R.L. Dane    🍵 1d 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 threadRuss Sharek1d ago

@rl_dane

There appears to be no "standard" vi. I kind of like discovering the little quirks on something small enough for me to still wrap my head around.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 

@RussSharek

I think whatever patent-encumbered version that came with the old BSD Unix was probably considered the gold standard, and nvi1 is supposed to be a close approximation.

May 27 at 3:58amWeb
Show threadNetBSD Foundation 🚩1d ago

@rl_dane @RussSharek You can use the original. https://ex-vi.sourceforge.net/

That Caldera license might be considered sketchy these days, I'm not sure.

nvi2 was done by different people, iirc, so it's not a "direct successor" to nvi. Just another improved version.

The Traditional Vi

Traditional vi text editor

Show threadHaelwenn /элвэн/ 1d ago
@netbsd @rl_dane @RussSharek Otherwise the one present into illumos (usr/src/cmd/vi) seems to be Copyright University of California Berkeley under BSD-4-Clause plus Copyright Sun-Oracle under CDDL, which can be another option.

And well there is a standard vi in terms of interface: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9799919799/utilities/vi.html
vi

Show threadTim Chase1d ago

@lanodan

To be fair, they're more like guidelines than actual rules. In all my testing of vi clones over the years, I've only ever encountered one that implemented :open mode (I forget whether it was Stevie or Elvis) as prescribed by POSIX standards¹ 🤷

@RussSharek @netbsd @rl_dane

⸻
¹ https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9799919799/utilities/ex.html#tag_20_40_13_29

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 1d ago

@gumnos @lanodan @RussSharek @netbsd

I'm thinking of trying elVIs again, since nvi doesn't have word wrap, and (neo)?vim feels like such overkill.

Show threadRuss Sharek1d ago

@rl_dane @gumnos @[email protected] @netbsd

I have line wrapping in both vi and nvi. Only time I didn't was when I cribbed a config which disabled it via `set leftright`.

Am I misunderstanding what you mean?

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 1d ago

@RussSharek @gumnos @netbsd

I mean word-oriented wrapping.

This:

I am the very model of a modern major general

vs this:

I am the very mod el of a modern major general
Show threadRuss Sharek1d ago

@rl_dane @gumnos @netbsd

Oh, yeah.

That's fancy stuff. :)

I've been writing with semantic line breaks recently, so the issue sort of resolved itself for me.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 14h ago

@RussSharek @gumnos @netbsd

That's been recommended a lot to me as well. I'm going to try it. ;)

Show threadRuss Sharek6h ago

@rl_dane @gumnos @netbsd

I was surprised at how much it helped me, despite having slid off it some years ago.

Show threadTim Chase4h ago

@RussSharek

I was amused recently that the old-school line-mode browser¹ maintains internal line-breaks in HTML source code where most browsers collapse them as a generic run of whitespace as if it was a single space…so it revealed that my blog's SSG emits HTML with my underlying sembr linebreaks in tact 😆

@rl_dane @netbsd

⸻
¹ https://www.w3.org/LineMode/

WWW - The Libwww Line Mode Browser

Show threadJason Bowen 🇺🇦1d ago
@rl_dane @gumnos @lanodan @RussSharek @netbsd
Be an adult and use ed(1) like the rest of us.
Show threadRuss Sharek1d ago

@jbowen @rl_dane @gumnos @[email protected] @netbsd

*avoids adulthood and suggests using any text mangling tool that makes you happy*

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 1d ago

@RussSharek @jbowen @gumnos @netbsd

#ThisIsTheWay

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 1d ago

@jbowen @gumnos @lanodan @RussSharek @netbsd

I'm moving towards it. I've learned it decently well now (much simpler than I realized), but I do miss some creature comforts from vi. ;)

I mean, the fact that I've gone from neovim to nvi must count for SOMETHING, right?!? XD

Show threadRuss Sharek1d ago

@rl_dane @jbowen @gumnos @[email protected] @netbsd

I learned a lot about vi by learning my way around ed.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 14h ago

@RussSharek @jbowen @gumnos @netbsd

Indeed! I am doing the same. :)

Show threadHaelwenn /элвэн/ 1d ago
@gumnos @RussSharek @netbsd @rl_dane Yeah true, it's why I often describe POSIX as comparable to a dictionary.
Although it seems like ex(1) in Solaris 10 and 11 supports :open mode as specified.

Although to be honest while I'm familiar with vis/vim and ed(1), I'm not really familiar with original vi(1) or ex(1), so could have missed a detail.