vpacks

A light command-line package manager for vim 8 (or nvim), written in python.

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Installation

mkdir ~/.vim/pack/vpacks/opt
cd ~/.vim/pack/vpacks/opt
git clone https://github.com/mg979/vim-packs

Then in your vimrc:

packadd vim-packs

If you want shell completion, also source the optional shell script in your .bashrc:

source ~/.vim/pack/vpacks/opt/vim-packs/vpacks.sh

You should then make a link to the executable in a directory in your path, eg:

ln -s ~/.vim/pack/vpacks/opt/vim-packs/vpacks ~/.local/bin/vpacks

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Options

Commands (list, update, etc) are performed on all packages if given without arguments.

Options are described in the command line help:

vpacks              // no arguments -> short help
vpacks -h           // full help

The list command also shows if there are modified/untracked files in the working tree of the plugin:

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Installing packages

vpacks install user/repo

The script recognizes the following formats for remote repositories:

• user/plugin: a GitHub repository
• gh/user/plugin: same
• gl/user/plugin: a GitLab repository
• http(s)://...: any repository

Repositories are cloned with --depth 1 (shallow clones) to save disk space.

The default directory when installing is vpacks, in the opt subdirectory (so for example ~/.vim/pack/vpacks/opt/plugin-name), you can specify a different directory with the dir= option, or vpacks install start to install in the start subdirectory. Read the help for details.

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Vim support plugin

Some VimL commands are included for convenience, even if they aren't necessary to use the plugins. See :help vpacks

You can run the shell command from vim, in a terminal buffer if supported:

Vpacks [arguments]

NOTE: the following commands aren't necessary for the plugins to work, if you put them in your pack/*/start/ directories. They actually only make sense if you keep your plugins in the pack/*/opt/ directories. Only use them if:

• you want to lazy load some plugins
• you want greater control on which plugins to load
• you want a way to have from Vim an overview of the installed plugins
• for an easier transition from another plugin manager

The syntax is meant to be very similar to the one used by vim-plug. Implementation is still partial, only on and for options are supported.

" first add vpacks itself, so that commands will run
" don't use bang, and be sure that vpacks is in a /opt directory, not in /start
packadd vim-packs

" packadd! a plugin, complete with repo address
Pack 'tpope/vim-surround'

" packadd a plugin, complete with repo address
" note that the bang will cause the packadd command to be called *without* bang
" that means that the package will be immediately added to the runtimepath
" and sourced, see ':help initialization'
Pack! 'vim-airline/vim-airline'

" a local plugin can still be updated, if it is a valid repo with remotes
Pack 'vim-fugitive'

" lazy load plugins for specific filetypes
Pack 'davidhalter/jedi-vim', {'for': 'python'}

" lazy load plugins on specific commands
Pack 'Olical/vim-enmasse', { 'on': 'EnMasse' }

" also working with lists, and plugs
Pack 'mhinz/vim-grepper', { 'on': ['Grepper', '<plug>(GrepperOperator)'] }

" not a package, but add to runtimepath anyway, cannot be installed or updated
Pack 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf' }

" installed packages overview, and errors about missing packages
:PacksList

" try to install missing packages (it won't work with local plugins)
:PacksInstall

TODO: post-install/update hooks