13:13 vim-6.0an-src1.tar.gz
  383934 Jul 12 13:13 vim-6.0an-src2.tar.gz
 2678379 Jul 12 13:17 vim-6.0an.tar.bz2

URL:         http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/vim/faq/download.html
URL:         https://www.vim8.org/faq/download.html (mirror)
Created:     Fri Jan 15 20:20:20 CET 1999