Downloading Vim

Vim is available for many different systems and there are several versions.

This page will help you decide what to download.

Systems

Mirrors

Alternative sites to download Vim files from.

Sources

Build Vim yourself and/or make changes.

Mercurial

Obtain Vim sources with a Mercurial client (recommended).

Patches

Include the latest improvements (requires sources and rebuilding).

Runtime

Get the latest syntax files, documentation, etc..

Script links

Links to individual syntax, indent, color, compiler and ftplugin scripts.

Translations

Non-English documentation packages.

Versions before 7.3 can also be obtained with

Subversion

and

CVS.

Version

Vim 7.3 is the latest stable version. It is highly recommended, many bugs have

been fixed since 7.2 and earlier.

If you have a problem with it (e.g.,

when it's too big for your system), you could try version 6.4 or 5.8 instead.

To avoid having to update this page for every new version, there are

links to the directories. From there select the files you want to download.

In the file names ## stands for the version number. For example,

vim##src.zip

with version 7.3 is vim73src.zip and

vim-##-src.tar.gz for version 7.3

is vim-7.3-src.tar.gz.

Links are provided for quick access to the latest version.

---

Unix

The best way to install Vim on Unix is to use the sources. This requires a

compiler and its support files. Compiling Vim isn't difficult at all.

You can simply type "make install" when you are happy with the default

features. Edit the Makefile in the "src" directory to select specific

features.

You need to download at the sources and the runtime files.

And apply all the latest patches.

For Vim 6 up to 7.2 you can optionally get the "lang" archive, which adds

translated messages and menus. For 7.3 this is included with the runtime files.

Using Mercurial

This is the simplest and most efficient way to obtain the latest version,

including all patches. This requires the "hg" command.

The explanations are on this page:

Mercurial

Summary:

hg clone https://vim.googlecode.com/hg/ vim




cd vim/src




make

Using Aap

Aap is a new tool that does all the work of downloading and patching for you.

You download one file, called a recipe, and "aap install" does all the work.

To later update to the latest version of Vim you do not need to download

anything manually, just use the command "aap update".

The detailed explanation can be found

here.

This does require Python and installing Aap. Please report problems to Bram AT

a-a-p.org.

version 7.x

There is one big file to download that contains almost everything.

It is found in

the unix directory:

The runtime and source files together: vim-##.tar.bz2vim-7.3.tar.bz2

If you would like to use translated messages and menus on Vim 7.2 and earlier,

get an additional archive from

the extra directory:

The language files. vim-##-lang.tar.gzvim-7.2-lang.tar.gz

version 6.x

You have a choice: Either get the one big archive OR get four smaller

ones (that each fit on a floppy disk). They are all in

the unix directory:

The runtime and source files together: vim-##.tar.bz2vim-6.4.tar.bz2

The runtime files part 1: vim-##-rt1.tar.gzvim-6.4-rt1.tar.gz

The runtime files part 2: vim-##-rt2.tar.gzvim-6.4-rt2.tar.gz

The source files part 1: vim-##-src1.tar.gzvim-6.4-src1.tar.gz

The source files part 2. vim-##-src2.tar.gzvim-6.4-src2.tar.gz

If you would like to use translated messages and menus, get an additional

archive from

the extra directory:

The language files. vim-##-lang.tar.gzvim-6.4-lang.tar.gz

version 5.x

There are two files you should both get from

the unix directory:

The runtime files: vim-##-rt.tar.gzvim-5.8-rt.tar.gz

The source files: vim-##-src.tar.gzvim-5.8-src.tar.gz

The files ending in ".tar.gz" are tar archives that are compressed with gzip.

Unpack them with tar -xzf filename.

The single big file ending in ".tar.bz2" is a tar archive compressed with

bzip2. Uncompress and unpack it with

bunzip2 -c filename | tar -xf -.

All archives should be unpacked in the same directory.

If you can't compile yourself or don't want to, look at the site of the

supplier of your Unix version for a packaged Vim executable. For Linux

distributions and FreeBSD these are often available shortly after a new Vim

version has been released. But you can't change the features then.

Debian packages are available at:

http://http://www.zjjv.com///vim.

Sun Solaris Vim is included in the Companion Software:

http://http://www.zjjv.com///software/solaris/freeware/.

Vim for other Sun systems can be found at

http://http://www.zjjv.com///.

HPUX with GTK GUI for various HPUX versions:

http://http://www.zjjv.com//.uk/hppd/hpux/Editors/vim-6.2/ (note that the remark about the GNU GPL is wrong)

---

PC: MS-DOS and MS-Windows

For modern MS-Windows systems (starting with XP) you can simply use the

executable installer:

gvim73_46.exe

It includes GUI and console versions, for 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

You can select what you want to install and includes an uninstaller.

Since there are so many different versions of MS operating systems, there are

several versions of Vim for them.

