problems-minor-mode

problems-minor-mode: marks a multibuffer as the *problems* view — :copen groups error locations as editable excerpts, one per entry, grouped by file.

On this page

The mode that marks a multibuffer as the problems view: :copen takes the current error list and composes it into one buffer, each entry appearing as a small anchored excerpt of its source file with a couple of lines of context, grouped by file.

:cclose closes it.

Why it's a view and not a list

The plain error list is a list of locations you walk with :next-error. The problems view is the same data as source text, which means it is editable in place — you fix the error where you're reading it, and the edit propagates back to the real file. No jumping to the file, fixing, and jumping back.

That is the multibuffer substrate doing the work; this mode only marks which multibuffer is the problems one. The host's :cclose guard reads that marker to know what to close.

Behaviour worth knowing

  • Editable. The mode contributes no read-only override, precisely so edits reach the source.
  • Excerpts carry two lines of context either side of each error location — enough to see what the error is about without pulling in the whole file.
  • It's a pure marker. No chords of its own yet; a q-to-close binding is a tracked follow-up. Everything you can do in the buffer comes from multibuffer-mode and the ordinary vim grammar.

See also