fzf zsh integration isn't working on Debian

[furrycatherder]

• Category
  
  
  
  • [ ] fzf binary
  
  
  • [ ] fzf-tmux script
  
  
  • [x] Key bindings
  
  
  • [x] Completion
  
  
  • [ ] Vim
  
  
  • [ ] Neovim
  
  
  • [ ] Etc.
  
  
• OS
  
  
  
  • [x] Linux
  
  
  • [ ] Mac OS X
  
  
  • [ ] Windows
  
  
  • [ ] Windows Subsystem for Linux
  
  
  • [ ] Etc.
  
  
• Shell
  
  
  
  • [ ] bash
  
  
  • [x] zsh
  
  
  • [ ] fish
  
  

Sorry, I probably just need to have my hand held, but it looks like the fzf completions aren't loaded at all in zsh?

~ swim@scuba
❯ autoload -U compinit

~ swim@scuba
❯ compinit

~ swim@scuba
❯ which _fzf
_fzf not found

~ swim@scuba
❯ which fzf-completion
fzf-completion not found

[nzbart]

After installing via apt install fzf, read the docs for installing into ZSH:

cat /usr/share/doc/fzf/README.Debian

Relevant section:

===

Append this line to ~/.zshrc to enable fzf keybindings for Zsh:

   source /usr/share/doc/fzf/examples/key-bindings.zsh

[junegunn]

I'm not familiar with the Debian package as I'm not the maintainer of it.

But note that there is separate completion.zsh file that sets up **<tab> completion. I don't know how it's handled by the Debian package.

https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/tree/master/shell

[nzbart]

Thanks @junegunn. When I source the following file, **<tab> completion starts working:

/usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/_fzf

However, I suspect that this is a hack/workaround. I'll see if I can find a better solution.

[nzbart]

If I follow the installation instructions for Arch and translate them to the file locations for the Debian package, then it does appear that we need to source the _fzf file above. I suspect that the Debian package has put the files in the wrong location.

These are the Arch instructions:

Source the desired files from your .zshrc:

/usr/share/fzf/key-bindings.zsh
/usr/share/fzf/completion.zsh

The Debian package copies the files from the original source (i.e. this repository) as below:

• shell/key-bindings.zsh => /usr/share/doc/fzf/examples/key-bindings.zsh
• shell/completion.zsh => /usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/_fzf

I'm no expert in Debian packaging, but I don't think these locations are correct. In lieu of changes to the Debian package, we could update the Zsh section in README.Debian to the following:

===

Append these lines to ~/.zshrc to enable fzf keybindings and completion for Zsh:

   source /usr/share/doc/fzf/examples/key-bindings.zsh
   source /usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/_fzf

Would you like me to submit a PR?

[junegunn]

Thanks for looking into it. Like I mentioned above, I'm not the maintainer of the package and not an expert in Debian systems at all, so please go ahead.

[furrycatherder]

FWIW, here's the response from the package maintainer when I tried reaching out back in May:

An official Debian package cannot edit your .zshrc file. A quick instruction for
zsh integration can be found here:

/usr/share/doc/fzf/README.Debian

which is a standard location for notes. And the it is already pointed
out in fzf's description.
$ apt show fzf

Package: fzf
Version: 0.18.0-1
Built-Using: golang-1.11 (= 1.11.6-1), golang-github-mattn-go-isatty
(= 0.0.4-1), golang-github-mattn-go-runewidth (= 0.0.4-1),
golang-github-mattn-go-shellwords (= 1.0.3-1), golang-go.crypto (=
1:0.0~git20181203.505ab14-1), golang-golang-x-sys (=
0.0~git20181228.9a3f9b0-1)
Priority: optional
Section: utils
Maintainer: Mo Zhou [e-mail]
Installed-Size: 3,031 kB
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.2)
Homepage: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf
Download-Size: 928 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: yes
APT-Sources: https://mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/debian experimental/main amd64 Packages
Description: general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder
It's an interactive Unix filter for command-line that can be used with
any list; files, command history, processes, hostnames, bookmarks, git
commits, etc.
.
Refer /usr/share/doc/fzf/README.Debian for quick instructions on how to
add keybindings for Bash, Zsh, Fish to call fzf.

I agree that something is amiss here. I think _fzf may actually not be formatted correctly to be picked up in zsh's vendor-completions, but my memory is fuzzy since looking at this a few months ago.

Other files in zsh's vendor-completions don't have to be sourced manually, so why does _fzf?

I also think that key-bindings.zsh may properly belong in zsh's vendor-functions, but that's just a guess.

[nzbart]

I continued with @furrycatherder's bug report to the Debian package maintainer, Mo Zhou, and added the information I found above. I got this response, which I believe should resolve the issue:

Thanks for the report, I've fixed the issue in git:
https://salsa.debian.org/debian/fzf/commit/4a2c7dae658d91256bcb1ae7077dc7989532dbbe

/usr/share/doc/fzf/examples is a conventional path for Debian to install
things that should not be enabled by default. I think it's fine to not align
installation path with Archlinux, as I have updated the instructions
in README.Debian accordingly.

The change made updates the documentation and location of the files. 0.18.0-3 is the version with the fix.