For Vim 5.x, Vim 6.x and Vim 7 look in

the pc directory.

Self-installing executablegvim##.exe gvim73_46.exe

For Vim 6 and later. This includes a GUI version

of Vim - with many features and OLE support - and all the runtime files.

It works well on MS-Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7.

Use this if you have enough disk space and memory. It's the simplest way to

start using Vim on the PC. The installer allows you to skip the parts you

don't want.

For Vim 6.3 and later it also includes a console version, both for MS-Windows

95/98/ME and MS-Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. The installer automatically

selects the right one.

For the latest version with all patches included see

below. These versions are unofficial, but the download number

is high and complaints are few.

Win64

Native 64-bit binaries for MS-Windows can be found at

http://http://www.zjjv.com///p/vim-win3264/.

The Win32 binaries should run too, but the 64 bit version has a few minor

advantages (see the web page at the link).

Runtime filesvim##rt.zip vim73_46rt.zip

For all the following binary versions you need this runtime archive, which

includes the documentation, syntax files, etc. Always get this, unless you

use the self-installing executable.

There are three versions that run as an MS-Windows application. These provide

menus, scrollbars and a toolbar.

GUI executablegvim##.zip gvim73_46.zip

This is the "normal" GUI version.

OLE GUI executablegvim##ole.zip gvim73_46ole.zip

A GUI version with OLE support. This offers a few extra features,

such as integration with Visual Developer Studio. But it uses quite a bit

more memory.

Win32s GUI executablegvim##_s.zip gvim73_46_s.zip

GUI version for Windows 3.1 with win32s support. (Not available for Vim 6.2 and 6.3)

A true Windows 3.1 version can be found here:

http://www.bulbous.freeserve.co.uk/vim16.html

There are three versions that run on MS-DOS or in a console window in

MS-Windows:

16 bit DOS executablevim##d16.zip vim71d16.zip

The 16 bit DOS version is the only one that runs on old MS-DOS systems. Only

use this if you are really desparate, because it excludes many useful features

(such as syntax highlighting and long file names) and quickly runs out of

memory.

The last version available is 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 are too big to fit in the DOS memory

model.

32 bit DOS executablevim##d32.zip vim73_46d32.zip

The 32 bit DOS version works well on MS-Windows 95/98/ME. It requires a DPMI

manager, which needs to be installed on MS-DOS. MS-Windows already has one.

It supports long file names, but NOT on MS-Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. It is

compiled with "big" features.

Win32 console executablevim##w32.zip vim73_46w32.zip

The Win32 console version works well on MS-Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7. It

supports long file names and is compiled with "big" features. It does not run

perfectly well on MS-Windows 95/98/ME, especially when resizing the console

window (this may crash MS-Windows...).

There are a few extra files:

iconv librarylibiconv

A library used for converting character sets.

Put "iconv.dll" in the same directory as gvim.exe to be able to edit files in

many encodings. You can find the dll file in the bin directory of the

"libiconv-win32" archive.

newer intl librarylibintl

The included libintl.dll does not support encoding conversion.

If you have installed the iconv library, as mentioned above, you can install a

gettext library that uses it.

Get "intl.dll" from the bin directory in the gettext-win32 archive and store it

as "libintl.dll" in the same directory as gvim.exe, overwriting the file

that may already be there.

PC sourcesvim##src.zip vim73_46src.zip

The source files, packed for the PC. This only includes the files needed on

the PC, not for other systems. The files are in dos format CR-LF.

PC debug filesgvim##.pdb gvim73_46.pdbgvim##ole.pdb gvim73_46ole.pdbvim##w32.pdb vim73_46w32.pdb

When you notice a bug or a crash in Vim these files can be used to help tracing down the problem. In Vim 7 do ":help debug-win32" to see how.

PC translationsvim##lang.zip vim72lang.zip

Only for 7.2 and earlier, for 7.3 these are included in the "rt" archive.

Translated messages and menu files, packed for the PC. Use this to see

non-English menus. The messages are only translated when the libintl.dll

library is installed.

Windows 3.1 GUI executablegvim##w16.zip and gvim##m16.zip

These are GUI versions for 16 bit windows (Windows 3.1). The "w16" has many

features, "m16" has few features (for when you're short on memory).

The files ending in ".zip" can be unpacked with any unzip program.

Make sure you unpack them all in the same directory!

Alternate distributions

For an unofficial version that does include all the latest patches and

optionally a bit

more: Cream.

The "one-click installer" mentioned includes the Cream changes.

For the "real Vim" use the "without Cream" version listed further down.

You may also try ,

executables with slightly different interfaces supported.

For a Cygwin binary look at .

---

Amiga

Quite a long time ago, Vim development started on the Amiga. Although it's a

really old system now, it might still work. However, this has not been tested

recently.

