Vim is Charityware. You can use and copy it as much as you like, but you are encouraged to make a donation to orphans in Uganda. See iccf in the vim documentation. There are no restrictions on distributing an unmodified copy of Vim. Parts of Vim may also be distributed, but this text must always be included. You are allowed to include executables that you made from the unmodified Vim sources, your own usage examples and Vim scripts. If you distribute a modified version of Vim, you are encouraged to send the maintainer a copy, including the source code. Or make it available to the maintainer through ftp; let him know where it can be found. The current maintainer is Bram Moolenaar . YOU MUST OBSERVE ANY AUTHORS' CONDITIONS WITH RESPECT TO INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS PROVIDED WITHIN THIS CODE. SUPPORT FOR THE TECHNOLOGIES AND DOCUMENTATION IS NOT PROVIDED BY SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. THE TECHNOLOGIES AND DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT TECHNICAL SUPPORT OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.