vi vs. nvi

[David Young <dyoung%pobox.com@localhost>]

These days, NetBSD is shipping two versions of vi, /usr/bin/vi and
/usr/bin/nvi.  IIUC, the plan is to switch from vi to nvi, after
nvi stabilizes in NetBSD.  In the short term, I am concerned that two
versions of vi are larger than one.  In the long term, I am concerned
that the new vi is much bigger than the old.  On i386:

# ls -l `which nvi`
-r-xr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  466648 Jul 18 16:51 /usr/bin/nvi
# ls -l `which vi`
-r-xr-xr-x  3 root  wheel  286516 Jul 18 16:52 /usr/bin/vi

Since one vi will suffice on most systems, I would like to add a build
option, MKNVI, that defaults to 'yes' (build and install both vi and nvi).
If set to 'no', however, MKNVI stops nvi from being built and installed?
Is that ok, so far?

I am concerned that nvi is too big for embedded applications.  What do
we owe the larger size to?  Compilation options?  New (and essential)
features?  Is there any way to bring the size under control?  I'm asking
for your ideas.

Dave

-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies
dyoung%ojctech.com@localhost      Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933 ext 24