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I am trying to use vim to edit TeX files with vimtex. I would like to be able to do backwards search from compiled PDFs. The vimtex documentation says the following:

|+clientserver| is necessary for backward search from PDF viewer to Vim.

It then suggests following this link to ensure that vim is started with a servername. I follow the instructions to check if I have +clientserver by executing $ vim -h | grep servername but I get no output (indicating that I don't have it). I also ran $ vim --version | grep client and I get output of -clientserver. The page then provides the following options:

  1. symlink vim to gvim (if you have gvim installed).
  2. install vim with 'clientserver' support from binaries
  3. build vim from sources with clientserver support and install it

I don't want to use gvim, so I am limited to options 2 and 3. However, I could not find any direction on how to do this on arch and I would appreciate if anyone knew how to do so.

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  • It really seems to me that, unfortunately, to enable +clientserver you also need to check in some sort of graphical Vim. I've grepped in the whole source tree and checked ./configure --help, but did not find anything on enabling +clientserver that wouldn't also include some sort of gvim. Should be worth an issue on their Github. Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 22:19
  • Thanks for your research. I will try opening an issue. Commented Jun 21, 2020 at 1:14

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The gvim package on Arch Linux provides a vim binary with the clientserver feature:

↪ vim --version | grep client
-clientserver      +job               +persistent_undo   -toolbar
↪ pacman -Qo /usr/bin/vim
/usr/bin/vim is owned by vim 8.2.0814-2
↪ sudo pacman -S gvim                                     
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...
:: gvim and vim are in conflict (vim-minimal). Remove vim? [y/N] y

Package (2)  Old Version  New Version  Net Change

vim          8.2.0814-2                 -3.60 MiB
extra/gvim                8.2.0814-2     3.92 MiB

Total Installed Size:  3.92 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      0.32 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                                        [-------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                      [-------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                           [-------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                                     [-------------------------------------------------] 100%
(2/2) checking available disk space                                                   [-------------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) removing vim                                                                    [-------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) installing gvim                                                                 [-------------------------------------------------] 100%
Optional dependencies for gvim
    python2: Python 2 language support [installed]
    python: Python 3 language support [installed]
    ruby: Ruby language support
    lua: Lua language support [installed]
    perl: Perl language support [installed]
    tcl: Tcl language support [installed]
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/3) Updating icon theme caches...
(3/3) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
↪ pacman -Qo /usr/bin/vim
/usr/bin/vim is owned by gvim 8.2.0814-2
↪ vim --version | grep client
+clientserver      +job               +persistent_undo   +toolbar
↪ vim --help | grep servername
   --servername <name>  Send to/become the Vim server <name>

The clientserver feature also works in the terminal based vim in the gvim package.

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