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I have just finished installing Fedora 36 and was in the process of installing my usual software. I personally prefer nvim over vim, but I got used to typing vim; so, I just use an alias alias vim='nvim' in .bashrc.

Using vim directly uses nvim and uses the init.vim; however, using sudo vim doesn't seem to use any of the mappings I wrote. (I linked init.vim with .vimrc with ln -s .config/nvim/init.vim .vimrc). I read that sudo uses another file other than .bashrc, but I don't want to create aliases everywhere.

Found some answers recommending using sudo update-alternatives --config vim and choosing nvim from a "list", but I don't get any output when running the command. It just gives me a new terminal line. How do I make sudo update-alternatives --config vim return the "list"? Or is there a better way to do it other than update-alternatives?

Mohamed Yasser
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  • Why do you want to customize the editor for root? You shouldn't be doing much with that user anyway. For that basic editing that the root user ever has to do, any Vi clone should be enough. – Kusalananda May 18 '22 at 19:33
  • @Panki I don't like editing `/root`. But the first option seems great, will check It out, Thank you – Mohamed Yasser May 18 '22 at 19:45
  • @Kusalananda I run into the problem of not being able to save edits to files quite often due to permissions, because I access files from other mounted partitioned like the ubuntu partition. I can `chown` but I find using `sudo vim` to be easier as I usually want to change a single file. – Mohamed Yasser May 18 '22 at 19:47
  • @MohamedYasser My point is not about `sudo` but about wanting to customize root's environment, which is rarely needed as one generally does not use the root account for anything other than basic admin tasks. Changing files is possible with any editor. It does not have to be a fancy editor with customizations. – Kusalananda May 18 '22 at 19:58
  • @Kusalananda I tend to use root for more than basic tasks as I mentioned in the previous comment. I am aware that any editor would be sufficient for a simple task; however, with how often I find myself doing it, I wouldn't clasify my use as a simple task. The mappings in question are shortcuts for copying to system clipboard instead of the mouse and mappings to other stuff like escape and moving to EOL, stuff I rely on when editing. I am trying to avoid messing with `/root` as much as I can, becuase I am aware that it can easily cause problems. That's exactly why I am asking for a better way. – Mohamed Yasser May 18 '22 at 21:04

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As far as I can see, sudo changes your user id, so all configurations you made specifically for your normal user do not apply when you call something with sudo (meaning if you have a .vimrc it will not apply when calling vim with sudo). In addition to that, as far as I know sudo cannot read 'aliases' you created for bash anyway, meaning if you type in alias l=ls;sudo l sudo would not know what the command l means.

update-alternatives is a useful tool, that creates and handles links to binaries, so if you have for instance different version of vim on your system, you can use update-alternatives to change what version is called when you call vim. An alternative can be configured with the command you tried with the --config flag, but only after it has been created with the --install flag.

Here is a tutorial going through how to do that for python: link.

However I am not sure how this is going to help you with your problem, but it could be, that by creating an alternative you allow sudo to find the program you want.

I am not sure if this is advisable, probably not, but a simple and dirty solution to your problem would be to just rename the binary or create a link to the binary of nvim with the name vim. This way every environment will use this binary if it calls it. But learning and using update-alternatives is the cleaner and more resistant way I think.

Personally I go the lazy route and type out the correct binary names when using sudo. I have an alias to v=vim but when using sudo I am probably doing something serious, so I may as well be precise in what I want, but I can understand if you want to use your aliases everywhere.

bananabook
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  • I wasn't aware that `--config` requires `--install` first. I installed nvim and indeed it shows after using `--config`. It actually opens nvim now when I run `sudo vim`, but still can't use the mappings created in `.vimrc`. Marked as accepted as it solved the bigger part of my question, will wait if someone recommends a better way to let sudo use the mappings. – Mohamed Yasser May 18 '22 at 19:49
  • Good, that it helped so far. Well yes, as I said you essentially change to another user and the .vimrc is user specific. I found a post [here](https://serverfault.com/questions/82626/how-to-make-a-global-vimrc), that talks about how to create a global vim config. But then all users use that. If you want only the root and the normal user to share the config, then you could create a link in the root directory `sudo ln .vimrc /root/`. This way all changes you make for the normal user apply to root as well. But to have root configs changeable by not root users is bad practice for security. – bananabook May 18 '22 at 19:56
  • Just to emphasize to be mindful. Vim is powerfull and that is great, but it also means, that a maliciously configured vim can be bad. It is possible to create a .vimrc, that if applied by root can do anything from installing malware to nuking the system. – bananabook May 18 '22 at 20:01
  • Great! I will try that link tomorrow and come back with an edit. I am aware that I can link with root but I really don't feel comfortable messing with root directory. – Mohamed Yasser May 18 '22 at 21:22
  • both directories mentioned in the accepted answer don't seem to work for Fedora. – Mohamed Yasser May 19 '22 at 16:17
  • @MohamedYasser What directories are you talking about? – bananabook May 19 '22 at 21:06
  • The directories mentioned in this [answer](https://serverfault.com/a/82627) from the link you posted in the comment. – Mohamed Yasser May 20 '22 at 12:32