Getting rid of vi color
For some reason, vi (elvis) has started to display colors and behave in a
generally unpredictable way. I first (just now) noticed this in a .h file
in which it is also disallowing things I want to do, e.g. it beeps when I
try to delete (with 'x') the first character of a commented-out line,
although the file is world-writable. It works sometimes, but not after I
have done a search with '/' to get to the line I want to amend.
It turns out that sane behavior can be obtained by deleting or renaming
the directory /etc/elvis. That directory contains 10 files containing
program code in a language unknown to me. Well, I see from the man
page that they are EX commands.
I would like to make a mild protest against the unnecessary complexity
of this setup. I would like to be able to run the program without
interference due to the maintainer's over-elaborate configuration. If
I have to delete the Debian configuration to make the system work, that
tends to defeat much of the rationale for using Debian. And makes the
KISS approach of another distribution appear brilliant, inspired, and
a great time-saver.
The problem with the color is that dark blue against a black screen is
not, for me, very readable. The file is mostly commented out and I
guess the blue signifies that and some people may like it. But I
should think the onus should be on those who want the elaboration
to configure it, rather than for the rest of us to have to learn
more than we wanted to know about vi in order to defeat it.
It is a very good idea to provide full configuration files for
a program if it is configurable; but the default configuration should
produce the default configuration. I.e. /etc/elvis/ should contain
files which explicitly require the default vi behavior. That way,
they serve as documentation for those who might want to investigate
customization.
Regards,
Mike
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