Trouble configuring vim --with-features=huge

Question

I cloned the vim source using mercurial, and ran the following commands:

make distclean
./configure --with-features=huge
make 
sudo make install

The output of all these commands seemed normal. Yet the output of my vim --version is missing features that should be enabled when ./configure (xterm_clipboard, for example). How can I diagnose this problem? My goal is to enable netbeans_intg.

VIM - Vi IMproved 7.2 (2008 Aug 9, compiled Mar 23 2010 12:50:41)
Included patches: 1-315
Modified by <[email protected]>
Compiled by <[email protected]>
Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+arabic +autocmd -balloon_eval -browse ++builtin_terms +byte_offset +cindent
-clientserver -clipboard +cmdline_compl +cmdline_hist +cmdline_info +comments
+cryptv +cscope +cursorshape +dialog_con +diff +digraphs -dnd -ebcdic
+emacs_tags +eval +ex_extra +extra_search +farsi +file_in_path +find_in_path
+float +folding -footer +fork() +gettext -hangul_input +iconv +insert_expand
+jumplist +keymap +langmap +libcall +linebreak +lispindent +listcmds +localmap
+menu +mksession +modify_fname +mouse -mouseshape +mouse_dec +mouse_gpm
-mouse_jsbterm +mouse_netterm -mouse_sysmouse +mouse_xterm +multi_byte
+multi_lang -mzscheme -netbeans_intg -osfiletype +path_extra +perl +postscript
+printer +profile +python +quickfix +reltime +rightleft +ruby +scrollbind
+signs +smartindent -sniff +startuptime +statusline -sun_workshop +syntax
+tag_binary +tag_old_static -tag_any_white -tcl +terminfo +termresponse
+textobjects +title -toolbar +user_commands +vertsplit +virtualedit +visual
+visualextra +viminfo +vreplace +wildignore +wildmenu +windows +writebackup
-X11 -xfontset -xim -xsmp -xterm_clipboard -xterm_save
   system vimrc file: "/etc/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/etc"
 f-b for $VIMRUNTIME: "/usr/share/vim/vim72"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H     -O2 -g -pipe -Wall  -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m64 -mtune=generic -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64  -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1    -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE   -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -I/usr/include/gdbm  -I/usr/lib64/perl5/5.8.8/x86_64-linux-thread-multi/CORE  -I/usr/local/include/python2.6 -pthread  -I/opt/local/ruby-1.8.7/lib/ruby/1.8/x86_64-linux
Linking: gcc   -L.  -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic  -Wl,-E -Wl,-rpath,/usr/lib64/perl5/5.8.8/x86_64-linux-thread-multi/CORE   -L/usr/local/lib -o vim       -lselinux  -lncurses -lacl -lgpm   -Wl,-E -Wl,-rpath,/usr/lib64/perl5/5.8.8/x86_64-linux-thread-multi/CORE  /usr/lib64/perl5/5.8.8/x86_64-linux-thread-multi/auto/DynaLoader/DynaLoader.a -L/usr/lib64/perl5/5.8.8/x86_64-linux-thread-multi/CORE -lperl -lresolv -lutil -lc -L/usr/local/lib/python2.6/config -lpython2.6 -lutil -Xlinker -export-dynamic  -lruby-static -lm

Answer 1

Are you sure you're running the vim you built, and not another vim that was already on your system? In any case, that vim was not built with any GUI (X11) support, as you can see by Huge version without GUI in the log.

Including huge doesn't get you every feature; it just gets you a lot of them. If you want X11 and xterm_clipboard, make sure you specify an X11 build option. For a GTK-based system, you can do something like:

./configure --with-features=huge --enable-gui=gtk2

That will get you most of the X11/graphical features. If you're not using GTK2, you'll have to specify something else; check out ./configure --help for a list of features.

You'll need to have various GTK/X11 (or whatever GUI you go with) development libraries installed in order to build with GUI support. It's possible that it's trying to build with X11 support, but you don't have the right libraries. Review your configure output for errors.

Your OS may have a pre-built binary with all the features you need, as others have suggested, but I've found I always end up having to compile it for one thing or another eventually, so it's worth figuring out. If you provide more information about the OS you're running (and if OSX, which supplemental package system), someone may have an OS-specific binary package suggestion.

Answer 2

When you don't have some features enabled in a huge build, that's probably due to missing dependencies. The configure script runs a lot of detections, and skips certain features when the corresponding libraries or ...-devel packages are missing. The easiest thing to install those is via

$ sudo apt-get build-dep vim-gnome # Debian-based
$ sudo yum-builddep vim-gnome # Redhat

For the Netbeans integration, romainl is probably right in his remark that that is only available in GVIM (but that should be built with your invocation, too).