Announcing: Vim (Vi IMproved) version 7.0e BETA


This is the fourth BETA release of Vim 7. It appears to be quite stable
and about ready for daily use, but I would like to do some more testing
to be sure.

We are getting closer to a release. Please report every problem you
find!

Since the third BETA release a few more things were improved, here is
a summary:
- Added CTRL-W T: move a window to a new tab page.
- Fixed a crash on startup in the code that sets $MYVIMRC.
- The Win32 install program didn't use the "All Users" but the
administrator directory.
- In spell files hide the || and ** around tags to make commands easier
to read.
- Added "tabpages" to 'sessionoptions'. A session can now also restore
the tab pages.
- When completing menu names, e.g., after ":emenu", don't sort the
entries but keep them in the original order.
- When a list is indexed with [a : b] and b was greater than the length
an error message was given. Now silently truncate the result.
- The extra files for XML Omni completion are now also installed.
- Added the 'M' flag to 'cinoptions'.
- Added gettabwinvar() and settabwinvar().
- For Hungarian the Myspell dictionary is now used again. I gave up on
using the Hunspell one, it has too many words. Making this work would
require too many changes to the code.
- A series of bug fixes, see the end of ":help version7".

Since Vim 6.4 many new features have been added. To mention a few:

- Spell checking support for about 50 languages
- Intelligent completion: Omni completion
- Tab pages, each containing multiple windows
- Undo branches: never accidentally lose text again
- Vim script supports Lists and Dictionaries (similar to Python)
- Vim script profiling
- Improved Unicode support
- Highlighting of matching parens, cursor line and cursor column
- Translated manual pages support.
- Internal grep; works on all platforms, searches compressed files
- Browsing of remote directories, zip and tar archives
- Printing multi-byte text

Once you have installed Vim 7.0e BETA you can find details about the
changes since Vim 6.4 with ":help version7". There are also a lot of
bug fixes.


Testing
-------

This is a BETA test version. Please give it a good test and report
anything that isn't right. That includes a crash but also a typo in the
documentation.

I will not make an Amiga or OS/2 binary for Vim 7. A Mac version should
be available soon on http://macvim.org/


Where to get it
---------------

Information about which files to download for what system:
http://www.vim.org/download.php

All files can be found below this directory:
ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/unstable/

A list of mirror sites can be found here:
http://www.vim.org/mirrors.php

Vim 7.0e is also available from CVS and with Aap:
http://www.vim.org/develop.php


An overview of the files:

UNIX:
unix/vim-7.0e.tar.bz2 sources + runtime files, bzip2 compressed

VARIOUS:
extra/vim-7.0e-extra.tar.gz extra files
extra/vim-7.0e-lang.tar.gz multi-language files
doc/vim70ehtml.zip help files converted to HTML

MS-WINDOWS:
pc/gvim70e.exe self-installing, includes all runtime files
pc/vim70ert.zip runtime files
pc/vim70elang.zip files for translated messages and menus
pc/gvim70e.zip GUI binary for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
pc/gvim70eole.zip GUI binary with OLE support
pc/vim70ed16.zip 16 bit console version for MS-DOS
pc/vim70ed32.zip console version for MS-DOS/Windows 95/98
pc/vim70ew32.zip console version for Windows NT/2000/XP
pc/vim70esrc.zip sources for PC (with CR-LF)

DIFFS TO PREVIOUS BETA:
unix/vim-7.0d-7.0e.diff.gz sources + runtime files
extra/vim-7.0d-7.0e-extra.diff.gz extra files
extra/vim-7.0d-7.0e-lang.diff.gz multi-language files


Mailing lists
-------------

For user questions you can turn to the Vim mailing list. There are a
lot of tips, scripts and solutions. You can ask your Vim questions, but
only if you subscribe. See http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim

If you want to help Vim development or get the latest patches, subscribe
to the vim-dev mailing list. See http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim-dev

Subject specific lists:
Multi-byte issues: http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim-multibyte
Macintosh issues: http://www.vim.org/maillist.php#vim-mac

Before you ask a question you should search the archives, someone may
already have given the answer.


Reporting bugs
--------------

Send them to <bugs@...>. Please describe the problem precisely.
All the time spent on answering mail is subtracted from the time that is
spent on improving Vim! Always give a reproducible example and try to
find out which settings or other things influence the appearance of the
bug. Try starting without your own vimrc file: "vim -u NONE". Try
different machines if possible. See ":help bugs" in Vim. Send me a
patch if you can!

If something needs discussing with other developers, send a message to the
vim-dev mailing list. You need to subscribe first.


Happy Vimming!

--
From "know your smileys":
:-* A big kiss!

/// Bram Moolenaar -- Bram@... -- http://www.Moolenaar.net \\\
/// sponsor Vim, vote for features -- http://www.Vim.org/sponsor/ \\\
\\\ download, build and distribute -- http://www.A-A-P.org ///
\\\ help me help AIDS victims -- http://www.ICCF.nl ///