Can't apply config changes to all windows in neovim without closing the buffer at least

Question

I am trying to update the config and see the changes take place without exiting neovim.

I have structured my neovim config files like this

~/.config/nvim
├── init.lua
└── lua
    └── [username]
        ├── core
        │   └── options.lua
        ├── init.lua
        └── plugins

These are the contents of my files

-- init.lua

require("[username]")

-- ./lua/[username]/init.lua

require("[username].core.options")

-- ./lua/[username]/core/options.lua

local opt = vim.opt -- aliasing

-- line number
opt.number = true

-- tabs & intendation
opt.tabstop = 4
opt.shiftwidth = 4
opt.expandtab = true
opt.autoindent = true

I have windows like this

        +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
        |-- ./lua/[username]/init.lua         |-- ./lua/[username]/core/options.lua        |
        |                                     |                                            |
        |require("[username].core.options")   |local opt = vim.opt -- aliasing             |
        |~                                    |                                            |
        |~                                    |-- line number                              |
        |~                                    |opt.number = false                          |
        |~                                    |                                            |
        |~                                    |-- tabs & intendation                       |
        |~                                    |opt.tabstop = 4                             |
        |~                                    |opt.shiftwidth = 4                          |
        |~                                    |opt.expandtab = true                        |
        |~                                    |opt.autoindent = true                       |
        |~                                    |~                                           | 
        |init.lua=============================options.lua==================================|
        |                                                                                  |
        +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

When I make change in window with options.lua and do :so, the changes are reflected in that window 2 and not window 1 with init.lua. When I switch to that window and do :so nothing happens. Then I tried to do :so $MYVIMRC in both windows and nothing happened.

I tried :e in window 1, even closed the window, and opened it again with :vs lua/[username]/init.lua. The changes in the config were not applied. Then I tried :bdel lua/[username]/init.lua and opened it again with :vs lua/[username]/init.lua and now the window had the configs applied.

Why is this and how can I apply the changes to both window without having to even close the window?

Answer 1

A solution that is not tested extensively has been found, thanks to this reddit post

here is how I did it

I created core/reload.lua

-- ./lua/[username]/core/reload.lua

-- utility function apply config without closing

vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('RC', function()
     for name,_ in pairs(package.loaded) do
         if name:match('^[username]') then
             package.loaded[name] = nil
         end
     end

     dofile(vim.env.MYVIMRC)
     vim.notify("Nvim configuration reloaded!", vim.log.levels.INFO)
end, {})

and required it in [username]/init.lua to load it everytime

-- ./lua/[username]/init.lua

require("[username].core.options")
require("[username].core.reload")

The above code assigned the function to a user defined command RC

I am not 100% sure if this info is true, but when we call require the info is cached, so this function is pretty much clearing the cache and somewhat doing :source $MYVIMRC ( source for this info )