Struggle to keep your Neovim versions in check? Bob provides an easy way to install and switch versions on any system!
Bob is a cross-platform and easy-to-use Neovim version manager, allowing for easy switching between versions right from the command line.
/Users/user/Library/Application Support to ~/.local/share please make sure to move all of your downloads to the new folder, run bob use <your desired version> and update your PATH2023-02-13: Bob has recently switched to using a proxy executable for running Neovim executables. To switch from the old method that Bob used, follow these steps:
~/.local/share/neovim
On Windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\neovimSecondly the name of the downloads directory property in the configuration file has changed. Please refer to the updated list of properties for the new name.
Make sure you don't have Neovim already installed via other ways e.g. a package manager.
Make sure rustup is installed.
For further information refer to the Neovim wiki.
All platforms
Windows
Unix
MacOS note: follow these instructions
bob-{platform}-x86_64.zipbobcargo install --git https://github.com/MordechaiHadad/bob.gitbobcargo install bob-nvimbobA version-string can either be vx.x.x or x.x.x examples: v0.6.1 and 0.6.0
bob use |nightly|stable|latest|<version-string>|<commit-hash>|--no-install flag will prevent bob from auto invoking install command when using use
Switch to the specified version, by default will auto-invoke install command if the version is not installed already
bob install |nightly|stable|latest|<version-string>|<commit-hash>|Install the specified version, can also be used to update out-of-date nightly version.
bob syncIf Config::versionsyncfile_location is set, the version in that file will be parsed and installed.
bob uninstall |nightly|stable|latest|<version-string>|<commit-hash>|Uninstall the specified version.
bob rollbackRollback to an existing nightly rollback
bob eraseErase any change bob ever made including Neovim installation, Neovim version downloads and registry changes.
bob listList all installed and used versions.
bob complete bash|elvish|fish|powershell|zshGenerate shell completion.
bob update |nightly|stable|--all|Update existing version, can specify either a version or the flag --all
This section is a bit more advanced and thus the user will have to do the work himself since bob doesn't do that.
Bob's configuration file will have to be in config_dir/bob/config.json but can be customized as seen below, to be more specific:
On Linux
/home/user/.config/bob/config.json
On Windows
C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\bob\config.json
On MacOS
/Users/user/Library/Application Support/bob/config.json
Bob's config file location can be configured by using an environment variable called $BOB_CONFIG.
Example: export BOB_CONFIG=/path/to/config/config.json
| Property | Description | Default Value |
| -------------------------------| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| enablenightlyinfo | Will show new commits associated with new nightly release if enabled | true |
| downloadslocation | The folder in which neovim versions will be downloaded to, bob will error if this option is specified but the folder doesn't exist | unix: /home/<username>/.local/share/bob, windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\bob |
| installationlocation | The path in which the proxied neovim installation will be located in | unix: /home/<username>/.local/share/bob/nvim-bin, windows: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\bob\nvim-bin |
| versionsyncfilelocation | The path to a file that will hold the neovim version string, useful for config version tracking, bob will error if the specified file is not a valid file path | Disabled by default |
| rollbacklimit | The amount of rollbacks before bob starts to delete older ones, can be up to 255 | 3 |
jsonc
// /home/user/.config/bob/config.json
{
"enable_nightly_info": true, // Will show new commits associated with new nightly release if enabled
"downloads_location": "$HOME/.local/share/bob", // The folder in which neovim versions will be installed too, bob will error if this option is specified but the folder doesn't exist
"installation_location": "/home/user/.local/share/bob/nvim-bin", // The path in which the used neovim version will be located in
"version_sync_file_location": "/home/user/.config/nvim/nvim.version", // The path to a file that will hold the neovim version string, useful for config version tracking, bob will error if the specified file is not a valid file path
"rollback_limit": 3 // The amount of rollbacks before bob starts to delete older ones, can be up to 225
}
Completion files are commonly stored in /etc/bash_completion.d/ for system-wide commands, but can be stored in ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions for user-specific commands. Run the command:
bash
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions
bob complete bash >> ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/bob
This installs the completion script. You may have to log out and log back in to your shell session for the changes to take effect.
Homebrew stores bash completion files within the Homebrew directory. With the bash-completion brew formula installed, run the command:
bash
mkdir -p $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion.d
bob complete bash > $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion.d/bob.bash-completion
Fish completion files are commonly stored in $HOME/.config/fish/completions. Run the command:
fish
mkdir -p ~/.config/fish/completions
bob complete fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/bob.fish
This installs the completion script. You may have to log out and log back in to your shell session for the changes to take effect.
Zsh completions are commonly stored in any directory listed in your $fpath variable. To use these completions, you must either add the generated script to one of those directories, or add your own to this list.
Adding a custom directory is often the safest bet if you are unsure of which directory to use. First create the directory; for this example we'll create a hidden directory inside our $HOME directory:
zsh
mkdir ~/.zfunc
Then add the following lines to your .zshrc just before compinit:
zsh
fpath+=~/.zfunc
Now you can install the completions script using the following command:
zsh
bob complete zsh > ~/.zfunc/_bob
You must then either log out and log back in, or simply run
zsh
exec zsh
for the new completions to take effect.
The PowerShell completion scripts require PowerShell v5.0+ (which comes with Windows 10, but can be downloaded separately for windows 7 or 8.1).
First, check if a profile has already been set
powershell
Test-Path $profile
If the above command returns False run the following
powershell
New-Item -path $profile -type file -force
Now open the file provided by $profile (if you used the New-Item command it will be ${env:USERPROFILE}\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
Next, we either save the completions file into our profile, or into a separate file and source it inside our profile. To save the completions into our profile simply use
powershell
bob complete powershell >> ${env:USERPROFILE}\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
sudo: nvim: command not found
This error can be caused when secure_path is enabled in /etc/sudoers like in distros such as Fedora Workstation 37, possible workarounds:
secure_pathsudo env "PATH=$PATH" nvim$SUDO_USER to location of bob nvim binary: SUDO_EDITOR='/home/user/.local/share/bob/nvim-bin/nvimThese workarounds were devised by @nfejzic, thanks to him.