Announcing: Vim (Vi IMproved) version 7.0f BETA


This is the fifth BETA release of Vim 7. It is looking stable and
should be ready for daily use. However, there are quite a few changes
compared to the previous BETA, thus more testing is required.

With a bit of luck this is the last BETA version before the Vim 7
release. Please check everything. It would be very disappointing to
discover a problem just after sending out the final release!

Since the fourth BETA release a few more things were improved, here is
a summary:
- Added the feedkeys() function: put keys in the typeahead queue.
- Many runtime files have been updated.
- The problems reported by coverity.com were all taken care of.
- Slicing a list allows indexes out of range.
- Added CTRL-W gF: open file name under cursor in new tab page.
- Mac: clipboard now works again when compiled without multi-byte
feature.
- Mac: added 'macatsui' as a temporary work around for problems with
displaying (multi-byte) text.
- A few more changes for Win64, should work properly now.
- Several crashes, hangs, bugs and problems were fixed.


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 7.0f BETA you can find details about the
changes since Vim 6.4 with ":help version7". The changes since version
7.0e are at the end.


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


An overview of the files:

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

VARIOUS:
extra/vim-7.0f-extra.tar.gz extra (non-Unix) files
extra/vim-7.0f-lang.tar.gz multi-language files
doc/vim70fhtml.zip help files converted to HTML

MS-WINDOWS:
pc/gvim70f.exe self-installing, includes all runtime files
pc/vim70frt.zip runtime files
pc/vim70flang.zip files for translated messages and menus
pc/gvim70f.zip GUI binary for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
pc/gvim70fole.zip GUI binary with OLE support
pc/gvim70f_s.zip GUI binary for Windows 3.1 (untested)
pc/vim70fd16.zip 16 bit console version for MS-DOS
pc/vim70fd32.zip console version for MS-DOS/Windows 95/98
pc/vim70fw32.zip console version for Windows NT/2000/XP
pc/vim70fsrc.zip sources for PC (with CR-LF)

DIFFS TO PREVIOUS BETA:
unix/vim-7.0e-7.0f.diff.gz sources + runtime files
extra/vim-7.0e-7.0f-extra.diff.gz extra files
extra/vim-7.0e-7.0f-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!

--
I have to exercise early in the morning before my brain
figures out what I'm doing.

/// 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://ICCF-Holland.org ///