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[Edgar Bonet <2107647@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Oh, you are using the arrow keys in **insert mode**! I hadn't realized.
I have been educated by historic vi to never do such a thing. ;-)

Now I can reproduce:

 1. /etc/vim/vimrc.tiny is sourced by vim.tiny...

...at least when invoked with no options. If instead of using the option
‘--clean’ I just move my .vimrc out of the way, vim.tiny, when invoked
as ‘vi’, does start in compatible mode.

 2. The arrow keys are indeed broken...

...but only in insert mode. They still work fine in command mode.

On the other hand, I don't quite agree this is a bug. It does make sense
for vim to emulate vi when invoked as ‘vi’. If you want vim behavior,
it's just one extra key press.

It could be argued that breaking the arrow keys in insert mode is a
misfeature of classic vi that is not worth emulating. In this case, vim
could be told to emulate classic vi save for this (mis)feature, with:

    set compatible
    set esckeys

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of
Debcrafters packages, which is subscribed to vim in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2107647

Title:
  Drop compatible mode for vim-tiny

Status in vim package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I know I'm opening a can of worms here, but maybe we could drop `set
  compatible` from /etc/vim/vimrc.tiny.

  I think who needs the compatible mode these days knows where it can
  find it and how to enable it, and it's really annoying in a fresh
  installation to get the strange characters when using the arrow keys.

  Possibly 10–15 years ago, it would make sense to have vim-tiny using
  compatible mode, but today we could, and even should, rethink about
  it.

  I know `nano` is the default text editor, but we discuss `vi` a lot in
  technical documentations, so my opinion is we should provide a nice
  experience for the user. I understand `vi` in general isn't a nice
  experience for a beginner user, though, but not using compatible mode
  would be s little less daunting.

  But I'm thinking if there is any tool that would need to invoke `vi`
  in compatible mode, that could cause a problem.

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