rocks.nvim uninstall my vim plugin/lua packages at background automatically

[Freed-Wu]

Recently I meet a weird problem: many installed lua packages are uninstalled. After an effort, I found the reason:

When I open vim, it pop up:

rocks.nvim: The following plugins were not found:
cppinsights.nvim, math-conceal.nvim, rime.nvim.

Run 'Rocks sync'?
[Y]es, (N)o:

These plugins are written in rust-mlua or C, which is hard and long-time-cost to build.
So I always select N.

However, firenvim will start a neovim for browser in background. The default option Y is easy to select (or automatically?)
So :Rocks sync run.

:Rocks sync will reinstall all plugins even if it have been installed.

And some vim plugins are failed to install. And they are uninstalled after installation failure and long time to cost. #674
So many lua packages (also vim plugins) are uninstalled automatically.

1. for Run 'Rocks sync'?, perhaps N is a better default option? because install means risk of failure.
2. Why :Rocks sync will reinstall all plugins? Looks only install missing plugins are reasonable.
3. How to disable the popup message Run 'Rocks sync'?
4. for some special plugins, I would rather run luarocks install by myselves. can we skip it in rocks.toml?
   I notice pin=true is only useful for :Rocks update, right?
5. When fail to install, the original vim plugin will be removed. Why not keep the original vim plugin?

[mrcjkb]

Hey 👋

Most importantly, why is rocks.nvim reporting the plugins as not found? Are they not installed?
rocks.nvim prompts you to sync under one of 2 conditions:

• The plugin isn't symlinked to your site/pack/luarocks/opt packpath and creating the symlink fails.
• Or :h packadd fails with a Directory not found in 'packpath' error.

:Rocks sync will reinstall all plugins even if it have been installed.

That is not true. :Rocks sync:

• Queries luarocks for installed rocks (using luarocks list --porcelain)
• Compares the installed packages with the entries in your rocks.toml
• Installs packages that are not installed
• Up/downgrades packages that have a different version than the one specified in your rocks.toml
• Prunes packages that are installed but not present in your rocks.toml

If it's reinstalling all plugins, perhaps luarocks isn't listing them for some reason?
Which version of luarocks are you using?

perhaps N is a better default option? because install means risk of failure.

Having non-optional plugins that aren't installed is a bigger risk of failure.
If you need to disable plugins when using firenvim, then it's probably best to disable rocks.nvim by setting vim.g.loaded_rocks_nvim = true in your firenvim sessions.
Another option is to mark your plugins with opt = true and packadd! them yourself if not in a firenvim session.

How to disable the popup message Run 'Rocks sync'?

There is currently no way to do so. You should probably disable rocks.nvim or mark your plugins as optional.

I notice pin=true is only useful for :Rocks update, right?

Yes.

When fail to install, the original vim plugin will be removed. Why not keep the original vim plugin?

This is a luarocks issue.

These plugins are written in rust-mlua or C, which is hard and long-time-cost to build.

We could potentially add them to rocks-binaries so that rocks.nvim can fetch pre-built binaries.

[Freed-Wu]

This is a luarocks issue.

Core problem.

add them to rocks-binaries

Some rocks linked to some system DLL, perhaps users have to build them by themselves.

There is currently no way to do so

Can it be a feature request?

perhaps N is a better default option

At least when firenvim is run, I hope default option is N. Or disable the pop up message.
Because it is run in background, users will not see the message what rocks.nvim do.

:Rocks sync Prunes packages that are installed but not present in your rocks.toml

Sometimes I try to develop some lua packages and just install them to neovim rocks tree to save repeated dependency.
So this temporary packages will not occur in rocks.toml . And for development, some lua packages related to unit test/REPL/...
will be installed, too, and after finishing development, they will be uninstalled. So I will not add them to rocks.toml .
Today, I meet the weird thing that when I install a lua package which doesn't exists in rocks.toml,
rocks.nvim will prune it at background. So can prune be disabled? or disable the pop up message of Run 'Rocks sync'?

PS: expect #539 !

[mrcjkb]

Can it be a feature request?

Sure, feel free to open an issue and/or a PR for an option to disable the popup message 😄

I'd suggest to change the type of auto_sync? to boolean | 'prompt' | 'disable' (where false and nil are the same as 'prompt', for backward compatibility).

Sometimes I try to develop some lua packages and just install them to neovim rocks tree to save repeated dependency.

Generally, I would recommend to install packages not managed by rocks.nvim into a separate tree.
Luarocks has a rocks_trees config option for specifying the location of other trees.