You may have to use an older version for which Amiga binaries are available.

For Vim 5.x and Vim 6 look in

the amiga directory.

Vim 7 files can be found at

os4depot.net. This is for AmigaOS 4. Made by Peter Bengtsson.

Runtime filesvim##rt.tgz vim64rt.tgz

Documentation, syntax files, etc. You always need this.

Executablevim##bin.tgz vim64bin.tgz

The executables for Vim and Xxd.

For Vim 6 it includes "big" features, for Vim 5.x it

includes the normal features.

For Vim 6.2 it is not available (my Amiga had harddisk problems then, this miraculously healed later).

Big executablevim##big.tgz

Vim with "big" features and Xxd. Only for Vim 5.x.

Sourcesvim##src.tgz vim64src.tgz

The source files for the Amiga.

Only needed when you want to compile Vim yourself.

The files are all tar archives, compressed with gzip. To unpack, first

uncompress them with gzip -d filename. Then unpack with

tar xf filename. You need to unpack the archives in the same

directory.

---

OS/2

The OS/2 version runs in a console window.

For Vim 5.x and Vim 6 look in

the os2 directory.

Version 6.2 is not available.

Versions 6.3 and 6.4 were compiled by David Sanders.

Version 7.0 was compiled by David Sanders.

Runtime filesvim##rt.zip vim70rt.zip

Documentation, syntax files, etc. You always need this.

Executablesvim##os2.zip vim70os2.zip

Vim, Xxd, Tee and EMX libraries.

The files ending in ".zip" can be unpacked with any unzip program.

Make sure you both zip archives in the same directory!

If you want to compile the OS/2 version, you need the EMX compiler. Use the

Unix source archive, runtime files and the extra archive. After unpacking the

runtime archive, move all the files and directories in the "runtime"

directory one level up.

---

Macintosh

The Macintosh binaries are not on the Vim ftp site. They are produced by a few

Macintosh lovers. Often they lag behind a few versions.

Since MacOS 10.3 the "vi" program is actually a console version of Vim 6.2 or

later. It has few features. If you want a GUI version or more features Vim

needs to be installed separately.

There are currently two kinds of Vim for Macintosh:

Using the Cocoa GUI. Also known as MacVim. This is the latest and is

being actively developed. This behaves like a Mac application.

Using the Carbon GUI. This is an older way of doing things and isn't

updated much any more. This behaves more like Vim on Unix.

Cocoa (MacVim)

MacVim has more a Mac look and feel, is developed actively and most people

prefer this version. Most of MacVim was made by Bjrn Winckler.

MacVim can be downloaded here: http://http://www.zjjv.com///p/macvim/

New versions are made quite often.

Subscribe to the

to be informed about bugs and updates.

Carbon

Recent binaries for Mac OS/X can be found on this

SourceForge project.

Maintained by Nicholas Stallard.

Others

There are several versions of Vim 6.x for Mac OS on

http://http://www.zjjv.com///.

A GUI version for MacOS Classic (7 - 9) compiled by Axel Kielhorn can

be found at http://http://www.zjjv.com///MacClassic/.

A GUI version for MacOS X 10.1 compiled by Benji Fisher can be found

at http://http://www.zjjv.com///OSX/.

This version does not work with MacOS X 10.2 (Jaguar). A special version that

runs only on 10.2 is provided at the same location.

There is also a version for Mac OSX that works in a terminal window and a GUI

version for X11 with GTK (produced by Marc Liyanage):

Here is a multi-byte version of Vim 5.7 (for Japanese, possibly also for

Korean and Chinese; not for Unicode):

http://www-imai.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~asai/macvim-e.html

Most of the work for

the Macintosh port (Classic and Carbon) was done by Dany St-Amant.

If you have OSX and a setup for compiling programs, you can use the Unix and

Extra source code archives and compile yourself. See the Unix section

above.The development tools can be downloaded from Apple's developer web site.

Hint: stuffit expander can handle .bz2 files.

Turn to to meet other

Vim-Mac users.

---

Others

This is a list of links to sites where various versions of Vim can be obtained.

These are supported by individuals, use at your own risk.

Android

Search for "Vim Touch" by Momodalo in the Play Store.

i/OS

Run Vim on your iPhone or Ipad.

QNX

Provided by Yakov Zaytsev. Requires QNX 6.3.0/6.3.2 with service pack 2.

Agenda

http://http://www.zjjv.com///jstarship_2001/vim-tru64.html

Cygwin (console)

http://http://www.zjjv.com///packages/vim/

Installing is done with the Cygwin

setup.exe.

Cygwin (with GTK GUI)

http://http://www.zjjv.com///vim/

RISC OS

http://http://www.zjjv.com//.uk/ (sorry, currently doesn't appear to work...)

MorphOS

http://http://www.zjjv.com///index_vim.html