Description of problem: The default vim install uses colors suited to light backgrounds, which is a pretty rare case. Could we change the default? # diff -u /etc/vimrc.rpmnew /etc/vimrc --- /etc/vimrc.rpmnew 2004-09-21 06:59:14.000000000 -0400 +++ /etc/vimrc 2004-09-27 12:49:05.887773280 -0400 @@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ " than 50 lines of registers set history=50 " keep 50 lines of command line history set ruler " show the cursor position all the time +set bg=dark " use colors suitable for dark backgrounds " Only do this part when compiled with support for autocommands if has("autocmd") Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): vim-common-6.3.028-1
I don't agree with your statement that people prefering light backgrounds are rare. Taking a look around in our office at other peoples vim sessions, light backgrounds are actually way more common then dark backgrounds. It's a difficult task to make everyone happy. Maybe I should try to get help on fedora-devel to test all color schemes from http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=625 with light and dark backgrounds, but I'm tempted to close this as "won't fix"
I wasn't stating or implying that people prefer light or dark backgrounds. gvim always uses a light background, if your gtk themes does. The linux console always uses a black background. X users can use gvim, but console users can't. I just think the console default should be friendly to console users, since the X default is always friendly to X users. (there's no magic way for vim to know what its fore/background colors for "normal" text are and make a decision based on that, is there?)
vim already checks the environment and automatically uses bg=dark on the console. Edit a .c file which using the console (.c only to see the highlight colors) and try to switch to bg=dark. You'll see that nothing changes, whereas switching to bg=light will result in some different colors.