Zinit 4 extra features

September 20, 2023 · View on GitHub

Zinit 4 comes with the following features that are different from Zinit (@zdharma-continuum fork).

Ver. 4.0.8

  • each plugin has a separate function defined: @[plugin-id]; so for example the plugin psprint/xzmsg has a function @psprint/xzmsg; the function allows quick actions for all plugins, being:

    • cd – change directory to plugin dir, ' - load – load the plugin,
    • unload – unload plugin,
    • update – update the plugin,
    • status – show plugin status (↔ zinit statuus …),
    • run – run a command in the plugin dir,
    • dispose – rm -fr on the plugin dir;

    to run the action pass it as first argument of the plugin @function of your choice, e.g.: @psprint/xzmsg cd (in this example the shell will change CWD to xzmsg directory); presentation: asciicast

  • each plugin (+ some other, distinct location) has a special alias (Zsh internal feature) of the form: ~[plugin-name]; so for example psprnit/xzmsg has ~[psprint/xzmsg] defined, ponting to the plugin directory; you can use the ~[…] alias in all commands, e.g.: for cd; the feature is called "dynamic directoies" in zsh documentation,

  • the mentioned distinct location are:

    • ~[zplug] – the plugin dir ($ZINIT[PLUGINS_DIR),
    • ~[zsnip] – the plugin dir ($ZINIT[SNIPPETS_DIR]),
    • ~[zcomp] – the completion dir ($ZINIT[COMPLETIONS_DIR),
    • ~[data] – ~/.local/share or $XDG_DATA_HOME, if set,
    • ~[cache] – ~/.cache or $XDG_CACHE_HOME, if set,
    • ~[cfg] – the same, but for $XDG_CONFIG_HOME,
    • many others, see the complete list after pressing TAB with cursor after: ~[…].

Ver. 4.0.3

  • AppImage distribution (release link),

  • action complete – press Alt-Shift-A or Alt-Shift-C to complete plugin names and ice modifiers at the command line; asciicast on action-complete9: asciicast

  • themes – set $ZITHEME to one of default, blue.gold and pastel to pick a color set to use for Zinit 4 messages:

    • default theme: default default

    • blue theme: default default

    • gold theme: default default

  • new ice build'' which is equivalent of three other ices: null configure make'install and simply builds the project from sources, with support for autotools/CMake/Meson/Scons; the project will be installed to ~/.z4 (the default $ZPFX, which is cutomizable), see a presentation: asciicast