Configure Vim for Darwin in nix-darwin
In a previous post I explored installing Nix and
nix-darwin. The first program I installed was Vim though
nixpkgs.vim_configurable in order to get +python3 support. I quickly
realized that access to the system clipboard was gone. My setting
set clipboard^=unnamed
no longer did me any favors. So I did some digging.
$ vim --version
...
+acl -farsi +mouse_sgr +tag_binary
+arabic +file_in_path -mouse_sysmouse -tag_old_static
+autocmd +find_in_path +mouse_urxvt -tag_any_white
+autochdir +float +mouse_xterm -tcl
-autoservername +folding +multi_byte +termguicolors
+balloon_eval -footer +multi_lang +terminal
+balloon_eval_term +fork() -mzscheme +terminfo
+browse +gettext +netbeans_intg +termresponse
++builtin_terms -hangul_input +num64 +textobjects
+byte_offset +iconv +packages +textprop
+channel +insert_expand +path_extra +timers
+cindent +ipv6 -perl +title
+clientserver +job +persistent_undo +toolbar
+clipboard +jumplist +popupwin +user_commands
+cmdline_compl +keymap +postscript +vartabs
+cmdline_hist +lambda +printer +vertsplit
+cmdline_info +langmap +profile +virtualedit
+comments +libcall -python +visual
+conceal +linebreak +python3 +visualextra
+cryptv +lispindent +quickfix +viminfo
+cscope +listcmds +reltime +vreplace
+cursorbind +localmap +rightleft +wildignore
+cursorshape +lua +ruby +wildmenu
+dialog_con_gui +menu +scrollbind +windows
+diff +mksession +signs +writebackup
+digraphs +modify_fname +smartindent +X11
+dnd +mouse -sound -xfontset
-ebcdic +mouseshape +spell +xim
+emacs_tags +mouse_dec +startuptime +xpm
+eval -mouse_gpm +statusline -xsmp
+ex_extra -mouse_jsbterm -sun_workshop +xterm_clipboard
+extra_search +mouse_netterm +syntax -xterm_save
...
As it turns out, Vim was also compiled with +X11 and +xterm_clipboard. Aha!
So Vim uses the X11 selection mechanism for copy and paste instead of macOS'
system clipboard. That kind of sucks. So how to we get Vim to interoperate with
the * or + registers?
We could of course install XQuartz and configure it to "Update Pasteboard immediately when new text is selected". That'll do the trick. But what if XQuartz is not running when we first start Vim? It will start automatically, but we get an unnacceptable start time. Waiting for several seconds in addition to having to install yet another thing I don't really want is not the way to go. There has to be another way.
Looking at the source for vim_configurable we see
, features ? "huge" # One of tiny, small, normal, big or huge
, wrapPythonDrv ? false
, guiSupport ? config.vim.gui or (if stdenv.isDarwin then "gtk2" else "gtk3")
, luaSupport ? config.vim.lua or true
, perlSupport ? config.vim.perl or false # Perl interpreter
, pythonSupport ? config.vim.python or true # Python interpreter
, rubySupport ? config.vim.ruby or true # Ruby interpreter
, nlsSupport ? config.vim.nls or false # Enable NLS (gettext())
, tclSupport ? config.vim.tcl or false # Include Tcl interpreter
, multibyteSupport ? config.vim.multibyte or false # Enable multibyte editing support
, cscopeSupport ? config.vim.cscope or true # Enable cscope interface
, netbeansSupport ? config.netbeans or true # Enable NetBeans integration support.
, ximSupport ? config.vim.xim or true # less than 15KB, needed for deadkeys
, darwinSupport ? config.vim.darwin or false # Enable Darwin support
, ftNixSupport ? config.vim.ftNix or true # Add .nix filetype detection and minimal syntax highlighting support
, ...
guiSupport populates the --enable-gui flag and darwinSupport (false by
default) will set the --disable-darwin flag. When darwinSupport is set to
true, the --enable-darwin flag is set instead. Let's edit our darwin-configuration.nix
...
environment.systemPackages = [
...
config.programs.vim.package
...
];
...
programs.vim.package = pkgs.vim_configurable.override {
python = pkgs.python3;
guiSupport = "no";
darwinSupport = true;
};
...
Then we $ darwin-rebuild switch and wait for the compilation to finish.
$ vim --version
...
+acl -farsi +mouse_sgr +tag_binary
+arabic +file_in_path -mouse_sysmouse -tag_old_static
+autocmd +find_in_path +mouse_urxvt -tag_any_white
+autochdir +float +mouse_xterm -tcl
-autoservername +folding +multi_byte +termguicolors
-balloon_eval -footer +multi_lang +terminal
+balloon_eval_term +fork() -mzscheme +terminfo
-browse +gettext +netbeans_intg +termresponse
++builtin_terms -hangul_input +num64 +textobjects
+byte_offset +iconv +packages +textprop
+channel +insert_expand +path_extra +timers
+cindent +ipv6 -perl +title
-clientserver +job +persistent_undo -toolbar
+clipboard +jumplist +popupwin +user_commands
+cmdline_compl +keymap +postscript +vartabs
+cmdline_hist +lambda +printer +vertsplit
+cmdline_info +langmap +profile +virtualedit
+comments +libcall -python +visual
+conceal +linebreak +python3 +visualextra
+cryptv +lispindent +quickfix +viminfo
+cscope +listcmds +reltime +vreplace
+cursorbind +localmap +rightleft +wildignore
+cursorshape +lua +ruby +wildmenu
+dialog_con +menu +scrollbind +windows
+diff +mksession +signs +writebackup
+digraphs +modify_fname +smartindent -X11
-dnd +mouse -sound -xfontset
-ebcdic -mouseshape +spell -xim
+emacs_tags +mouse_dec +startuptime -xpm
+eval -mouse_gpm +statusline -xsmp
+ex_extra -mouse_jsbterm -sun_workshop -xterm_clipboard
+extra_search +mouse_netterm +syntax -xterm_save
...
Boom! -X11 and -xterm_clipboard is exactly what we want to see. We now have
access to the system clipboard again and everything is back to normal.