native vim plugin load order

user_15319256 0
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Sometimes Vim plugins suggest a load order, but Vim nowaday natively supports loading plugins with no plugin manager. You just put a submodule in a folder such as ~/.vim/pack/vendor/start and it'll automatically load. So, my question is how do you ensure a load order similar to how people would previously. Older way of doing things example below:

Plug 'preservim/nerdtree' |
            \ Plug 'Xuyuanp/nerdtree-git-plugin' |
            \ Plug 'ryanoasis/vim-devicons'

Taken from https://github.com/Xuyuanp/nerdtree-git-plugin#faq.

vim-plugin vim
1 Answers

Let's try a little experiment…

  1. Create the following dummy files with their corresponding content:

    Filepath Content
    pack/dummy/start/nerdtree/plugin/foo.vim echom "nerdtree"
    pack/dummy/start/nerdtree-git-plugin/plugin/bar.vim echom "nerdtree-git-plugin"
    pack/dummy/start/vim-devicons/plugin/baz.vim echom "vim-devicons"

  2. Start Vim and you should see something like the following:

    $ vim
nerdtree
nerdtree-git-plugin
vim-devicons
Press ENTER or type command to continue

    which is consistant with:

    :filter dummy scriptnames
 40: ~/.vim/pack/dummy/start/nerdtree/plugin/foo.vim
 41: ~/.vim/pack/dummy/start/nerdtree-git-plugin/plugin/bar.vim
 42: ~/.vim/pack/dummy/start/vim-devicons/plugin/baz.vim
Press ENTER or type command to continue

Based on this experiment, we can conclude that the built-in "package" feature will "load" plugins found in start/ in the filesystem order which happens to be the same as the prescribed order anyway. Of course, your filesystem may order directories differently than mine, so YMMV.

In theory, the :help :packadd command should allow you to "manage" your plugins from your vimrc, like you would with a plugin manager. Let's experiment with it…

  1. Rename start/ to opt/:

    pack/dummy/opt/nerdtree/
pack/dummy/opt/nerdtree-git-plugin/
pack/dummy/opt/vim-devicons/

  2. Add the following lines to your vimrc after any syntax on or filetype on line:

    packadd! nerdtree
packadd! nerdtree-git-plugin
packadd! vim-devicons

  3. Start Vim:

    $ vim
vim-devicons
nerdtree-git-plugin
nerdtree
Press ENTER or type command to continue

    What?

Well… I guess you could experiment with ordering, here, until you get the desired order but that reverse order looks like a bug to me.

user_5468610
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