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From: wyle@inf.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: vi:Too much macro text
Summary: use macro families
Keywords: macro families
Message-ID: <27481@neptune.inf.ethz.ch>
Date: 13 Mar 91 17:11:59 GMT
References: <1991Mar7.203635.1190@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> <1991Mar09.003517.5155@convex.com> <1991Mar12.184615.3940@eci386.uucp>
Sender: news@neptune.inf.ethz.ch
Reply-To: wyle@inf.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle)
Organization: Departement Informatik, ETH, Zurich
Lines: 25

In <1991Mar12.184615.3940@eci386.uucp> jmm@eci386.UUCP (John Macdonald) says:

>While I've never tripped over that particular problem, I
>would suggest that it can probably be worked around by
>setting environment variable EXINIT to "source $HOME/.exglobalrc"
>so that it is being included explicitly by name instead of
>implicitly because it matches the default name.  However,
>I'm not sure offhand whether this will interfere with the
>automatic inclusion of a .exrc file that *is* in the
>current directory, if you ever really want that to occur.

I personally don't like directory-specific .exrc files; I don't think
the vi designers did, either.

In keeping with this same philosophy, I create macro families in
/usr/local/lib/vi/.  When you are in the middle of an edit session and
type reach for that wonderful macro --and it isn't there-- you just
source (:so) the appropriate macro family.  Our library currently
contains a family for modula-2, one for LaTeX, a few different ones for
C, and m6 (mitch's minimal mail message manipulating mechanism). I
think it's the most effective way to deal with the macro text limit.
That directory also has Maaaaaarten Litmath's reference guide, the
berkely tutorials, and some template files.

De gustebus non est disputandem.