Re: Vim Arabic patch update needed

[Steve Hall <digitect at mindspring dot com>]

Nadim Shaikli wrote:
> --- Steve Hall <digitect mindspring com> wrote:
> > I maintain some Windows platform binaries of Vim, and was recently
> > contacted by someone requesting patch information for Arabic
> > support....
> >
> > I'd like to create a binary with this patched in, but need the
> > author (Nadim Shaikli?) to help me create a new patch against
> > current Vim source.
>
> Greetings, for me to keep the patch upto date with each minor change
> to the CVS Vim code would mean that I would have to drop everything
> else that I'm doing and simply keep and eye on Vim development
> (which I did in the early days - about 1.5 years ago) - since then
> we've made a conscious decision to simply patch the released
> versions.

I'm not asking for updates at each Vim patch... I just need a current
snapshot to test. If I can make binaries available with it, we could
generate much more feedback. Bram is understandably concerned about
adding significant code changes without testing, especially in the
larger community and across multiple platforms.

> If Bram (Vim's maintainer) finally decides to include the patch, I
> would be more than happy to update the patch to reflect whatever is
> in the repository, but until then its simply a game of cat-n-mouse.

I prefer chicken-and-egg -- without testing, no inclusion; without
inclusion, no patch updates. Somebody has to give a little. ;) I think
Bram has opened the door to including it contingent on more feedback.

> In short, I/we would love to do this, but we want to make sure we
> are not simply coding-up changes awaiting more changes to come - so
> if there is a commitment from the maintainer to include it then
> we're ready to stomp on this thing once-n-for-all :-)  Hope that
> helps.

I think I understand. I'm in no position to help you other than to
make binaries available for others. (I myself have a few wish list
items still on the ToDo.) I'm by no means any official Vim distributor
or developer, with no special influences on Bram.

But I'm involved with the Vim lists and get a respectable amount of
traffic to our Vim site. I was hoping help the Arabeyes community.
Bram just needs to feel more comfortable with it among a larger
population of users. With you and I working together, I think we can
solve this.

All I can do is promise to include your patch in our binaries and not
update them without it. When Windows users start clamoring for more
current patch levels from us, we then have some leverage to explain
why your patch should be official. We can also be another source for
downloading it and explaining our goal. I'll also see about getting
some Unix RPMs rolled with it, too.


Steve Hall  [ digitect(at)mindspring(dot)com ]