The -f option is required to allow programs to invoke gvim and wait for the user to exit gvim, as you can see from <http://bugs.debian.org/329292>. Without the -f, gvim immediately forks, thus returning control back to whatever process spawned it. There are many other ways to start programs other than via Vim's ":!" command. There are not many other ways to allow programs to spawn gvim and wait for the user to exit, thus why the decision was made to use the -f option.
** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #329292 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=329292 -- External command are broken in gvim started from menu https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/322023 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
