Question

I have a line

set cpoptions+=$

in my .vimrc file. However according to

verbose set cpoptions output:

cpoptions=aABceFs
Last set from /usr/share/vim/vim73/plugin/zipPlugin.vim

: it is always overridden by zipPlugin.vim. I am wondering why is vim reading these plugins after reading my .vimrc file? Any way to fix this?

Answer 1

Because vim always reads vimrc before the plugins. This load sequence makes sense because in this case you can set plugin options in the vimrc. It can’t be overriden, but you can source zipPlugin (with :source /usr/share/vim/vim73/plugin/zipPlugin.vim or :runtime plugin/zipPlugin.vim) from the vimrc. AFAIK it won’t prevent plugin from loading for the second time but as this plugin is using guard it won’t continue to the cpo resetting line when being sourced for the second time.

Note that if your zipPlugin.vim is identical to mine, then it is not the source of the problem: if you look at its code you will see that it is saving your cpoptions setting and then restoring it. As other plugins distributed with vim must do the same or do not touch cpoptions at all then you can forget the above recommendation. I would suggest to first look that line set nocompatible (or set nocp), if any, is the first line present in the vimrc. Remember that setting this option causes many other options to reset to their defaults (including cpoptions) and it is why it must go before any other line modifying options.

Update: Now I see that you have provided a link to the vimrc and it does not have the above problem. Try to check verbose set compatible?, then try to launch vim with the following command:

vim --cmd 'let g:sourced_files=[] | autocmd SourcePre * if !empty(g:sourced_files) && stridx(&cpo, "$")==-1 | echomsg "cpo does not contain dollar sign after loading ".g:sourced_files[-1] | set cpo+=$ | endif | let g:sourced_files+=[expand("<amatch>")]'

You will have some false positives here: first loaded vimrc (/etc/vim/vimrc): because cpo was not set, any plugins loaded like

if exists("loaded_thlnk")
    finish
endif
let loaded_thlnk = 1
let s:save_cpo = &cpo
set cpo&vim

" (This is to allow installation of thlnk.vim with just :runtime plugin/thlnk.vim
"  without leaving vim after having thrown all files into a plugin directory :)
runtime! plugin/thlnkuri.vim
runtime! plugin/thlnkarr.vim
runtime! plugin/thlnkscm.vim

: here cpo is reset before plugins are loaded, but at the end there goes

let &cpo = s:save_cpo

thus it is really safe. On my system there are only false positives: though cpo is saved and restored by many plugins, no plugins forget to restore it or do something else.