Project Root

The feature (new in version 1.3.12) is very useful when you've something to do with the whole project. Macro <root> or $(VIM_ROOT) (from version 1.3.12) will be expanded as the Project Root Directory of the current file in the command line or in the -cwd option:

:AsyncRun make
:AsyncRun -cwd=<root> make

The first command will run make in the current directory of vim (which :pwd returns), while the second one will run make in the project root directory of current file.

:AsyncRun -cwd=<root> grep -n -R sendto .
:AsyncRun -cwd=<root> grep -n -R --include=*.c --include=*.cpp --include=*.h sendto .

These commands above will change the working directory to the project root of the current file, and grep the keyword sendto in the given ext-names.

The Project Root is the nearest ancestor directory of the current file which contains one of these directories or files:

.svn .git .hg .root .project

If none of the parent directories contains these root markers, the directory of the current file is used as the project root. And the default root markers can also be changed by option g:asyncrun_rootmarkers:

:let g:asyncrun_rootmarkers = ['.svn', '.git', '.root', '.bzr', '_darcs', 'build.xml'] 

When you are using -cwd=<root>, remember to use $(VIM_XXX) macros instead of % macros because % macros will be expanded by vim itself before changing directory while $(VIM_XXX) will be expanded after changing directory.

Wrong usage:

:AsyncRun -cwd=<root> gcc % -o %<

Right usage:

:AsyncRun -cwd=<root> gcc $(VIM_RELDIR)/$(VIM_FILENAME) -o $(VIM_RELDIR)/$(VIM_FILENOEXT)

These macros can also be used in the command line:

:AsyncRun make -f $(VIM_ROOT)/Makefile
:AsyncRun svn up $(VIM_ROOT)

Use buffer variables to indicate manually the project root for a given file:

:let b:asyncrun_root = "/xxxx/path-to-the-project-root"