How can I add my desired editor to the "update-alternatives" interactive menu?
Solution 1
This is not modified, but the standard Ubuntu behaviour up to Zesty. If you do a ls -l
on vim
(/usr/bin/vim
), you see that it is a link to /etc/alternatives/vim
, which in turn links to /usr/bin/vim.basic
.
Execution of vim --version
or vim.basic --version
also reveals that they are in fact the same full, "giant" vim
version 8.0 without GUI.
To answer your question: Menu choice of vim.basic
gives you the desired full vim
version. It is just that the name is misleading.
Solution 2
First set your editor to the right path:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/editor editor /usr/local/bin/vim && \
sudo update-alternatives --set editor /usr/local/bin/vim
Then aliases:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/vi vi /usr/local/bin/vim 1 && \
sudo update-alternatives --set vi /usr/local/bin/vim
Don't forget the 1 near the end of the first line above.
Solution 3
You can add any new editor and set it as default by using a single command. In this example you would be adding micro editor, located in /usr/bin/micro
as an update alternative editor with a priority of 100
. The command is:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/editor editor /usr/bin/micro 100
The system will use the editor with the highest priority by default if there isn't any previous selection. So, with this single command, you can add a new editor, and use it as the default editor. All you need is that the priority is larger than any of the previous you have in your update-alternatives list.
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the_velour_fog
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
-
the_velour_fog almost 2 years
Ive just installed ubuntu 16.04.2 32 bit on a digital ocean server.
Digital ocean has tweaked the ubuntu install a bit, for example they have installed full vim as part of the block image they use in their VPS's. I now want to use this - pre-installed - vim as my default editor. so I run
sudo update-alternatives --config editor
which gives this menu
$ sudo update-alternatives --config editor There are 4 choices for the alternative editor (providing /usr/bin/editor). Selection Path Priority Status ------------------------------------------------------------ * 0 /bin/nano 40 auto mode 1 /bin/ed -100 manual mode 2 /bin/nano 40 manual mode 3 /usr/bin/vim.basic 30 manual mode 4 /usr/bin/vim.tiny 10 manual mode Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:
note: vim is not there as an option
Im thinking digital ocean has not added the vim install to the update-alternatives system?
What is the recommended way to get the/user/bin/vim
program added to this menu?
I guess I could overwrite the/usr/bin/editor
symlink that the alternatives system adds or maybe add a symlink in/etc/alternatives
pointing to/usr/bin/vim
? but I would like to try the "official" way before I do my "hack" on top of the digital ocean hack. -
vanadium almost 3 yearsThis should be the accepted answer: it answers the question on how to add a custom editor to the alternatives
-
Admin about 2 yearsIf micro was installed with brew the path would be
/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/micro