vim is a popular text editor used to edit text, create applications and change configuration. vim is a Linux based tool where it is also cloned into other platforms like Windows, MacOS, BSD, etc. vim is a console, command-line based tool which is used with some keyboard shortcuts. Gvim is the graphical version of the vim which supports all vim features and adds extra GUI for vim usage. In this tutorial, we will learn how to download and install Gvim for different platforms like Windows, Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, CentOS, Fedora, RedHat.
Download and Install For Windows
Gvim supports Windows platform with Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows Server operating systems. We can use the following link in order to download Gvim for Windows.
https://www.vim.org/download.php
In the following screen, we can see that the current version of the vim and Gvim is 8.2. There is two Gvim versions which are Sel-installing executable and Zipped GUI executable which do not requires installation.
We can also download from the following link directly. The size of the Gvim instaler named gvim82.exe is about 8.8 MB which will be downloaded very fast in most of the cases.
https://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/vim/pc/gvim82.exe
If we are using modern windows operating systems like Windows 8 or Windows 10 we will see a screen like below which will simply say that the applications are not signed by a truster publisher and whether we want to continue. We will simply click to Run anyway.
We need some administrative rights which will be provided with the following screen by clicking Yes.
We will select the installation language which is English by default which is ok for us.
In the following screen, we will simply click Yes.
We will accept the Gvim license agreement by clicking I accept the terms of the License Agreement.
In the following screen, we will select the components and set some configuration.
- `Vim GUI and runtime files` provides Gvim and core files which can not be deselected.
- `Vim console program` will install vim console or command line version.
- `Create .bat file` will install some automated bat files.
- `Create icons for Vim` will create Vim icons.
- `Add Vim Context Menu` will an item to the `Open with …` menu.
- `Create Default Config` will create the default configuration of the GVim.
- `Create Plugin Directories` will create the vim plugin directories.
- `Native Language Support ` will install different languages for GVim.
In the following screen, we will set some important GVim configuration which is stored in vimrc file.
- `Vi/Vim Behavior` will set the vim configuration loading behavior.
- `Mappings` will set keymaps or keyboard short cuts like Ctrl+V , Ctrl+C, etc.
- `Mouse` will set the mouse or touchpad left and right buttons.
In the following screen, we will select the installation path or directory which is C:\Program Files (x86)\Vim.
The installation process is like below where we can see details by clicking show details.
When the installation is completed successfully we will see the following screen.
The GVim is like below which contains very useful GUI for a command line or console-based tools.
Download and Install For Ubuntu, Debian, Mint
We can download and install GVim for deb based distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, and Mint by using apt command-line tool or GUI package manager. In this case, we will install from the command line where GVim is provided with the package name vim-gtk.
$ sudo apt install vim-gtk
We can run from the start menu or just with gvim command from the command line like below.
$ gvim
Download and Install For CentOS, Fedora, RedHat
In rpm-based distributions, GVim package is named vim-X11 but we can use the term gvim as package name too.
$ sudo dnf install gvim