Abstract. I’ve been using lunarvim for a while, but learned (from my friend Clark Richards) that it is no longer actively maintained. So, I decided to consider other neovim distributions. This posting describes how I set up lazyvim, which I decided was my best choice.

Decision process

First, I had a look at astronvim. It seems to install easily, and I did not run into problems with a few sample files (including the present markdown file). Unfortunately, though, I saw error messages when I tried to edit R files. I tried web searches on those messages (in a file called query.lua) but got nowhere.

Then I tried web searches for alternatives. I ran across a youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbHtl0Pxzj8 that I found quite helpful. It scored lazyvim the highest of four tested distributions, but the others were nearly as high. The deciding factor for me was the author: it is the Folke Lemaitre (https://github.com/folke) who is a superstar in the neovim circles, having written the popular lazy package plus many other important things (see e.g. the over 2000 commits in the first 6 months of the year so far).

Setting up lazyvim

Step 1. follow the general advice from lazyvim.org

Visit http://www.lazyvim.org/installation and and follow the steps described there. (I named the backups as bak-for-lazyvim instead of just *.bak as suggested, because this is not the first thing I tried.)

Step 2. install the R language server

Instal the R language server by starting nvim and typing

:Mason

Then type 2 to get the LSP listing and move the cursor down to the item called r-languageserver and pressing the i key.

Step 3. set up the R-nvim plugin

To use the wonderful R-nvim package https://github.com/R-nvim/R.nvim, create a new file called .config/nvim/lua/plugins/myplugins.lua with contents as follows.

return {
    -- add R-nvim
    { "R-nvim/R.nvim", lazy = false, R_assign = 2, },
}

Step 4. set indentation for R

Add the following to the ~/.config/nvim/lua/config/options.lua file.

vim.o.tabstop = 4
vim.o.expandtab = true
vim.o.softtabstop = 4
vim.o.shiftwidth = 4

This sets up the 4-space indentation that is the standard in the oce package www.github.com/dankelley/oce.

Step 5. set the local leader to comma

Add the following to the ~/.config/nvim/lua/config/options.lua file to set the local leader to the , character.

vim.g.maplocalleader = ","

This value of the local leader is recommended for https://github.com/R-nvim/R.nvim, and it is quite popular in other situations, perhaps because it is much easier for touch-typists to strike than the default value of \.

At this stage, it makes sense to open an existing .R file and then typing ,rf to see if a console window appears. If not, there is a problem. If so, then try typing ,aa to see if the source file is run by R.

Step 6. set up python

Type

.LazyExtras

and scroll down to find formatting.black. If it is not listed as having been already enabled, enable it by pressing x when the cursor is on that line. This will create (or add to an existing) a ~/.config/nvim/lazyvim.json file.

Then type

:Mason

to enter Mason, and type 4 to get to linters. Scroll down until you find flake8 and type i to install it.

Still in Mason, type 2 to get to language server protocols (LSPs). Find the LSP named pyright and install that.

To test this, edit some python code and add a line like

junk=3

and then type SPC c f to format it. Spaces should appear to the right and left of the equals sign. Then remove the spaces again and type :w to write the file. This ought to run the formatter again, so the spaces will reappear. Once these test are done, you’ll want to remove the line you added.

(An aside: in the course of my experimentation, I also have also installed the ruff-lsp language server, and a quick web search on that suggests that it does both formatting and linting. Maybe there is no need for black and pyright?)

Decision process

Setting up lazyvim

Further reading and viewing