README

	VLH  VimLocalHistory - automatic version control for vim.

	Author:		David J. Hamilton <davidjh@hjdivad.com>
	Contributors:	Earl Barr <barr@cs.ucdavis.edu>

						*vlh* *vimlocalhistory*
	Contents:
		Requirements.............................|vlh-requirements|
		Installation.............................|vlh-installation|
		Commands.................................|vlh-commands|
		Configuration............................|vlh-configuration|
		Release notes............................|vlh-release-notes|
		TODO.....................................|vlh-todo|
		Alternatives.............................|vlh-alternatives|


VLH automatically saves buffers on write using git.  This provides a convenient,
automatic backup system of, e.g. files in /etc that are modified, as well as a
poor man's "local history" (a lá the eclipse feature with the same name).

Feedback, bug reports and suggestions gratefully accepted at <vlh@hjdivad.com>.


==============================================================================
REQUIREMENTS					*vlh-requirements*	{{{1

Git must be installed on your system and `git' must be in your PATH.  Tested
on git version 1.5.4.3 on Ubuntu Hardy.

Vim must be compiled with +ruby


}}}
==============================================================================
INSTALLATION					*vlh-installation*	{{{1


To install from a tarball:

	After ensuring that you meet the requirements, copy the contents of
	plugin to user-specific vim plugin directory, probably ~/.vim/plugin/

	To install documentation, copy README (this file) to your vim
	documentations directory, such as ~/.vim/doc/vlh.txt.  After copying
	the documentation, execute ":helptags ~/.vim/doc" from within vim to
	make the documentation accessible.

To install from source:

	Install the requirements, additionally installing rake version 0.8.1
	or higher, and then execute

		rake install

	which will install the plugin and documentation.


Once VLH is installed, make sure to edit your ~/.vimrc to include

	let g:vlh_repository_dir = "/path/where/youd/like/to/store/localhistory"

I suggest using ~/.vim/localhistory.


}}}
==============================================================================
COMMANDS						*vlh-commands*	{{{1

All commands accept a single argument, a number that specifies which past
revision to use.  1 is the previous revision, 2 is the revision prior to that,
etc.  

All commands autocomplete (starting at 1) which can be used to ensure that the
revision you pass in is legal.  The autocomplete feature also provides
additional information after the revision number, namely the date of that
revision.


VLHOpen <revision>					*VLHOpen*
	Opens the <revision>th prior version of the current buffer's path.

VLHDiff <revision>					*VLHDiff*
	Opens the <revision>th prior version of the current buffer's path,
	which is then |diffsplit|.

VLHReplace <revision>					*VLHReplace*
	Reverts the current buffer's path to the <revision>th prior version
	and sets |nomodified|.


}}}
==============================================================================
CONFIGURATION 					*vlh-configuration*	{{{

The following can be set either in your vimrc file, or can be set
"dynamically", i.e. you can set them from within vim and the changes will take
effect immediately.


g:vlh_respository_dir

	This specifies the path to your git repository.  The path must exist,
	although it is not necessary to initialize the repository with `git
	init`.

g:vlh_exclude_file_pattern

	A pattern to match against files to be exempted from automatic backup.
	This pattern is a {ruby} regular expression, not a vim pattern.

g:vlh_exclude_path_pattern

	A pattern to match against paths to be exempted from automatic backup.
	This pattern is a {ruby} regular expression, not a vim pattern.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

These can't be changed dynamically.  They must be specified in your vimrc and
changes made after vim has launched are ignored.


g:vlh_log_dir

	A path to output a rather minimal log file.  Only useful for
	debugging.


}}}
==============================================================================
RELEASE NOTES					*vlh-release-notes*	{{{1

0.2
	Initial version.  Once users configure a location for the repo, they
	now get a copy of every file they save.  User-specific ignore patterns
	are supported.
}}}
==============================================================================
TODO							*vlh-todo*	{{{1


Deal with project-todo and project-fixme

Maybe package for debian
	http://pkg-vim.alioth.debian.org/vim-policy.txt

Add some rudimentary benchmarking

git commit errors (in log) when there was no change -- i.e. when you :w a
buffer that hasn't been modified

Add Tagging

Periodic gc or something
stripping out older revs when repo gets too big

VLH* completion
	add ++.. from git-lg

VLHOpen
	set bufhidden delete
	set unmodifiable

Deal with slow VLH* autocomplete .. maybe

Fix VLHDiff
	We need to set nodiff after the diff'd buffer closes

Implement scp://*
	g:vlh_scp_root_path  default to '.remotes'
	treat those as roots, e.g.
		/home
		/.remotes
			/myhost1
				/
			/myhost2

File history buffer
	view (git lg ...)
	open
	diff
	restore
	edit msg
		- replace the buffer with another buffer that just has the commit msg
		- on save, kill the new buffer and show the previous one again

	make readonly

	Highlight (either with git's colouring or with syntax highlighting)

	In addition to syntax highlighting (commits, authors, etc.) also highlight
	the selected item (several lines), to make clear the target of commands
	(open/diff/restore/edit msg)


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long Term (maybe features)

edit history message feature
cleanup disk space feature
delete commit feature
unify local history and repository history
	(e.g. support diffs of some local history revision against a repo. version)
load undo history
	It might be cool to run a command that configures the undo stack to let
	you undo/redo through revisions.  So if your undo stack is currently 
		A -> B ->C
	we could (perhaps) prepend it with one item per revision, so that undoing
	past A essentially resulted in replacing the entire buffer with the
	previous version of the file


}}}
==============================================================================
ALTERNATIVES					*vlh-alternatives*	{{{1

If VLH doesn't quite meet your needs, feedback, bug reports and suggestions
are gratefully accepted  at <vlh@hjdivad.com>.  Other people have also
attacked this problem and you might prefer their solutions.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
writebackupVersionControl.vim
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1829

Adds some version control functions (diff, restore) to writebackup.vim.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
writebackup.vim
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1828

A poor man's revision control system.  Provides a WriteBackup command to
manually create backups.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
backup.vim
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1537

Holds numbered backups inside a separate directory.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
rcsvers.vim
http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/script.php?script_id=563

Saves backups in RCS whenever a file is saved.  Inspired by savevers.vim.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
savevers.vim
http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/script.php?script_id=89

Automatically saves and compares multiple, sequentially numbered old revisions
of files.


}}}




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