This repo contains scripts for setting up my Linux working environment, mainly by installing three vital applications: TMUX, VIM, i3wm and setting up their behavior. Everything is intended for and tested on Ubuntu 16.04.
Despite most of my key bindings might seem a bit arbitrary, they evolved in a time to match my needs and habits (no arrow keys, no mouse). Although it was not easy to find a way to navigate using h/j/k/l/ in all scenarios, it is possible most of the time. Just imagine you can navigate and swap windows in i3wm (alt + h/j/k/l, alt-shift + h/j/k/l), then navigate over panes in tmux (ctrl + h/j/k/l), then splits in vim (also ctrl + h/j/k/l), then move over suggestions from YouCompleteMe (ctrl + j/k, l), and lastly navigating through placeholders in newly inserted snippet (shift h/l). And I almost forgot, you navigate using h/j/k/l in vim! Yes, I am weird, but it works :-).. continue reading if you are interested.
To clone and install everything run following code. BEWARE, running this will DELETE your previous tmux and vim setup (.vim, .tmux.conf, .vimrc)!!:
cd /tmp
echo "mkdir -p ~/git
cd ~/git
sudo apt-get -y install git
git clone https://github.com/klaxalk/linux-setup.git
cd linux-setup
./install.sh" > run.sh && source run.shCalling install.sh repeatedly will not cause acumulation of gibrish in your .bashrc, so feel free to update your configuration by rerunning it.
I thank following sources for inspiring me:
- All guys behind thoughtbot and namely following presenters:
- Mike Coutermarsh, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NUO4JEtkDw
- Chris Toomey, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlR5gYd6um0
- Aaron Bieber, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWD1Fpdd4Pc
- Nick Nisi, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbNhLf99gKKXdXm0aFfQFKw
- Luke Smith, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2eYFnH61tmytImy1mTYvhA
- Alex Booker, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kjbj-Ez1vU
- Chris Hunt, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzWDr24UHQ
- Gaël Ecorchard, https://github.com/galou
It is possible and probable that after you update using git pull, something might not work anymore.
This usually happens due to new programs, plugins and dependencies that might not be satisfied anymore.
I strongly suggest to re-run install.sh, after each update.
This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Here I describe the most important keybindings and shortcuts.
Running Vim inside TMUX has some serious advantages. First, TMUX allows copying any text in the terminal using its vi-mode (see TMUX shortcuts bellow). With a simple hack, the copied text is inserted into the system clipboard. The same can be done with Vim, so basically, we have a clipboard shared between the system, Vim, and TMUX, which is accessible and fillable without using a mouse.
Another notable feature is enabled by the plugin [christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator](https://github.com/christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator]. It allows to seamlessly navigate through TMUX and Vim splits (panes) with a single set of key bindings. In my setup, those are crtl h/j/k/l for left/down/right/up movement.
Following key bindings encapsulate 99% of all what I use in TMUX. Most importantly, note that I remapped the standard prefix from ctrl+b to ctrl+a. There are several reasons for it, e.g. 1) it can be pressed easily by one hand and 2) most people on the internet often do it like that.
- ctrl a tmux PREFIX
- PREFIX w list windows
- PREFIX s list all tmux sessions and theirs windows
- ctrl t create new window
- shift left switch to previous window (also alt u, handy for i3wm users)
- shift right switch to next window (also alt i, handy for i3wm users)
- ctrl s horizontal split
- ctrl d vertical split
- alt left/down/right/up move over tmux panes (for dummies, arrow keys ;-))
- ctrl h/j/k/l move over tmux panes (and vim splits too)
- PREFIX ctrl h/j/k/l resize panes
- PREFIX k kill current tmux session with all its processes
- PREFIX space switch panel configuration
- F2 go to vim edit mode
- PREFIX p paste yanked text (from vim edit mode)
- PREFIX z enlarge focused pane to the whole screen (or back)
TMUX-RESURRECT can be used to save a state of a single session. Use following keys to control it.
- PREFIX ctrl-s save the current session using tmux-resurrect
- PREFIX ctrl-r resurrect previously saved session
If you wish to use your tmux config besides mine, create a file ~/.my.tmux.conf, it will be sourced automatically if it exists.
I forked TMUXINATOR (https://github.com/tmuxinator/tmuxinator), a handy tool for automating tmux sessions. I suggest reading its tutorials. There is a minor modification in my fork with regards to how it run $EDITOR.
Vim has been heavily pluginized in this setup, which makes it more like IDE than a simple terminal editor. Plugins are maintained by a plugin manager called vim-plug, which should download them from their repositories automatically. To update them manually, call :PlugUpdate, to install them :PlugInstall in Vim. However, they will be installed automatically by install.sh.
