R.L. Dane    🍵 20h ago

Interestingly, #FreeBSD comes with #nvi2 in base, while #OpenBSD and #NetBSD seem to be running #nvi 1:

FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE-p12 ~ ~ ~ Version 2.2.2 (2025-10-08) The CSRG, University of California, Berkeley. OpenBSD 7.3 (7.9 is still running the same version) ~ ~ ~ Version 1.79 (10/23/96) The CSRG, University of California, Berkeley. NetBSD 10.1 ~ ~ ~ Version (1.81.6-2013-11-20nb4) The CSRG, University of California, Berkeley.

They all seem to have nvi2 available as packages, though, which #Debian, oddly, does not.

rld@Intrepid:~$ uname -sr FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE-p12 rld@Intrepid:~$ pkg search nvi |grep '^nvi2' nvi2-2.2.2 Updated implementation of the ex/vi text editor rld@Intrepid:~$ #(searching openbsd online) rld@Intrepid:~$ searchall -o nvi |grep ^nvi nvi-2.2.2 (list) with wide and files limited by nvi-2.2.2-iconv (list) with wide and files limited by [email protected]$ uname -sr NetBSD 10.1 [email protected]$ pkgin search nvi |grep ^nvi |grep -v nvidia nvi-1.81.6nb13 Berkeley nvi with additional features nvi-m17n-1.79.20040608nb11 Clone of vi/ex, with multilingual patch nvi2-2.2.0 Multibyte fork of the nvi editor for BSD [email protected]$ ~ $ head -1 /etc/os-release PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)" ~ $ apt-cache search nvi |grep -E '^nvi2? ' nvi - 4.4BSD re-implementation of vi ~ $
Show threadJdeBP4d ago

@r1w1s1

It's a shame that #Slackware is like every other Linux distribution and only packages #nvi and not #nvi2.

Nonetheless, you might want to cross-reference what you have against the nvi2 version of the manual, which expanded the descriptions of and clarified some existing things.

https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=nvi

https://man.dragonflybsd.org/?command=nvi

#vi #elvis

nvi

ティージェーグレェMay 7
I submitted a Pull Request to update MacPorts' nvi2 to 2.2.2 here:

https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/pull/32625

GitHub Continuous Integration checks passed OK!

It's up to someone else to merge it.

This rabbit hole brought to you by: https://lpar.ath0.com/posts/2026/05/the-vi-family/ (which I think I encountered via lobste.rs ?) and has me thinking: maybe I should create a MacPorts' Portfile for OpenVi (https://github.com/johnsonjh/OpenVi) but apparently: OpenVi lacks UTF-8 support. ;( nvi2 doesn't fail in such regards, and there was already a MacPort (just with no maintainer and so many months out of date) and interestingly: it looks as if at least one OpenBSD developer (namely: Todd C. Miller) may have contributed code to nvi2? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The genealogy of vi and its various off shoots is vast. I lament that I only created a MacPort for em (editor for mortals, a predecessor to vi) too late for its original author to know of its existence. ;(

#nvi2 #MacPorts #vi #editors #OpenSource
nvi2: update to 2.2.2 by artkiver · Pull Request #32625 · macports/macports-ports

Description Type(s) bugfix enhancement security fix Tested on macOS 26.4.1 25E253 arm64 Command Line Tools 26.4.1.0.1775747724 Verification Have you followed our Commit Message Guideline...

GitHub
arosano 🇩🇰 🇮🇱Apr 2

In #openbsd what is called #vi is actually #nvi, and when you install #nvi from ports, it is #nvi2.
To danes with our national characters æøå we need the latter because #vi prints two byte hex sequences for æ, ø, or å. #vi handles them correctly except for the printing of them.
#vi and #nvi use the same #man page.

Update:
On #netbsd #vi is also #nvi. Here you must install #nvi2 to get #nvi if you need æ, ø, and å support.

Best wishes from T. R. Dane (The Real Dane ;)