Vim syntax highlighting for R on Mac OS X Mountain Lion

Question

I have tried downloading many R syntax highlighting plugins to no avail. None seem to work... However, when I drop sourthernlights.vim into ~/.vim/plugin this new color profile is in effect for all files I open in Vim.

Files ending in *.R or *.r default to iterm2's color profile (or southernlights.vim if I have not changed the file type)

I have checked

:set ft? 

and

:filetype

My .vimrc has

syntax on
filetype plugin on

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks much, bfb

:version

VIM - Vi IMproved 7.3 (2010 Aug 15, compiled Mar 26 2013 14:04:37)
MacOS X (unix) version
Compiled by kevin schiesser@primalscream.corp.xoom.com
Normal version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
-arabic +autocmd -balloon_eval -browse +builtin_terms +byte_offset +cindent 
-clientserver +clipboard +cmdline_compl +cmdline_hist +cmdline_info +comments 
-conceal +cryptv -cscope +cursorbind +cursorshape +dialog_con +diff +digraphs 
-dnd -ebcdic -emacs_tags +eval +ex_extra +extra_search -farsi +file_in_path 
+find_in_path +float +folding -footer +fork() -gettext -hangul_input -iconv 
+insert_expand +jumplist -keymap -langmap +libcall +linebreak +lispindent 
+listcmds +localmap -lua +menu +mksession +modify_fname +mouse -mouseshape
-mouse_dec -mouse_gpm -mouse_jsbterm -mouse_netterm -mouse_sysmouse +mouse_xterm 
-multi_byte +multi_lang -mzscheme +netbeans_intg -osfiletype +path_extra -perl 
+persistent_undo +postscript +printer -profile -python -python3 +quickfix +reltime 
-rightleft -ruby +scrollbind +signs +smartindent -sniff +startuptime +statusline 
-sun_workshop +syntax +tag_binary +tag_old_static -tag_any_white -tcl +terminfo 
+termresponse +textobjects +title -toolbar +user_commands +vertsplit +virtualedit 
+visual +visualextra +viminfo +vreplace +wildignore +wildmenu +windows +writebackup 
-X11 -xfontset -xim -xsmp -xterm_clipboard -xterm_save
    system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
    user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
    user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
    fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/local/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H   -DMACOS_X_UNIX -no-cpp-precomp  
-g -O2 -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc    -o vim       -lm -lncurses  -framework Cocoa

Answer 1

Colorschemes must be installed in ~/.vim/colors.

From your question, it is not clear if you have a problem with a colorscheme or with R syntax highlighting.

Also, what is the point of building your own Vim on Mac OS X without Python/Ruby support or any patch applied? MacVim is the way to go.