# Vim documentation: os_390

main help file

    *os_390.txt*	For Vim version 9.2.  Last change: 2026 Feb 14

    		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL	  by Ralf Schandl

    					*zOS* *z/OS* *OS390* *os390* *MVS*
    This file contains the particulars for the z/OS UNIX version of Vim.

    1. ASCII/EBCDIC dependent scripts	|zOS-has-ebcdic|
    2. Putty and Colors                     |zOS-PuTTY|
    3. Motif Problems			|zOS-Motif|
    4. Bugs					|zOS-Bugs|
    5. Limitations				|zOS-limitations|
    6. Open source on z/OS UNIX		|zOS-open-source|

    Contributors:
    The port to z/OS UNIX was done by Ralf Schandl for the Redbook mentioned
    below.

    Changes, bug-reports, or both by:

    	David Moore
    	Anthony Giorgio
    	and others

    ==============================================================================

    1. ASCII/EBCDIC dependent scripts	*OS390-has-ebcdic* *zOS-has-ebcdic*

    For the internal script language the feature "ebcdic" was added.  With this
    you can fix ASCII dependent scripts like this:

        if has("ebcdic")
    	let space = 64
        else
    	let space = 32
        endif

    ==============================================================================

    2. PuTTY and Colors			*OS390-PuTTY* *zOS-PuTTY*

    If you see problems with syntax highlighting or screen corruptions when you
    connect to z/OS using Putty, try the following:

    - Configure Putty as "vt220" terminal (Connection->Data)
    - Add the following 3 lines to your vimrc:

        set t_AB=[4%p1%dm
        set t_AF=[3%p1%dm
        set t_CO=8

    Note:  is one character use <C-V><Esc> to enter it.

    ==============================================================================

    3. Motif Problems			*OS390-Motif* *zOS-Motif*

    Note: Seen with Vim 6.*, never tested since.

    It seems that in porting the Motif library to z/OS, a translation from EBCDIC
    to ASCII for the accelerator characters of the pull-down menus was forgotten.
    Even after I tried to hand convert the menus, the accelerator keys continued
    to only work for the opening of menus (like <Alt-F> to open the file menu).
    They still do not work for the menu items themselves (like <Alt-F>O to open
    the file browser).

    There is no solution for this yet.

    ==============================================================================

    4. Bugs					*OS390-bugs* *zOS-Bugs*

    - Vim will consistently hang when a large amount of text is selected in
      visual block mode.  This may be due to a memory corruption issue.  Note that
      this occurs in both the terminal and gui versions.

    ==============================================================================

    5. Limitations				*OS390-limitations* *zOS-limitations*

    - No binary search in tag files.
      The program /bin/sort sorts by ASCII value by default.  This program is
      normally used by ctags to sort the tags.  There might be a version of
      ctags out there, that does it right, but we can't be sure.  So this seems to
      be a permanent restriction.

    - The cscope interface (|cscope|) doesn't work for the version of cscope that
      we use on our mainframe.  We have a copy of version 15.0b12, and it causes
      Vim to hang when using the "cscope add" command.  I'm guessing that the
      binary format of the cscope database isn't quite what Vim is expecting.
      I've tried to port the current version of cscope (15.3) to z/OS, without
      much success.  If anyone is interested in trying, drop me a line if you
      make any progress.

    - No glib/gtk support.  I have not been able to successfully compile glib on
      z/OS UNIX.  This means you'll have to live without the pretty gtk toolbar.

    Disabled at compile time:
        - Multibyte support         (|multibyte|)
        - Right-to-left mode        (|rileft|)
        - Farsi key map             (|Farsi|)
        - Arabic language support   (|Arabic|)
        - Spell checking            (|spell|)

    Never tested:
        - Perl interface		(|perl|)
        - Hangul input		(|hangul|)
        - Encryption support	(|encryption|)
        - Langmap			('langmap')
        - Python support		(|Python|)
        - Right-to-left mode	('rightleft')
        - TCL interface		(|tcl|)
        ...

    ==============================================================================

    6. Open source on z/OS UNIX		*OS390-open-source* *zOS-open-source*

    If you are interested in other Open Source Software on z/OS UNIX, have a
    look at the following Redbook:

        Mike MacIsaac et al
        "Open Source Software for z/OS and OS/390 UNIX"
        IBM Form Number: SG24-5944-01
        ISBN: 0738424633
    	http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/resources/servers_eserver_zseries_zos_unix_redbook_sg245944.pdf

    Also look at:
    	http://www.redbooks.ibm.com
    	http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/features/unix/
    	http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/features/unix/library/IBM+Redbooks/index.html

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    top - main help file