Debian xfce opens in vim using xfce4-terminal

Question

I'm using debian jessie. In xfce when I open the right-click menu on text files etc there is an "open in vim". When I click this the file opens in vim but vim is in xterm instead of the xfce terminal (xfce4-terminal).

How to make vim opens in xfce terminal?

Answer 1

Debian provides a configurable generic terminal called x-terminal-emulator (a special package), which is a symbolic link to a particular terminal emulator. You can change this using the command

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

That will give you a command-line menu allowing you to select a preferred terminal from those which you have already installed.

There are some special cases where xterm is used because none of the alternatives provide the given functionality. But if all you need is a terminal, then Debian policy is to use x-terminal-emulator instead of a particular terminal name. (Occasionally there are bug-reports for cases that have been overlooked).