Log to file

autoload/vam.vim

@@ -51,9 +51,14 @@ let s:c['pool_item_check_fun'] = get(s:c, 'pool_item_check_fun', 'none')
 " to show more requests by Vim
 " TODO: move log code into other file (such as utils.vim) because its not used on each startup
 " TODO: think about autowriting it
-let s:c['log_to_buf'] = get(s:c, 'log_to_buf', 0)
-let s:c['vam_log_buffer_name'] = get(s:c, 'vam_log_buffer_name', s:c.plugin_root_dir.'/VAM_LOG.txt')
+let s:c['log_to_buf']  = get(s:c, 'log_to_buf', 0)
+let s:c['log_to_file'] = get(s:c, 'log_to_file', 0)
+let s:c['log_name']    = get(s:c, 'log_name', s:c.plugin_root_dir.'/VAM_LOG.txt')
 
+if s:c['log_to_file'] == 1
+  let s:c['log_lines'] = []
+  call system('touch '.s:c['log_name'])
+endif
 " More options that are used for plugins’ installation are listed in 
 " autoload/vam/install.vim
 
@@ -388,8 +393,11 @@ endfun
 
 " looks like an error but is not. Catches users attention. Logs to :messages
 fun! vam#Log(s, ...)
-  if s:c.log_to_buf
-    silent! exec 'e '.fnameescape(s:c.vam_log_buffer_name)
+  if s:c.log_to_file
+    cal add(s:c.log_lines, a:s)
+    cal writefile(s:c.log_lines, s:c.log_name)
+  elseif s:c.log_to_buf
+    silent! exec 'e '.fnameescape(s:c.log_name)
     cal append('$', split(a:s, "\n", 1))
   else
     let hi = a:0 > 0 ? a:1 : 'WarningMsg'

doc/vim-addon-manager-getting-started.txt

@@ -397,29 +397,31 @@ Also see https://github.com/MarcWeber/vim-addon-manager/issues/77:
     \}
 <
 
-and possibly log_to_buf which will prevent you from having to deal with most
-of those "hit enter to continue" prompts while VAM downloads plugins
+and possibly log_to_buf or log_to_file which will prevent you from having 
+to deal with most of those "hit enter to continue" prompts while VAM 
+downloads plugins.
 
-Also see https://github.com/MarcWeber/vim-addon-manager/issues/79:
->
-  let g:vim_addon_manager = {
-    \'shell_commands_run_method': 'system',
-    \'auto_install': 1,
-    \'log_to_buf': 1,
-    \}
-<
+If you set log_to_buf to 1 then VAM logging output will be subsequently
+visible in your screen as the first open buffer after the plugin 
+installations are complete. You should be able to save this output
+with a simple :w
+
+If you set log_to_file to 1 then VAM logging output will invisble and
+instead sent to an actual file on disk. 
 
-and if you wish, you may customize the location of the VAM log file, just
-use the vam_log_buffer_name option which defaults to a value of VAM_LOG.txt
+You may customize the location of the VAM log file, just
+use the log_name option which defaults to a value of VAM_LOG.txt
 in the VAM plugin's root directory e.g.
 ~/.vim/vim-addons/vim-addon-manager/VAM_LOG.txt
 >
   let g:vim_addon_manager = {
     \'shell_commands_run_method': 'system',
     \'auto_install': 1,
     \'log_to_buf': 1,
-    \'vam_log_buffer_name': '/tmp/vam_install.log',
+    \'log_name': '/tmp/vam_install.log',
     \}
 <
 
+Also see https://github.com/MarcWeber/vim-addon-manager/issues/79:
+
 vim: tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl