# Vim documentation: os_haiku

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

    		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL	  by Bram Moolenaar

    							*Haiku*
    This file contains the particularities for the Haiku version of Vim.  For
    matters not discussed in this file, Vim behaves very much like the Unix
    |os_unix.txt| version.

    Haiku is an open-source operating system inspired by BeOS, that specifically
    targets personal computing.

     1. General			|haiku-general|
     2. Compiling Vim		|haiku-compiling|
     3. The Haiku GUI		|haiku-gui|
     4. The $VIM directory		|haiku-vimdir|
     5. The $USER_SETTINGS_DIR
        directory			|haiku-user-settings-dir|
     6. Drag & Drop			|haiku-dragndrop|
     7. Single Launch vs. Multiple
        Launch			|haiku-launch|
     8. Fonts			|haiku-fonts|
     9. The meta key modifier	|haiku-meta|
    10. Mouse key mappings		|haiku-mouse|
    11. Color names			|haiku-colors|
    12. GUI Toolbar Images		|haiku-toolbar-images|
    13. Credits			|haiku-support-credits|
    14. Bugs & to-do		|haiku-bugs|

    1. General						*haiku-general*

    The default syntax highlighting mostly works with different foreground colors
    to highlight items.  This works best if you set your Terminal window to a
    darkish background and light letters.  Some middle-grey background (for
    instance (r,g,b)=(168,168,168)) with black letters also works nicely.

    2. Compiling Vim					*haiku-compiling*

    Vim can be compiled using the standard configure/make approach.  Running
    ./configure without any arguments or passing --enable-gui=haiku, will compile
    vim with the Haiku GUI support.  Run ./configure --help , to find out other
    features you can enable/disable.

    Haiku uses "ncurses6" as its terminal library, therefore you need to have
    "ncurses6_devel" package installed from HaikuDepot in order to configure
    the Haiku build.  Just append "--with-tlib=ncurses" to ./configure command.

    Now you should use "make" to compile Vim, then "make install" to install it.
    For seamless integration into Haiku, the GUI-less vim binary should be
    additionally installed over the GUI version.  Typical build commands are:

      ./configure --prefix=`finddir B_SYSTEM_NONPACKAGED_DIRECTORY` \
        --datarootdir=`finddir B_SYSTEM_NONPACKAGED_DATA_DIRECTORY` \
        --mandir=`finddir B_SYSTEM_NONPACKAGED_DIRECTORY`/documentation/man \
        --with-tlib=ncurses
      make clean
      make install

      ./configure --prefix=`finddir B_SYSTEM_NONPACKAGED_DIRECTORY`  \
        --datarootdir=`finddir B_SYSTEM_NONPACKAGED_DATA_DIRECTORY` \
        --mandir=`finddir B_SYSTEM_NONPACKAGED_DIRECTORY`/documentation/man \
        --with-tlib=ncurses \
        --disable-gui
      make clean
      make install

    3. The Haiku GUI					*haiku-gui*

    Normally Vim starts with the GUI if you start it as gvim or vim -g.  The vim
    version with GUI tries to determine if it was started from the Tracker instead
    of the Terminal, and if so, uses the GUI anyway.  However, the current
    detection scheme is fooled if you use the command "vim - </dev/null".

    Toggling between normal managed window and fullscreen mode can be done by
    pressing <Alt-Enter>.

    Stuff that does not work yet:

    - Mouse up events are not generated when outside the window.  You can notice
      this when selecting text and moving the cursor outside the window, then
      letting go of the mouse button.  Another way is when you drag the scrollbar
      and do the same thing.  Because Vim still thinks you are still playing with
      the scrollbar it won't change it itself.  There is a workaround which kicks
      in when the window is activated or deactivated (so it works best with focus-
      follows-mouse turned on).
    - The cursor does not flash.
    - Switching windows using <C-Tab-Up> and <C-Tab-Down> in Twitcher does not
      work.  This is due to each gvim window being managed by a separate instance
      completely unaware of other vim processes.

    4. The $VIM directory					*haiku-vimdir*

    $VIM is the symbolic name for the place where Vim's support files are stored.
    The default value for $VIM is set at compile time and can be determined with:

      :version

    The normal value is /boot/system/data/vim for Haikuports version,
    /boot/system/non-packaged/data/vim for manual builds.  If you don't like it
    you can set the VIM environment variable to override this, or set 'helpfile'
    in your .vimrc:

      :if version >= 500
      :    set helpfile=~/vim/runtime/doc/help.txt
      :    syntax on
      :endif

    5. The $USER_SETTINGS_DIR directory		*haiku-user-settings-dir*

    $USER_SETTINGS_DIR is the symbolic name for the place where Haiku
    configuration and settings files are stored.

    The normal value is /boot/home/config/settings.

    6. Drag & Drop						*haiku-dragndrop*

    You can drop files and directories on either the Vim icon (starts a new Vim
    session, unless you use the File Types application to set Vim to be "Single
    Launch") or on the Vim window (starts editing the files).  Dropping a folder
    sets Vim's current working directory |:cd| |:pwd|.  If you drop files or
    folders with either SHIFT key pressed, Vim changes directory to the folder
    that contains the first item dropped.  When starting Vim, there is no need to
    press shift: Vim behaves as if you do.

    Files dropped set the current argument list. |argument-list|

    7. Single Launch vs. Multiple Launch			*haiku-launch*

    As distributed Vim's Application Flags (as seen in the FileTypes preference)
    are set to Multiple Launch.  If you prefer, you can set them to Single Launch
    instead.  Attempts to start a second copy of Vim will cause the first Vim to
    open the files instead.  This works from the Tracker but also from the command
    line.  In the latter case, non-file (option) arguments are not supported.
    Another drawback of the Single Launch is silent ignore of "Open With ..."
    requests by vim instance that running as non-GUI application even GUI support
    was compiled in.  Vim instance running with GUI has no such problems.

    NB: Only the GUI version has a BApplication (and hence Application Flags).
    This section does not apply to the GUI-less version, should you compile one.

    8. Fonts						*haiku-fonts*

    Set fonts with

      :set guifont=DejaVu_Sans_Mono/Book/12

    where the first part is the font family, the second part the style, and the
    third part the size.  You can use underscores instead of spaces in family and
    style.

    Best results are obtained with monospaced fonts.  Vim attempts to use all
    fonts in B_FIXED_SPACING mode but apparently this does not work for
    proportional fonts (despite what the BeBook says).

    To verify which encodings are supported by the current font give the

      :digraphs

    command, which lists a bunch of characters with their ISO Latin 1 encoding.
    If, for instance, there are "box" characters among them, or the last character
    isn't a dotted-y, then for this font the encoding does not work.

    If the font you specify is unavailable, you get the system fixed font.

    GUI Font Selection Dialog is available at giving the:

      :set guifont=*

    command.

    9. The meta key modifier				*haiku-meta*

    The META key modifier is obtained by the left or right OPTION keys.  This is
    because the ALT (aka COMMAND) keys are not passed to applications.

    10. Mouse key mappings					*haiku-mouse*

    Vim calls the various mouse buttons LeftMouse, MiddleMouse and RightMouse.  If
    you use the default Mouse preference settings these names indeed correspond to
    reality.  Vim uses this mapping:

        Button 1 -> LeftMouse,
        Button 2 -> RightMouse,
        Button 3 -> MiddleMouse.

    If your mouse has fewer than 3 buttons you can provide your own mapping from
    mouse clicks with modifier(s) to other mouse buttons.  See the file
    $VIM/macros/swapmous.vim for an example.		|gui-mouse-mapping|

    11. Color names						*haiku-colors*

    Vim has a number of color names built-in.  Additional names can be defined in
    |v:colornames|.  See |:colorscheme| for details.

    12. GUI Toolbar Images					*haiku-toolbar-images*

    Alternative set of toolbar images should be the PNG image of any height you
    like.  Image width is calculated to contain at least 32 buttons in one-row
    cells.
    The image should be stored under the name $VIRUNTIME/bitmaps/builtin-tools.png
    More info about the buttons assignment are at |builtin-tools|.

    13. Credits						*haiku-support-credits*

    Haiku port is based on work done for BeOS version by many people
     - BeBox GUI support Copyright 1998 by Olaf Seibert;
    - Ported to R4 by Richard Offer <richard@whitequeen.com> Jul 99;
     - Those who contributed, not listed above but not forgotten;
    - Haiku support by Siarzhuk Zharski <imker@gmx.li> Apr-Mai 2009.

    All the changes and patches released under vim-license.

    Thank you, all!

    14. Bugs & to-do					*haiku-bugs*

    The port is under development now and far away from the perfect state.  For
    bug reports, patches and wishes, please use the Vim mailing list or Vim Github
    repository.

    Mailing list: https://www.vim.org/maillist.php
    Vim Github repository: https://github.com/vim/vim

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