Phew, that was extensive, sorry for the misunderstanding. I am indeed
from the Linux world (at least I cut my Unix teeth in Linux), so this
is a surprise to me. I'll set my env vars properly now, thanks!

Thomas

On Nov 12, 10:13 pm, Ben Schmidt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> > I'm using a custom-compiled GVim now strictly for this reason, but I
> > really do wish that MacVim were set up this way. Why do you guys not
> > acknowledge a user's PATH? GVim works otherwise on Windows and Linux.
>
> Why do people not understand how environment variables work? This is not
> to do with Gvim, but the system. The place to set environment variables
> on the Mac for GUI applications (those started via loginwindow, the
> Finder, etc.) is ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist
>
> http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1067.html
>
> Just like on Windows you set environment variables in a standard system
> place (System properties) you do the same on the Mac; it's just a
> different place. On Linux, it's a different place again: you alter your
> shell startup files, because everything, including the window manager,
> usually, is started via a shell.
>
> However, it seems many people on the Mac don't understand this, but
> alter their shell startup files and expect every other app to somehow
> magically pick up the variables even though they are not started via a
> shell.
>
> But I must admit, shell startup files are a convenient way to set
> variables.
>
> So MacVim has a workaround for this: turn on 'Launch Vim processes in a
> login shell' in the preferences and it should work.
>
> However, sometimes it doesn't, because people set their PATH in the
> wrong shell startup scripts. For the default shell, bash, you should be
> setting your PATH in ~/.profile not ~/.bashrc (likewise /etc/profile).
> Most install scripts do this correctly, but for some reason a lot of
> users don't.
>
> It will work without doing anything if you start a (Mac)Vim instance
> (directly or via the mvim script) in Terminal.app, since Terminal.app
> starts a shell at which you type the commands and it reads its startup
> files and Vim inherits the environment from that.
>
> It's nothing to do with what we decide to 'acknowledge' it's to do with
> what we're given by whatever process started (Mac)Vim instances.
>
> Ben.
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