minpac VS minPlug

PS: As you get proficient with Vim, you'll probably want to extend it with plugins, so you should look into package managers when you'll be a decent Vimmer; I use minpac but there are plenty of others. But for now, focus on learning Vim; you don't want to install a plugin to do something that Vim can do out of the box.

It’s been such a long time since I’ve used it. Don’t know how it compares, but minpac is super simple and uses vim’s native package system (the latter can also be used on its own) https://github.com/k-takata/minpac

There are package managers that are built on top of Vim's package system, the one I use is minpac which has a list of other plugin managers using Vim's package system in its README.

Options: - packloadall command family and maybe git submodules - minpac which is a thin utility around the above - vim-plug - old but still popular for it does the job - packer.nvim is a popular choice for lua configs, never got to using it myself - paq-nvim is another often mentioned lua solution - dozens of other solutions

I'm not sure about vim-plug, but I use minpac which does use vim's native plugin location. The selling point is that the installs and updates are managed via the plugin's commands. As part of my dotfiles, the install command is run.

I went back to using minpac. It uses vim's package feature, but doesn't have to compile anything. I like that I don't have to load it unless I download something.

minpac: Plugin manager.

vim.opt.runtimepath:remove(vim.fn.expand('~/.config/nvim')) vim.opt.packpath:remove(vim.fn.expand('~/.local/share/nvim/site')) vim.opt.runtimepath:append(vim.fn.expand('/tmp/nvim-config')) vim.opt.packpath:append(vim.fn.expand('/tmp/nvim-config')) -- Install minpac local install_path = '/tmp/nvim-config/pack/minpac/opt/minpac' local install_plugins = false if vim.fn.empty(vim.fn.glob(install_path)) > 0 then vim.cmd('!git clone https://github.com/k-takata/minpac ' .. install_path) install_plugins = true end function PackInit() vim.cmd('packadd minpac') vim.call('minpac#init', {dir = '/tmp/nvim-config'}) local Plug = vim.fn['minpac#add'] -- Plugin manager Plug('k-takata/minpac', {type = 'opt'}) -- Colorscheme Plug 'mjlbach/onedark.nvim' -- LSP Support Plug 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig' Plug 'williamboman/nvim-lsp-installer' -- Autocompletion Plug 'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp' Plug 'hrsh7th/cmp-buffer' Plug 'hrsh7th/cmp-path' Plug 'saadparwaiz1/cmp_luasnip' Plug 'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp' Plug 'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lua' -- Snippets Plug 'L3MON4D3/LuaSnip' Plug 'rafamadriz/friendly-snippets' -- lsp stuff Plug 'VonHeikemen/lsp-zero.nvim' end pcall(vim.cmd, 'colorscheme onedark') vim.cmd [[ command! PackUpdate lua PackInit(); vim.call('minpac#update') command! PackClean lua PackInit(); vim.call('minpac#clean') command! PackStatus lua PackInit(); vim.call('minpac#status') ]] if install_plugins then vim.cmd('PackUpdate') end local ok, lsp = pcall(require, 'lsp-zero') if ok then lsp.preset('recommended') lsp.setup() end

k-takata/minpac, the plugin manager that stays out my way. It can live as an optional plugin, it's not loaded unless I update or install something.

I like minpac, it's a good plugin manager. It does what I want. Exactly what I want. Problem is it's written in vimscript, which is something I'm trying to avoid right now. I have no good reason to avoid vimscript... I just don't want to write any. By now I have read enough about lua and the neovim api to create a wrapper that would make minpac a little bit more "lua friendly".

Because there are rarely updates and it's just one file, I just incorporated it directly into my Vim config. And if there happen to be an update, then my plugin manager (minPlug) has option to download only single files:

Vundle is a bit obsolete (last code update 5 years ago); better use something else (e.g. minPlug or vim-plug)