Hello,
I'm one of those who were surprised by syntax highlighting not working
in the default installation, even though hx --health indicates that it
should. (Apologies—I haven’t read Debian’s README either.)
I think that, at the very least, in the default installation, hx
--health shouldn't show check marks for syntax highlighting if it
doesn't work. I think this can mislead users—especially those who skip
the README.
> # Sources for grammar plugins is not in Debian
>
> Either hundreds of source packages need to be introduced to Debian, or
> the src:hx package would need to carry hundreds of embedded projects.
>
> I think the best approach is to package the sources for the more popular
> grammars only, and think the best approach is that those interested in
> some grammar join the tree-sitter team and file a bugreport against hx
> when sources are available in Debian.
I would also like to see the default installation support some popular
grammars out of the box. Having to install g++ on a server just to
enable syntax highlighting for, say, JavaScript and CSS, doesn't feel
right. In contrast, Helix package on Fedora and Arch includes many
pre-compiled grammars and is quite ready for use by most users.
> # Grammar plugins slows startup of Helix
>
> My main concern with many plugins is not size but speed: As I recall,
> I experienced a noticable slowdown in startup of Helix when many plugins
> are loaded.
I'm not sure if this is still the case. At least, on my Fedora desktop,
the distro's Helix package installs over 200 pre-compiled grammars and
it starts instantly for me.
Best Regards,
Ninjoe
