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The Evolution of Vim After Bram Moolenaar: A Year of Change and Continuity

By Albert HarmonPublished December 8, 20244 min readTechnology

TLDRThis blog post discusses the significant changes in the Vim community and project following the passing of its founder, Bram Moolenaar. It covers the transition of leadership, the restructuring of maintainers, ongoing development, and future directions for Vim, emphasizing community involvement and the importance of maintaining the project's legacy.

In August of last year, the Vim community faced a profound loss with the passing of its founder, Bram Moolenaar. This event marked a pivotal moment for the Vim project, prompting a reevaluation of its leadership and future direction. In this post, we will explore the changes that have occurred in the Vim community and project since that time, highlighting the efforts to maintain continuity while also embracing new contributors.

Who Am I?

I have been an active member of the Vim community since around 2006, contributing to various aspects of the project, including bug reports, code patches, and feature enhancements. My journey began with simple contributions and evolved into more significant features, such as the GN text object and improved encryption support. After a period of reduced activity due to personal and professional commitments, I became one of the main maintainers of Vim following Bram's passing.

The Impact of Bram's Passing

Bram Moolenaar was not only the founder of Vim but also its guiding force for nearly 30 years. His extensive knowledge and vision for the project were invaluable. Following his death, the community faced the challenge of continuing the project without his leadership. The initial silence on the Vim mailing list raised concerns about the project's future, prompting discussions among the remaining maintainers about how to proceed.

Restructuring the Leadership

Before Bram's passing, the Vim project had three main maintainers: Bram, myself, and Ken. With Bram's absence, we needed to restructure the leadership. We decided to follow GitHub's deceased user policy, which allows for the continuation of a project when a maintainer is no longer active. However, this process proved complicated, requiring paperwork and access permissions.

Fortunately, Bram's family granted us the necessary access rights, enabling us to invite new maintainers to the project. Notable new contributors included Yapan, Dominic P, and Duck KS, who brought their expertise and long-standing commitment to the Vim community.

Managing Project Resources

The Vim project encompasses more than just source code; it requires management of various resources, including the Vim homepage, domains, email accounts, and security reporting. The homepage, which had been hosted on SourceForge, faced issues that necessitated a move to a more reliable hosting solution. We successfully migrated the homepage to a new host, ensuring it was updated to modern standards.

Additionally, we addressed the management of domains and SSL certificates, ensuring that all resources were secure and accessible. The transition also involved retiring the outdated FTP server, as modern users typically download software directly from the homepage or GitHub.

Community Engagement and Charity Work

Bram was known for his charitable work with the ICCF, which supports children in Uganda. After his passing, we continued to support this cause, with Vim users generously donating over €90,000 in the past year. We maintained the donation links on the Vim homepage, ensuring that contributions were directed to the ICCF.

Development and Future Directions

Despite the challenges, development on Vim has continued actively. After Bram's passing, we saw a spike in commits as we gained access to the repository and began addressing the backlog of pull requests. The release of Vim 9.1 marked a significant milestone, concluding the Vim 9 class support that Bram had been working on.

Looking ahead, we aim to maintain a balance between introducing new features and preserving the stability and backward compatibility that Vim is known for. The community's involvement is crucial, and we encourage contributions in various forms, from bug reporting to documentation and feature development.

Conclusion

The past year has been a transformative period for the Vim project. While we mourn the loss of Bram Moolenaar, we are committed to honoring his legacy by ensuring that Vim continues to thrive as a community-driven project. We invite all users and contributors to engage with us, share their ideas, and help shape the future of Vim.

If you enjoy using Vim, please consider supporting the ICCF, as there are many who would benefit from the opportunities that education and resources can provide. Thank you for being part of the Vim community.