gitui-org/gitui

Vim is not available as external editor on windows

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#1,316 opened on Sep 7, 2022

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bugdormantgood first issuehelp wanted

Description

Thanks for gitui, it makes my daily life easier=)

There is, however, one thing that seems break my current flow - I can not launch vim from within gitui.

Describe the bug Vim is not available as external editor

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Navigate to a repo with modified files, run gitui
  2. Chose a file with modifications
  3. Hit 'e' button to edit this file
  4. A "popup" appears:
failed to launch editor:
"vim": program not found

Same bug observed when trying to '^e'dit commit message in external editor.

Expected behavior A vim instance with selected file loaded.

Context (please complete the following information):

  • OS/Distro + Version: win10 (build 21H2-19044.1889)
  • GitUI Version 0.21.0
  • Running in WindowsTerminal and pwsh-7.2.6
  • both vim and gitui are installed via chocolatey

Additional context vim is present in path:

PS1> where.exe vim
C:\Windows\vim.bat

and git is configured to use vim

git config  -l | rg editor
core.editor=vim

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rust
Domain
clideveloper experience
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Rust basicsWindows PATH handlingGitUI editor integration
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
50
Research direction
Investigate how GitUI resolves the external editor path on Windows. The issue reporter notes that vim is available as 'vim.bat' via the PATH, so the bug might be that GitUI's editor lookup does not handle batch files. Look at the editor spawning logic (likely in a file like `src/terminal.rs` or similar) to see how it searches for the executable. Check if any Windows specific path handling is missing. Also, review the comments in the issue for any additional insights from the community.