ubuntu server 11.04

[Avi Greenbury]

Tom H wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 3:57 AM, Avi Greenbury <lists at avi.co> wrote:
> > Janne Jokitalo wrote:
> >
> >> But it generally considered wiser to instruct using nano, which is
> >> (also?) installed by default, and has no stripped-down version
> >> anyhow.
> >
> > There is no vim by default, either - only vi.
> 
> Of course vim's installed by default. In fact, there's probably no
> "real" vi - unless vim.tiny is vi.
> 
> Give "update-alternatives --list vi" a try...
> 

Well, yes. vim.tiny is installed, and it's more accurate to refer to
that as 'vim' than 'not vim'. But what I meant was that by default, if
he tries to do

vim /path/to/file.xml

As in the earlier message, he will be met with words to the effect of
"Vim cannot be found, try installing one of these packages" followed by
a list of vim-* packages It must, again by default, either be invoked
as 'vi' (which might as well be vi) or 'vim.tiny'. 

In short, if someone is asking how to edit a text file in a terminal, I
don't think part of the how-to should include:

 - a tutorial on vi
 - a tutorial on vim
 - an explanation of how to change the default editor
 - an explanation of how to invoke vim.tiny as vim rather than vi

Because none of those are necessary. It should explain how to use the
perfectly workable (unless you already know some other editor, in which
case the question is moot) nano. Which is there and working and
predictable and friendly, if a little slow, by default.

-- 
Avi