Imported From: https://issues.scala-lang.org/browse/SI-7682?orig=1
Reporter: @sschaef
Affected Versions: 2.11.0

@som-snytt said:
I'll need some info, since the use case was just to default to :line behavior, which is to put the lines at the end of history so at least you can up-arrow to them.

1441  val i = 8
1442  :hi

scala> :ed 1441-
Placing text in recent history.

scala> :hi
[snip]
1441  val i = 8
1442  :hi
1443  :ed 1441-
1444  val i = 8
1445  :hi

scala> :q
apm@mara:~/tmp$ echo $EDITOR

apm@mara:~/tmp$ 

Maybe the EDITOR isn't actually unset, but is garbage? etc.

@sschaef said:
DAMN, yes EDITOR was not unset. It pointed to vim which couldn't be loaded. After I unset the variable everything works fine.

I'll close the ticket but if you want you can take a look at the exception that occurs when EDITOR points to an editor that does not exist:

java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "": error=2, No such file or directory

@som-snytt said:
I'll use this ticket for the promised follow-up.

@som-snytt said:
I believe "bad interaction" is the current nomenclature, is it not?

"Interacts badly," "Does not play well with others."

@michaelpigg said:
I was so excited to stumble on the :edit command, and then so confused when it just hung the REPL (with EDITOR=vim).

not sure what the cause is, but "good first issue" seems at least plausible. at least to figure out what's going on.

Now, without EDITOR, it behaves the same as:line.
It freezes when I set vim to EDITOR.

If set vim, is it correct behavior that editable history with vim?

If set vim, is it correct behavior that editable history with vim?

That's the goal, yes.

I don't see the :edit command in 2.12 and 2.13, so I think it's temporary until this is fixed. This is what I got.

$ EDITOR=""
==> java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "": error=2, No such file or directory
// says at the tail that the entry has slain the compiler (If I choose replay,
"Nothing to replay.")

$ EDITOR="vim"
==> 
// blank, cannot type anything, but it might actually be running and didn't hang up
// $ ps says
// 54175 ttys001    0:00.01 vim /var/folders/3z/vxd....
// and pressing ctrl-c in the scala console removes the vim process.

$ EDITOR="nano"
==> Error exit from nano (1), ignoring
// reaches the default case x for pr.exitCode

$ EDITOR="code" // visual studio code
==> 
    +vim
    +:ed
    +val x = 123
    +:hi
    +:ed 184-
    +:hi
    ....
    <console>:5: error: ';' expected but ':' found.
    :ed 184-
    ^
    <console>:12: error: ';' expected but ':' found.
    :ed 184-
    ^

    scala> 
// prints the stuff above, and then opens my vscode app with a blank .tmp file
// it reaches the next input (?) as seen in the last line above
// visually, it happens in that order. I ran :edit with the app open already.
// I don't have proof that it does happen in that order though

screenshot of open vscode app after running :ed

The feature was just a quick workaround for JLine2 limitations. It allowed using gedit to edit multiple lines of history.

Closing in favor of upstream contributions to JLine3, as necessary.