If there are more buffers, vim should not close.

[IgorGee]

Here is a gif of the issue:

The -keep option is very inconvenient because it adds a blank buffer, that I have to close.

When I close a buffer via :bd, I'm expecting to go to the next buffer, preferably with fern still open. When I quit via :q, assuming there are no other windows aside from fern, I'm expecting vim to close.

[lambdalisue]

Well, :Fern -drawer

• Without -keep option, closing the last buffer via :q close Vim
  • In this case, I assumed that the drawer style fern buffer is like a sub-component of the last buffer thus closing the last buffer should close Vim itself
• With -keep option, closing the last buffer via :q does NOT close Vim by adding a blank buffer
  • In this case, I assumed that the drawer style fern buffer is like an isolated component thus a blank buffer need to be added to keep the drawer size

Thus what you explained sounds an expected behavior of -keep option.

Note that I don't use :bd thus I had not defined behavior of that with/without -keep option. Please clarify the Vim's native behavior of :bd and expected behavior of :bd on the drawer buffer with/without -keep option.

[IgorGee]

In this case, I assumed that the drawer style fern buffer is like a sub-component of the last buffer thus closing the last buffer should close Vim itself

I really don't have any experience in vimscript, but I believe this is the relevant section of code: https://github.com/lambdalisue/fern.vim/blob/master/autoload/fern/internal/drawer.vim#L75

You're checking if it's the last window, not the last buffer. As you can see in my gif above, I had two more buffers that I was interested in editing, which is why I only closed the current buffer with bd.

Please clarify the Vim's native behavior of :bd

Here is an animation of how I use vim, with buffers. I'm going to leave my customizations present to make it clear which buffer I'm on. But if you'd like to see a demo of what it looks like with a minimal vim configuration, let me know.

Note that when I close a buffer :bd, it goes to another buffer (I believe it's MRU)

and expected behavior of :bd on the drawer buffer with/without -keep option.

I'm going to explain my expectation without -keep:

Like you saw in my original post, when I used :bn, fern stayed open and simply switched to the next buffer. I have the same expectation with :bd, except it would close the buffer I was on. Right now, fern acts in the same way as if I pressed :q on my last window.

In my googling for this issue, I actually found a plugin that solves this problem more generically: https://github.com/qpkorr/vim-bufkill

Here's the behavior I was after (note the use of :BD):

I'm not sure if this feature is within the scope of fern. I'm probably going to keep vim-bufkill.

If you feel this is out of scope, please close this issue.

[lambdalisue]

It seems :bd on the last window on the last tab page switch buffer to the opened one or opens a new one.

[lambdalisue]

I'm still not clear what are the expected behavior for :bd on each situations...

let g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit = 1

:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:q                          +------------------+
                            |FE                |
                            |RN                |
                            +------------------+

:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         ?

let g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit = 0

:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:q                          Quit vim

:Fern -drawer -keep -stay . +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:q                          +------------------+
                            |FE|# (new buf)    |
                            |RN|               |
                            +------------------+

:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         ?

:Fern -drawer -keep -stay . +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         ?

[IgorGee]

I'm still not clear what are the expected behavior for :bd on each situations...

let g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit = 1

:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:q                          +------------------+
                            |FE                |
                            |RN                |
                            +------------------+
:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         ?

If there is another buffer, switch to it.

Else,

                             +------------------+
                             |FE|# (new buf)    |
                             |RN|               |
                             +------------------+

let g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit = 0

:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:q                          Quit vim

:Fern -drawer -keep -stay . +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:q                          +------------------+
                            |FE|# (new buf)    |
                            |RN|               |
                            +------------------+

:Fern -drawer -stay .       +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         ?

If there is another buffer, switch to it.

Else,

                             +------------------+
                             |FE|# (new buf)    |
                             |RN|               |
                             +------------------+

:Fern -drawer -keep -stay . +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         ?

If there is another buffer, switch to it.

Else,

                             +------------------+
                             |FE|# (new buf)    |
                             |RN|               |
                             +------------------+

---

I don't think g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit or -keep should change the standard behavior of :bd. Those options seem to be for :q.

So all the outcomes of :bd are the same and consistent.

[lambdalisue]

Sorry for the late. I'm a bit busy recently @IgorGee

This is the native behavior of :bd thus the current behavior of :bd when g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit = 1 (current behavior is the same as :q on the above scheme, close the buffer and only fern buffer remains in 100% width) is correct right?

I'd like to clear above to focus on the behavior of :bd on g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit = 0

[IgorGee]

No problem, I understand the hardships of maintaining such a large and popular open source project. I appreciate it :)

This is the native behavior of :bd thus the current behavior of :bd when g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit = 1 (current behavior is the same as :q on the above scheme, close the buffer and only fern buffer remains in 100% width) is correct right?

Yes, this feels like the correct/expected behavior.

[lambdalisue]

OK then there are one issue and one feature request

Issue

The "auto quit" feature for :q affects the behavior of :bd. It should NOT affect it and :bd should works like below independent from the value of g:fern#disable_drawer_auto_quit

:Fern -drawer .             +--+---------------+
                            |FE|#              |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         +------------------+
                            |FE                |
                            |RN                |
                            +------------------+

Feature request

It would be nice if :bd works like there is no fern drawer like

" When there is only TWO buffers (fern + buffer A)
:Fern -drawer .             +--+---------------+
                            |FE|# A            |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         +------------------+
                            |FE|# (new buf)    |
                            |RN|               |
                            +------------------+

" When there is more than TWO buffers (fern + buffer A, B, ....)
:Fern -drawer .             +--+---------------+
                            |FE|# B            |
                            |RN|               |
                            +--+---------------+
:bd                         +------------------+
                            |FE|# A            |
                            |RN|               |
                            +------------------+

right? @IgorGee

I'll first fix the issue then try the feature request (not sure possible or not)

[IgorGee]

Correct.

I understand if you cannot implement the new feature since it doesn't seem like fern's responsibility.

[lambdalisue]

Closed due to #213, #214