Installing VIM on pfSense ¿Should I?
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Hi all!
I wanted to know There is a package of VIM for pfsense? and how can I install it? There are risk of data loss or screwing up all the configuration?I really got lost when i tryed to use VI so I wanted something more friendly (besides, it is faster than the webconfigurator file editor)
Thanks in advance!
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If you don't like "vi" you can use "ee" (which is also included)
If you want to install "vim": https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Installing_FreeBSD_Packages
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If you want an easy editor try the Nano editor. It is available as a package.
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Thank you very much, both alternatives worked for me! ;D
but… just being curious... I've heard that installing packages not listed in pfsense isn't a good idea. Will you install VIM if you were in my place?Greetings and thank you again!.
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The only program I have installed is usbmodeswitcher. I guess it depends on how bad you need it and how much you trust the source.
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If the problem is "really got lost when i tryed to use VI" a.k.a. "Ctrl+Alt+Del me outta this damned thing" then I don't think "replacing" that with vim will make you any less lost… :P ee is good alternative for those who don't want to exit text editors by kill -9 or reboot.
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If the problem is "really got lost when i tryed to use VI" a.k.a. "Ctrl+Alt+Del me outta this damned thing" then I don't think "replacing" that with vim will make you any less lost… :P ee is good alternative for those who don't want to exit text editors by kill -9 or reboot.
I tried ee, but I got lost when I couldn't exit with <esc>:wq
;-)</esc>
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Seriously, who doesn't know vi? It's been around for decades and is available by default on everything, so you're better off learning its basic usage.
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@KOM:
Seriously, who doesn't know vi? It's been around for decades and is available by default on everything, so you're better off learning its basic usage.
Or for the caffeinated:
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I installed vim, but the dependencies list was HUGE. Very confusing as some of the stuff I'm almost certain it doesn't need.
I just hope it doesn't break pfSense upgrades.
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I just hope it doesn't break pfSense upgrades.
And yet you would rather do that and risk it instead of just learning 5-6 basic vi commands.
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VI scares me a lot (I admit it), VIM is more "friendly" so, to me, the chances to get lost are extremely lower but, indeed, VIM needs a lot of dependencies. For now I'll try ee, and will read the cheatsheet of VI posted by KOM (and, hopefully, I can deg delivered a VI reference coffe mug [Thanks jimp]) I hope to founding myself using VI in a couple of days.
Thank You! -
@KOM:
Seriously, who doesn't know vi? It's been around for decades and is available by default on everything, so you're better off learning its basic usage.
It depends on your background.
It may be default on routers with limited resources where it compiled into busybox, but where I have mostly used it has been on Linux and that always has vim as default.
It makes zero sense spending hours learning the syntax of vi to do an edit that would take second in vim. Even OpenWRT has a vim compatibility mode, it seems backwards that pfSense doesn't to me. Its like its deliberately designed to be harder to use than necessary.
If the problem is "really got lost when i tryed to use VI" a.k.a. "Ctrl+Alt+Del me outta this damned thing" then I don't think "replacing" that with vim will make you any less lost… :P ee is good alternative for those who don't want to exit text editors by kill -9 or reboot.
No, the problem is that many of us are coming from Linux where vim has been the default for about 15 years now.
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It makes zero sense spending hours learning the syntax of vi to do an edit that would take second in vim.
Huh? The basic stuff is exact same crap. The rest, if you want to do hours of editing, do it elsewhere with editor of your choice, or install one via pkg.
No, the problem is that many of us are coming from Linux where vim has been the default for about 15 years now.
AFAICT pretty much every sane distro out there sets $EDITOR to something like nano… Because people just don't want to learn vi, vim, or any similar frenzy. There don't want to reboot their boxes to get out of mad text editor designed for mad geeks.
On another note - you are not supposed to mess with anything in console directly, it's not needed for anything. So, having two editors there (one actually usable by anyone and the other being the the legacy POSIX-"mandatory" thing), is more than enough I'd say?!?
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@KOM:
Seriously, who doesn't know vi? It's been around for decades and is available by default on everything, so you're better off learning its basic usage.
It depends on your background.
It may be default on routers with limited resources where it compiled into busybox, but where I have mostly used it has been on Linux and that always has vim as default.
BSDbox looks to be the equivalent of busybox, havent looked to see what packages are available in bsdbox though.BSDbox appears to be for freshBSD, and busybox is ported to freebsd.
http://portsmon.freebsd.org/portoverview.py?category=sysutils&portname=busybox
http://www.busybox.net/Personally I quite like busybox as its a nice cut down lean mean environment.
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Long story short, to install regular vim just do...
pkg-static install vim-console or pkg install vim-consolemy pfSense version is 2.4.4 by the way
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@mohammad-0 said in Installing VIM on pfSense ¿Should I?:
Long story short, to install regular vim just do...
Tnx.
I've used vim for many years and much prefer it to the vi included with pfSense.
