iVim 2.45 fails to start

[alexeyignatiev]

Hi there,

First of all, thanks for making this wonderful port of VIM!

Unfortunately, my installation of iVim broke down in version 2.45 (on iPadOS 15.2). The app does not even start saying invalid value ‘’ set to option 'guifont'. The current font 'Source Code Pro' is not changed.

At first, I thought it could be my fault as there could be some options set in .vimrc by me. However, there is nothing related to fonts there. Also, running the app with -u NONE does not help. So I am not sure how to proceed.

[terrychou]

Hi, thanks for reporting.

1. Which device are you using?
2. When did this happen? Right after the iVim updating?
3. Please leave an email so that I will send you TestFlight invitation to test some modified builds.

[alexeyignatiev]

Here are some answers:

1. I am using an iPad Pro (11-inch) (3rd generation) running iPadOS 15.2
2. I am not sure when exactly the issue first appeared. Before the start of my leave on December 18th, iVim worked just fine. Yesterday I noticed that it stopped working.
3. Sure, my email address is alexey.ignatiev@gmail.com.

[terrychou]

@alexeyignatiev I have pushed a new build (2.46(4)) to TestFlight and sent an invitation to your address, please give it a try.

[alexeyignatiev]

@terrychou, thank you. I have accepted your invitation and downloaded the new build. And yes, it seems to run with no such issue!

[terrychou]

@alexeyignatiev Great to know this! It also includes some fix of the new font management system, please have a look and let me know if any problems or suggestions come up 😃 .

[alexeyignatiev]

Well, I can immediately say that there are some issues on my iPad. :)

• First, as far as I recall, iVim used to exploit Source Code Pro by default. It is not the case now.

• Second, it fails to see some of the fonts I have installed (with the RightFont app).

• Third, even when I try to add Source Code Pro manually, iVim recognises only the bold and light variants of the font. For some reason, nothing happens when I add regular and semi-bold variants.

[terrychou]

• Actually, iVim still uses Source Code Pro as its default font. It is right embedded in the app. I don't know why your device fails to see it (and I think this was also the cause of the app crash). What does :ifont ls give to you?
• Yeah, iVim does not support fonts installed by other apps yet. By the way, have you installed Source Code Pro via other apps? If yes, may be it explains the above issue.
• iVim's font system would ignore attempts of installation of fonts that already exist. But this does not explain your third question. It looks like that Source Code Pro somehow gets stuck in iVim 😄 .

Also, have you tried the new :ifont command? Does it work as it is supposed to?

[alexeyignatiev]

Okay, it's like this:

• :ifont ls lists the following:

   :ifont ls
      Apple Color Emoji [r]
      Courier New [r,b,i,bi]
   >  Menlo [r:r,b,i,bi] 14.0
      OperatorMono Nerd Font [r,i]
  
   4 font families are available

• Interestingly, iVim manages to see OperatorMono, which is also installed with RightFont. I presume the reason for the failure is that there may be some kind of clash between RightFont's version of Source Code Pro and iVim's version. Just a guess.

• Is it the case that iVim brings regular and semi-bold variants of the font? If yes then the clash may apply only to those installed.

Regarding the ifont command, I have now tried it and it works fine. I was able to perform all the operations with no issue. However, in my opinion, it would help if ls gave a list of fonts together with an integer id assigned to each. This integer id could then be used given to set. In the case no id is given to set, the command could show the font selection dialogue as it does now.

[terrychou]

So, it looks like iVim is indeed aware of fonts installed by other apps, but unfortunately in an improper way.

The embedded Source Code Pro font has three typefaces: regular, bold and italic. However, in your case, it seems that iVim takes OperatorMono instead by mistake.

As to the font index number, the old font system did this. The reason why the new system ditch it is that some users would add a :ifont set command in their .vimrc file and an index number would be confusing, don't you think so? The fonts are ordered by their names in the list and a name with wildcard support would be better.

[alexeyignatiev]

Yep, I do agree that using font index in .vimrc may be problematic and unintuitive. My point was that if one wants to use solely the command line then showing them a font selection dialogue is not really helpful.

So it would be great to support both possibilities: for those who want the command line and for those who prefer the dialogue. I guess this could be achieved if set was able to receive a font name (instead of the index), maybe? Would this make sense?

[terrychou]

The :ifont set command actually accepts a font name. See ":h :ifont-set" for the examples.

[alexeyignatiev]

OK, then all my comments are already addressed. :)

[alexeyignatiev]

Except for the clash with the existing font!

[terrychou]

Except for the clash with the existing font!

I will try to make a workaround for that.

By the way, can you change the font size as expected?

[alexeyignatiev]

Yes, increasing and decreasing font size works fine on my iPad.

[terrychou]

@alexeyignatiev I have pushed version 2.46(5) to TestFlight, this build tries to add the default font family manually if it is not there. Please give it a try to see whether it gets Source Code Pro back.

[alexeyignatiev]

Thank you for the update, @terrychou. It does get Source Code Pro back.

[alexeyignatiev]

@terrychou, my understanding is that I close this issue, can't I? I can't reproduce it anymore in the test versions.

[terrychou]

@alexeyignatiev yes, feel free to do it. You can reopen it or open a new issue if it came back again.