vimproc is a great asynchronous execution library for Vim. It is a fork of proc.vim by Yukihiro Nakadaira. I added some features and fixed some bugs and I'm maintaining it now. Instead of an external shell (example: 'shell'), vimproc uses an external DLL file.

Supported platforms:

• Windows 32/64bit (Compiled by MinGW or Visual Studio)
• macOS (10.5 or later)
• Linux
• Cygwin
• Solaris
• BSD (but cannot check)
• Android (experimental)

Not supported platforms:

• Other UNIX platforms

• Clone this repo
• Build vimproc's native extensions (see Building for details)
• Copy autoload/*, lib/* and plugin/* files to your 'runtimepath' directory (see :help runtimepath).

If you use dein.vim, you can update and build vimproc automatically. This is the recommended package manager.

call dein#add('Shougo/vimproc.vim', {'build' : 'make'})

If you use vim-plug, you can update and build vimproc automatically.

Plug 'Shougo/vimproc.vim', {'do' : 'make'}

If you use Vundle, add the following to your .vimrc.

Plugin 'Shougo/vimproc.vim'

Then compile the plugin manually where it was installed.

i.e. on Linux & Mac

$ cd ~/.vim/bundle/vimproc.vim && make

See building

If you use neobundle.vim, you can update and build vimproc automatically.

NeoBundle 'Shougo/vimproc.vim', {
\ 'build' : {
\     'windows' : 'tools\\update-dll-mingw',
\     'cygwin' : 'make -f make_cygwin.mak',
\     'mac' : 'make',
\     'linux' : 'make',
\     'unix' : 'gmake',
\    },
\ }

vimproc uses a pathogen compatible structure, so it can be managed with pathogen, however you must remember to compile after cloning the repo.

git clone https://github.com/Shougo/vimproc.vim.git ~/.vim/bundle/vimproc.vim
cd ~/.vim/bundle/vimproc.vim
make

Note: You must use GNU make to build vimproc.

You can install the dll using |VimProcInstall|. If you are having any trouble or want to build manually then read on.

$ make

Note: Users of macOS 10.15 (Catalina) cannot directly use this library with the system-provided vi. (SIP prevents binaries in the write-only /usr/bin directory from calling dlopen on unsigned libraries like vimproc_mac.so.) The simplest solution is to build or install another version of vi in a non-SIP protected location. For example, using homebrew, brew install vim (or nvim) will install an unrestricted executable in /usr/local/bin. (Don't forget to set up aliases or $PATH so that you don't accidentally invoke the system vi.)

$ make

Note: If you want to build for multiple architectures, you can use ARCHS and CC variables.

Build for i386 and x86-64:

$ make ARCHS='i386 x86_64'

$ gmake

If you want to use BSD make, use the platform specific makefile:

$ make -f make_bsd.mak

$ gmake

Note: If you want to use Sun Compiler, you can use SUNCC variable.

$ gmake SUNCC=cc

Note: In Windows, using MinGW is recommended. Note: If you have not "gcc" binary, you must change $CC value.

Windows using MinGW (32bit Vim):

$ mingw32-make -f make_mingw32.mak

Windows using MinGW (If you want to use MinGW compiler in Cygwin):

$ mingw32-make -f make_mingw32.mak CC=mingw32-gcc

Windows using MinGW (64bit Vim):

$ mingw32-make -f make_mingw64.mak

Windows using Visual Studio (32bit/64bit Vim):

$ nmake -f make_msvc.mak

You should run this from VS command prompt. The architecture will be automatically detected, but you can also specify the architecture explicitly. E.g.:

32bit: nmake -f make_msvc.mak CPU=i386
64bit: nmake -f make_msvc.mak CPU=AMD64

Cygwin:

$ make

Note: The vimproc_cygwin.dll compiled in Cygwin won't work with Windows Vim.

• Kaoriya Vim comes bundled with a precompiled version for vimproc in Windows environment
• https://github.com/Shougo/vimproc.vim/releases