Re: [RFC PATCH 3/3] FAQ: sync newuser-install

[Bart Schaefer <schaefer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 5:34 AM Vincent Lefevre <vincent@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 2022-08-30 14:31:30 -0500, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> > Yes, but "we" are zsh veterans. We don't need a simpler .zshrc, but
> > newcomers do.
>
> Having a too simple .zshrc file is not helping them. Rather than
> hidden defaults, I think that it is better to have explicit values
> in some default .zshrc file, so that it is easier to change them.

We've made several stabs at this without ever coming to a resolution.
The most recent attempt was in spring 2021 (search archives for
subject "Rewrite of zsh-newuser-install").

There have always been 3 problems:
 * Supplying a default file leads to package maintainers shoving it
into /etc, despite admonitions to the contrary
 * A small well-documented file is easy to understand and edit, but ...
 * ... others want the default file to enable and configure all the
cool/powerful features

Consequently we go round in circles and end up changing nothing.

> I currently use HISTSIZE=8000 SAVEHIST=8000, and while this value
> is OK on some machines, I've noticed that I sometimes lose commands,
> and indeed, after a look, this gives me only a 12-day history on my
> main machine, while I would have thought that it would be several
> weeks (I wish I could set a minimum time limit for the history).

That's actually not a bad idea, and would probably work well in
conjunction with HIST_SAVE_NO_DUPS.  Would require EXTENDED_HISTORY.

> And there's more than the history. I suspect that many users would
> like "bindkey -e", a better prompt and better completions than the
> default.

Cf. "all the cool/powerful features" ...

(Isn't "bindkey -e" already the default?  Is this just to overcome
having EDITOR=vim or some such?)