Here is a list of plugins I use. I divide plugins into two groups according to how they integrate into my workflow. Plugins with new features, you are supposed to read their tutorials to know how to use them (but you don't have to if it does not suite you):
- vim-fugitive - git integration
- vimux - tmux integration
- vim-tmux-runner - another tmux integration, slightly different than vimux
- nerdtree - simple integrated file explorer
- vim-abolish - automatic substitutions
- ultisnips - code snippets
- ReplaceWithRegister - adds "gr" action to replace text
- vim-argwrap - clever function argumment wrapping
- vim-multiple-cursors - adding mupltiple cursors feature
- tagbar - windows with tag list of the current file
- vim-ros - ROS integration
- vim-commentary - clever code commenting
- vim-surround - allows to manipulate with surrounding pairs of characters
- vimtex - latex integration
- vimwiki - notetaking and wikipedia editting
- vim-exchange - allows exchaning two target locations
- vim-unimpaired - clever new keybindings for e.g. quickfix and buffers
- vim-clang-format - integration of clang-format -- c++ auto formatter
- ctrl-p - great fuzzy finder
- vim-easy-align - autoaligning text
Plugins you don't need to know about (their features integrate "seemlessly"):
- vim-plug - vim plugin manager
- jellybeans.vim - color scheme
- vim-airline - status line
- united-front - sharing register between vim instances
- vim-startify - new home screen for vim
- vim-signature - shows marks left to line numbers
- targets.vim - additional target descriptions, that feel natural
- vim-python-pep8-indent - python integration
- GoldenView.Vim - split resizing in golden ratio
- quick-scope - f/t motion helper
- supertab - allows youcompleteme to work with ultisnips
- youcompleteme - automatic code-aware code completion
- tmuxline.vim - tmux and vim statusline integration
- MatlabFilesEdition - should add matlab syntax highlighting
- vim-tmux-navigator - makes tmux and vim split navigation possible
- repeat.vim - makes "." work with some plugins (e.g. vim-surround)
My new mapping for moving within vim:
- shift j/k move to next/previous tab
- ctrl-h/j/k/l move to left/down/up/right split
Here is a short description of the most important plugins together with an example of their usage:
Run vim without parameters! Really, try that. Startify shows a useful list of recently opened files when running vim without parameters. It also allows to save and load sessions. Save the current session by calling
:SSaveyou will be prompted to enter the name of the session. You can later see the session on the main Startify screen. Startify also displays random vim tips in the form of a 'barking dog'. Feel free to update those and submit them using a pull request on a file appconfig/vim/startify_quotes.txt.
- <leader>s - opens new vim tab and shows Startify
NERDTree provides a simple file browser within a split. Toggle it by <leader>n. The current setup shows NERDTree also when you open vim with a folder in the argument. Read its documentation for further information.
- <leader>t - opens new vim tab and shows NERDTree
Vimmux allows to open TMUX splits and run commands in them. I use them mainly for compiling my workspace. Commands can be configured in the ~/.my.vimrc file which will stay unchanged by git during updates.
This plugin allows sharing registers between different instances of vim. Thus allows to copy and paste regardless of splitting in vim od TMUX.
Want to work like a pro in an IDE? Vim can do that. YouCompleteMe provides state-of-the-art code completion functions. YCM uses Clang compiler to make up suggestions and detect syntax and semantic errors in your code. Clang needs to know compile flags for your particular piece of code.
Key mappings for youcompleteme:
- When suggestions appear, press either tab, up/down, ctrl-j/k to move within the menu.
- When you are in the menu, move within it using tab, up/down, ctrl-j/k or j/k.
- To confirm the selection, press enter or l.
- If the suggestions spawn a code snippet, move by shift-h/l between its parts.
To allow full ROS code completion, follow those:
- Make sure a bash variable $ROS_WORKSPACE is set in your .bashrc. It should contain a list of locations of your ROS workspace(s), separated by spaces.
- Since now, build your workspace with -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON flag. You can do it e.g. by modifying the default build profile as
catkin config --profile default --cmake-args -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ONEnjoy!
Completing code snippets is an existential part of programming. Thanks to Ultisnip, pieces of code like if, while and more can be much simpler to write. Ultisnip completes those by hitting <tab> after writing the keyword. Then you can jump through placeholders in the code snippet.
Key mapping for Ultisnip:
- When suggestions appear, press tab to expand the snippet.
- While in the snippet, move right and left over suggested parts by left/right or shift-h / shift-l.
Snippets can be used in visual mode by wrapping a selected code in e.g. if statement, by:
-
- select a piece of code
-
- hit <tab>, the code will disappear
-
- write a code word for a snipper, e.g. if
-
- hit <tab> again, the code will appear wrapped in new if statement.
Snippets are described in .vim/UltiSnips folder. A snippet file for the currently opened document can be opened by <leader>u.
I have remapped the leader to a comma ",".
Ctags is a useful way to maintain "hyperlinks" in your code. It later allows you to jump through "tags" (names in the code), e.g. function names. Variable CTAGS_SOURCES_DIR in your .bashrc specifies where should ctags look for your code. The database is built automatically when running vim, or manually by calling :MakeTags in vim. Further shortcuts can be used to navigate through your code:
- <leader>. - dive into the tag
- <leader>/ - go back one tag
- <leader>; - show list of files in which the tag is defined
Working macros might be tedious. If you, just like me, tend to record everything to @a, following feature might be useful. When in visual line mode, the dot operator applies macro @a over all selected lines.
- <leader>a - toggles highlighting of words under the cursor
- <leader>p - toggles :paste mode
- <leader>g - automatically indents the whole document while staying on the current line
- <leader>c - enables cursorline and cursorcolumnt
If you choose to compile and install Athame, beware, it is quite dangerous. Athame recompiles readline to use vim, and then bash to use the new readline. As a result, you will have Vim in Bash. If something goes wrong, you will not have Bash anymore. I have tested it on Ubuntu 16.04.
Notable points:
- Normally, Vim is started using an alias from my additions to .bashrc, where it is told (by g:user_mode variable) that we want all plugins and settings
- When Athame uses vim, it does not set the g:user_mode variable and most of the plugins are excluded together with their settings (YouCompleteMe cased lot of troubles).
- UltiSnips is very handy in Bash. Have a look in athame.snippets file in .vim/UltiSnips.
- Athame is only enabled in the normal tmux session, which is started automatically in bash, explore my .bashrc additions for more information.