Maintain multiple versions of gvim in Windows

Tip 1189 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created 2006 · complexity intermediate · author John Hall · version 6.0

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This is useful when you want to upgrade to the latest version of Vim but want the ability to easily switch back to an old version. I create a symbolic link called 'current' in my $VIM directory to whichever is my current install of Vim. You can create symbolic links to directories on NTFS with the linkd utility in the resource kit:

C:\Program Files\Vim>linkd current vim70c
C:\Program Files\Vim>dir
30/03/2006 13:09 <JUNCTION> current
07/02/2006 17:27 <DIR> vim63
30/03/2006 09:38 <DIR> vim64
30/03/2006 13:08 <DIR> vim70c

I make sure that all shortcuts and registry entries reference gvim as C:\Program Files\Vim\current\gvim.exe, and I can then easily move the current link around to switch versions.

See also

• 848 Installing several releases in parallel, even with matchit

Tip 848 applies to any OS: it relies on naming one version the "default" and having it in the PATH; other versions must be invoked with an explicit path.

Comments

Look for "Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools". There is a Linkd.exe.

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> I can then easily move the current link around to switch versions.

You could even make a batch file (in your path) for each of your versions that sets the link and then executes current/gvim.exe.

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